About Us 

The National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) is a school-led and research-informed organisation operating across England providing teacher and leadership training, from initial teacher education (ITE) to a dedicated course for CEOs of multi-academy trusts. The NIoT is among the largest national providers of ITE and trains thousands of teachers a year, across four regional teams and six campuses. We are committed to high quality, evidence-informed teacher education, and are on a mission to improve the quality of teacher and leader development across the system. Part of this mission involves producing rigorous, impactful, and cutting-edge school-led research. We have a dedicated in-house research team who work with our programme-delivery teams to develop and test new methodologies, address critical challenges, and meet the evolving needs of our partner schools and organisations in the wider education sector. This is a new and exciting approach to embedding research within practice in education, and we work collaboratively to continually evolve and strengthen our approach to making research useful in teacher education practice. The Evaluation and Observational Research team sits within the overall Research team, and designs and implements primary research projects in collaboration with the Programmes team at the NIoT. 

About the Role 

We are seeking to hire a Research Assistant with strong quantitative expertise to join our team and play a crucial role in the generation of high-quality and useful evidence on effective teacher professional development. You will work alongside a team of Research Fellows, Research Assistants and the Head of Evaluation and Observational research to design and implement academic research alongside the programmes designed and delivered by NIoT. This role includes opportunities to contribute to research design of new research; collect and manage quantitative data; conduct advanced statistical analyses; contribute to high-quality written outputs for academic audiences and policymakers, and other outputs to raise the impact of our research. You will also have opportunities to contribute to qualitative data collection and mixed-methods approaches where appropriate. 

 We are looking for someone with proven experience in quantitative methods who is also an innovative and practice-minded researcher, committed to making cutting-edge research relevant, engaging, and useful for practitioners in teacher education.  

This is a full-time role, although part-time opportunities may be available. It is a hybrid role, with one day per fortnight on campus. The work will focus primarily on current and future randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in Initial Teacher Education, and may include some work on other projects into teacher and leader training and development. These trials aim to generate robust evidence on effective approaches to teacher training and development.  

Corporate Responsibilities 

• To ensure that the responsibilities of the role are carried out in a way which reflects the mission and the values of the NIoT.  

• To be aware of and observe all policies, procedures, working practices and regulations, and in particular to comply with policies relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, Confidentiality, Data Protection and Financial Regulations, reporting any concerns to an appropriate person.  

• To comply with all reasonable management requests. 

Main Duties & Key Responsibilities 

• Contribute to study and research tool design 

• Data collection 

• Data management and organisation 

• Data analysis and interpretation of findings 

• Support project management and coordination of data collection and analysis 

• Literature searching and synthesis 

• Preparation of written outputs 

Essential Criteria 

• Master’s degree in education, social sciences, health sciences, or a related field 

• Experience conducting quantitative research (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, observational) 

• Strong quantitative skills, including data management, advanced inferential techniques, sampling methods, and power analyses 

• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills 

• Proactive, collaborative approach to problem-solving 

• Commitment to the aims of the National Institute of Teaching 

• Interest in education and a belief in the value of teachers and school leaders 

Desirable Criteria 

• Doctoral degree in education, social science, health sciences, or other related field 

• Proven interest and/or experience in teacher training and development 

• Experience working in educational settings 

• Experience with mixed-methods research, integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches 

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to make a tangible and immediate impact on practice, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise to conduct primary evaluation research on topics most relevant to teachers, educational leaders and teacher educators. This is an opportunity to grow your skills in conducting primary research and data analysis, and in working within a team build a new and innovative approach to combining research and practice in education.  

Working at the National Institute of Teaching 

Contract: Temporary (12 months fixed-term); full time 

Salary:   £34,434 per annum (plus London weighting if applicable) + benefits 

Key Benefits: 

• Generous Annual Leave – 27 days’ holiday a year (plus 8 bank holidays) rising to 33 days after five years’ service.  

• Flexible Working – we offer flexible start and end working times, with hybrid working in place for all roles.  

• Pension - Entry to the Local Government Pension Scheme  

• Salary Sacrifice Schemes – we offer salary sacrifice schemes for bikes, cars and tech!  

• Lifestyle Benefits – We offer discounts on gyms, cinema, retail and much more! 

• Parenthood Leave – We offer above the statutory minimum for maternity, adoption and paternity leave.  

• Working Environment – We have a stimulating, supportive and rewarding working environment with a dedicated team of likeminded professionals. 

• Support: Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provides confidential support for employees on personal or work-related matters 

• Development: We fully support the development of our staff and ensure that you have high level of continuous professional development.  

Further Information   

We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities.  

Notes:   

• This post requires a satisfactory enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) with a Children’s Barred List Check and Occupational Health Check is required as a condition of employment  

• This document is an overview of the role

• The responsibilities will include but will not be limited to those listed above and it is anticipated that the role will evolve over time and as such the duties may change