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 provider 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 a to hire a team of Research Assistants 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.

These roles include opportunities to contribute to research design of new research; collect quantitative and/or qualitative data; conduct quantitative and/or qualitative analyses; contribute to high-quality written outputs for academic audiences and policymakers, and other outputs to raise the impact of our research. In addition to having quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed-methods research experience, you will be an innovative and practice-minded researcher who strives to make cutting-edge research relevant, engaging, and useful for practitioners in teacher education. 

There are 4 full-time roles available, although we are open to considering part-time options. We welcome applicants with quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed-methods research skills. The Evaluation and Observational Research team design and conduct research into teacher training and development, as well as the development of multi-academy trust CEOs and system leaders in education.

These roles will work on one or both of projects into: teacher training and development, such as Initial Teacher Education, the Early Career Framework, and National Professional Qualifications; system leadership development for multi-academy trust CEOs through the new School Trust CEO programme funded by the Department for Education.  

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 

• Support preparation of written outputs 

Essential Criteria 

• Master’s degree study in education, social science, health sciences, business management, or other related field 

• Experience contributing to quantitative (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, observational) and/or qualitative research design 

• Quantitative (e.g., advanced inferential techniques, sampling methods, and power analyses), qualitative (e.g., handling large amounts of textual data, iterative research design, thematic coding), and/or mixed-methods (combining and integrating quantitative and qualitative methods) data management and analysis skills  

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills  

• Proactive and collaborative approach to problem-solving  

• A commitment to the aims of the National Institute of Teaching 

• An interest in the education sector 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 professional/leadership development 

• Experience working in or with educational or business/organisational management settings 

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 (two-year fixed-term); part time and/or full time 

Salary:   £32,076 - £33,945 per-annum pro-rata + benefits 

Key benefits available to all National Institute of Teaching staff:  

●     Flexible start and end working times (core hours between 10am and 4pm);  

●     Flexible working opportunities;  

●     At least 27 days’ holiday a year (plus 8 bank holidays)  

●     Local Government Pension Scheme  

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.  

This document does not form part of the contract of employment.