Postgraduate Teaching Opportunities

Postgraduate Teaching Scheme 

As part of its commitment to providing opportunities for research students to gain teaching experience in the course of their doctoral studies, the History of Art Department offers a number of Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA) positions each year, in various subject areas covered by the Department at undergraduate level. The Postgraduate Teaching Scheme is designed to enable research students to contribute to teaching and marking/assessment activities within the Department, within a structure that also offers training and support. The Scheme is convened by the Head of Education.

Teaching Opportunities 2025-26

There will be opportunities for postgraduate students to work as Teaching Assistants during the 2025-26 academic year. All registered research students, whether part-time or full-time, are eligible to apply for these posts. Normally Teaching Assistants are in their 2nd or 3rd year of their doctorate, but in some circumstances, where new students have had teaching experience, they may be offered teaching in their first year. Students in their fourth year may also be allowed to teach at the discretion of their supervisor. While the positions are open to students from outside the Department, we would be looking for evidence of relevant experience and interest in the discipline of History of Art. Priority will be given to applicants from within the Department.

Further details of module descriptions are available here.

The department is looking for TAs for the following modules. 

First Year BA Core Course

Suitable for 2nd year Research Students. Taught Fridays

The BA Core Course provides an introduction to a range of skills required to study the History of Art, including the first-hand study of works of art. It is designed to familiarise first-year students with some current debates in the subject, and introduce them to a variety of theoretical positions of which they need to be aware in the course of their degree.

HART0001: BA Core Course (4 posts, 2 per term)
Arrangements for 2025/26:

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn)	Hours (Spring)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena 1 Gateway workshop	8	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	7	4
Prep	Teaching Prep (reading, PowerPoint etc.)	30	27
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures  (9/10*1 hour)	10	9
	Running discussion groups (18/20*90 minutes)	30	27
	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	6	6
Assessment	Marking coursework  (@ 30 mins/essay). Estimated numbers, additional payments will be made if student intake larger than expected.	25	13
	Coursework surgeries	4	4
Total Contracted Hours		120	98

First Year Survey Course

Suitable for 1st or 2nd year Research Students. Taught Wednesdays, 9-11am.

HART0005 and HART0006 are obligatory introductory modules for all first-year History of Art students. In ten lectures each term students are introduced to the dominant narrative of art history as an historical development ('the canon'), and are encouraged to look at that model critically. The periods covered in the lecture series ranges from Premodernity to c. 1600 in Term 1 (HART0006) and c.1600 to the Contemporary in Term 2 (HART0005).

HART0005 and HART0006: First Year Survey Course (2 posts, 1 per term)
Arrangements for 2025/26:

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn)	Hours (Spring)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena 1 Gateway workshop	8	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	4	4
Prep	Reading the course readings	6	6
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures (10*2hours)	20	20
	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	3	3
Assessment	Marking (1st marker of c.40 exam scripts @ 30 mins/script)	20	20
Total Contracted Hours		61	61

Additional posts are available to support exam marking for HART0005 and HART0006 in the Summer Term at an anticipated level of 15 exams @ 30 mins/script

Second Year Advanced Lectures in the History of Art

Suitable for 2nd or 3rd year Research Students. Taught Mondays, 2-4pm.

The two Advanced Lecture modules are compulsory for second-year students. In Term 1 HART0035 will focus on Making the Body from Late Medieval to the Early Modern.  In Term 2 HART0036 will look at Art and Mass Culture in Contemporary East Asia. 

HART0035 and HART0036: Second Year Advanced Lectures in the History of Art (2 posts, 1 per term)
Arrangements for 2025/26:

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn)	Hours (Spring)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	8	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	7	7
Prep	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	3	3
	Reading the course readings	6	6
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures	20	20
	Coursework surgeries (2 x 2 hours)	4	4
Assessment	Marking coursework (40 essays @ 30mins/essay)	20	20
	Marking exams (1st marking 40 scripts @ 30 mins/script)	20	20
Total Contracted Hours		88	88

Additional posts are available to support exam marking for HART0035 and HART0036 in the Summer Term at an anticipated level of 15 exams @ 30 mins/script 

HART0031: History of the Category Art  

Suitable for 2nd or 3rd year Research Students. Taught Tuesdays in the Spring Term, Lecture 09:00 – 10:00, discussion group 11:00 – 12:00. 

This module aims to familiarise students with the ways in which the concept of art has evolved in Europe. 

HART0031: History of the Category Art – Spring (1 post) 

Arrangements for 2025/26: 

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn only)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	7
Prep	Teaching Prep (reading, PowerPoint, etc.) (2 hours p/w)	20
	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	3
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures	10
	Running discussion groups	10
	Coursework surgeries	5
Assessment	Marking coursework (@ 30 mins/assignment)	17
Total Contracted Hours		80

HART0034: Methodologies of Making

Suitable for 2nd or 3rd year Research Students. Taught Mondays in the Spring Term, 14:00-16:00.

This module focuses on the experimental system of art making, remaking, collecting, mediating, and conserving. It encompasses readings and discussions centered around theories related to materiality and the immaterial, makers and their tools, the workings of institutions and collections, alongside the notions of time and the archive.

HART0034: Methodologies of Making - Spring (1 post)

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn only)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	7
Prep	Teaching Prep (reading, PowerPoint, etc.) (2 hours p/w)	20
	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	3
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures	10
	Running discussion groups	10
Assessment	Coursework surgeries	5
	Marking coursework (@ 30 mins/assignment)	17
Total Contracted Hours		80

HART0032: Methodologies of Art History 

Suitable for 2nd or 3rd year Research Students. Taught Tuesdays in the Autumn Term, Lecture 10:00 – 11:00, discussion group 12:00 – 13:00

HART0032 introduces students to the diverse ways in which art historians engage with and write about visual art and culture. Students will be asked to analyse a range of art historical methods as well as varied approaches to critical writing, with the goals of becoming familiar with recent methodologies that pertain to the visual image and developing ways of bringing critical issues to their research and written work.

Arrangements for 2025/26:

Type	Duties	Hours (Spring only)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	8
	Instruction and feedback on marking & assessment, including liaising with 2nd marker	7
Prep	Teaching Prep (reading, design of tutorials, etc.) (2 hours p/w)	20
	Module admin [emails, student queries, digital registers, following up re: non-attendance]	3
Contact	Attending/supporting lectures	10
	Running discussion groups	10
	Coursework surgeries	5
Assessment	Marking coursework (@ 30 mins/assignment)	17
Total Contracted Hours		80

Undergraduate Dissertation Coordinator

The Dissertation Coordinator provides support to the academic tutor who has overall responsibility for the administration of the undergraduate dissertation and long-essay modules HART0018, HART0019 and HART0120. This is a relatively light role, which would particularly suit a 1st or 2nd year PhD student.

Undergraduate Dissertation Coordinator (1 post across Autumn & Spring)

Duties	Hours
Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	6
Attending and helping moderate dissertation/long essay meetings	6
Updating Moodle (updating all documentation and maintaining sites with announcements)	4
Replying to emails, and office hours to help answer and field general questions	10
Total Contracted Hours	26

Art in London Modules

Suitable for 2nd and 3rd year Research Students from within the Department and externally 

Each year the History of Art Department offers a number of exciting gallery and/or building-based Art in London modules, which offer students the opportunity to study at first hand the extraordinary wealth of London’s architecture and museum and gallery collections. These are introductory first year level courses for non-History of Art students and affiliate students. We plan to offer up to 8 modules in the following areas: Art in London before 1600, Modern and Contemporary Art in London, Architecture in London. 

Art in London (8 posts, 4 per term)

Type	Duties	Hours
Training	Departmental planning meetings, compulsory training and briefings with Academic Affiliate Tutor	12
Prep	Teaching preparation, research and module design	50
	Moodle design	20
Contact	Teaching	20
	Office hours	10
Assessment	Marking for two essays/term @20 mins for 750 word response paper; @40 mins for 2000-2500 words essay	18
Total Contracted Hours		130

Writing Support Teaching Assistant 

Suitable for 1st, 2nd or 3rd year Research Students. Timing of workshops and drop-in sessions TBC.  

We are looking for one or two TAs to provide supplementary writing support to our first-year undergraduates. This role will be held in term one and will involve leading or co-leading a series of three one-hour workshops, open to all BA1 students, focused on developing skills to complete writing assignments especially associated with the BA Core Course and Thematic Seminars. The TA/s will also lead a series of drop-in consultation hours through the term to enable students to bring in samples of writing that can be read in draft with a view to providing suggestions and feedback, as well as directing the students to further sources of support where applicable. 

Type	Duties	Hours (Autumn only)
Training	Departmental training & compulsory Arena One Gateway workshop	8
Prep	Preparation for three one-hour writing workshops	6
Contact	Running writing workshops	3
	Writing consultation sessions (drop-in/by appointment)	20
Assessment	Emails & student queries	3
Total Contracted Hours		40

The writing support teaching assistant position would particularly support someone with strong communication skills, knowledge of the UK undergraduate system and a broad knowledge of Art History. Prior experience in a teaching or tutoring capacity would be desirable. 

Application procedure

Applicants to the Postgraduate Teaching Scheme should consult the UCL job description and person specification for PGTA roles before completing the following:

• A completed application form which should be signed by your supervisor:

  Application Form

  Application Form
• A copy of your CV

Please ensure that the application explicitly addresses the criteria of the person specification. 

Please email your signed application form and covering letter to Eleanor Day, Departmental Manager, by 17.00 on Friday 28 March 2025.

Previous TAs should also submit an application if they wish to be considered again for 2025-26. 

A panel of departmental staff will assess the applications and applicants will be notified of the outcome in early May.

Eligibility criteria

• PGTA roles are normally only available to existing research students registered in the History of Art Department, in another UCL Department, or in another institution in London where History of Art is taught (Warburg, Courtauld etc.). Priority will be given to UCL students.
• Students entering into the final year of research or those in their ‘CRS’ year are eligible to apply, but priority will be given to students entering into the second year of full-time research (or the part-time equivalent) and/or those with no prior teaching experience in the Department.
• You need to be on track with your doctoral research and to obtain your supervisor’s approval. Although the result of your upgrade may be pending at the time of application, your supervisor will be asked to comment on your progress toward the upgrade.

Contracts & Pay

The contracted hours for each module are determined by the Departmental Workload Allocation Committee. Some modules have an examination component in the summer term, so availability for marking will be important. Payment is made at grade 6 (which in 2025/26 is £18.72 inclusive of London Allowance per hour). 

If teaching at UCL is your second job or one of several jobs, you may be taxed at Basic Rate (especially if you take it on as a second job while already employed elsewhere).

Training & Mentoring

We are holding a workshop for prospective PGTAs on Wednesday 26 February 2025 at 14:00 via Teams. This is mandatory for UCL applicants who have not taught previously in the Department and is optional for those from outside the department.

Register for the workshop via Eventbrite.

Successful applicants are expected to attend an induction session before they start teaching (normally late September each year), at which you will be issued with a comprehensive PGTA Handbook. You are also expected to attend a session on marking, assessment and feedback, normally in mid-October.

You will also be required to complete the online mandatory training for all UCL staff and to attend the Gateway Workshop at Arena, if you have not already done so. You will then have the opportunity to join the UCL Teaching Associate Programme if you wish to further develop your teaching practice and work toward a nationally recognised teaching award. For further information see the Arena One website.

PGTAs will also have the opportunity to participate in UCL’s Continuous Dialogue Scheme, which will normally take the form of a paired teaching observation with another PGTA. Each PGTA will be assigned a marking mentor (normally the module organiser) during the time they are employed by the Department.

Any questions?

If you have any queries about the Postgraduate Teaching Scheme or the application process, please direct them to Eleanor Day, Departmental Manager or Jacob Paskins, Head of Education.

Job Description

Download the full job description

here.

here.