2. Recruitment & Induction

Recruiting

A large part of GTA success/effectiveness is their attitude towards the job, and this begins at the recruitment stage.

We recruit GTAs via a centrally distributed set of adverts. In the advert it is important to stress themes of self-development, responsibility and team culture. This way the applying GTA understands there will be high expectations on them to engage and perform. DL#2.1 is an example advert. 

Prospective GTAs are also invited to a GTA open day, where the labs are open and staffed, so that prospective GTAs can find out more about the role they might be applying for.

Finally we conduct brief 15 minute interviews (a contractual obligation). This is a good opportunity to find out more about the suitability of a prospective GTA. Do they have sufficient communication skills to teach effectively? Do they have enough basic knowledge of the subkect areas? We tackle these questions by asking applicants the following questions:

“Tell us about your PhD?” is a great starter question - the familiarity of the topic means it's a low stress first question for them, but it does test their ability to explain a complex topic in basic terms. “What makes you interested in teaching?” offers you great insight into their motivation; do they just need to make some money, or are they genuinely interested in teaching and developing. Finally we give them a basic subject specific question phrased as “If I was a first year student, how would you explain the concept of X to me?”; we don't need complete subject matter experts but people with a decent foundation, clear ways of explaining things and a good attitude towards learning more. 

Induction

DL#3.3 shows the induction talk (slides) given to the GTA team ahead of the semester.

It describes:

• Expectations on the GTAs (+ some ground rules, and operating procedures)

• The philosophy of the training

• The structure of the training

• Reassuring them it’s ok not to know all the answers!

• Gives them the chance to meet each other (ice breaker/team building)

• Introduces them to the HEA (Higher Education Academy / ‘AdvanceHE’)

The structure of the training consists of 5 main components that recur many times in a loop, for each lab activity that we teach:

This gets repeated all semester, for the 'n' activities (~dozens) that get taught in the lab.

This recurring, continuous training sits within a bigger picture of development, where GTAs can do additional workshops, develop teaching material, lead teaching sessions, and even engage with scholarship of learning & teaching (SoLT). 

All this allows GTAs to progress to get AFHEA and even FHEA recognition (see page 1).

GTA Website

For additional information and a resource for GTAs to refer to during their time, we have a designated GTA Website (DL#2.2 - Googlesite).