Teaching as a PGR
As a PGR student, you will likely be involved in teaching in your school or department. This page provides some useful advice on how to improve your teaching abilities.
Dr Sarah Gharib Saif provides advice on improving your teaching skills.
Tips from postgraduate research students
Be prepared: Have you thought about different activities you could do with the students? What questions do you want to cover with them? What are your learning objectives for the class?
Be flexible: Your class size might fluctuate, students might be quieter one day than the next, students might not have done the reading, technology might stop working. How will you respond in these scenarios? Is there another exercise you could ask the students to do? Could you break them into smaller groups so they feel more comfortable discussing the material? Should you have an excerpt of the reading available in case someone hasn't managed to do it?
Be confident: You might feel some imposter syndrome as a PGR who teaches (from a PhD student - I certainly did). Think about how much more you know now than at undergraduate and reassure yourself that you've got knowledge to share. It's okay to say that you don't know, and refer questions to your module convenor; you might be teaching in an area that isn't your specialism.
Ask for help: Ask your module convenor, your supervisor and mentor, other Graduate Teaching Assistants and your peers for advice. What do they do differently when teaching? Could you incorporate that strategy into your own practice?
Being both Staff and Student
As a PGR student, who may also teach, and may also have another part-time job (often also within the university), your status as student or staff may be unclear. Here are some top tips from other PGR students who navigated this:
Integrate into the research community: Attend research seminars, meetings and workshops with others in your department, so you feel more involved as a staff member. Make your voice heard and ask questions of others in the department about their own practice as staff.
Draw on your community: As a PGR student, you will be in the same boat as a lot of other students! Speak to your peers and those in the years above to draw on their collective advice and navigate any difficulties together.
Take advantage of opportunities available to you as student and staff: You'll develop skills as a staff member that you won't as a PGR student and vice versa. All of these will be useful to you in both roles, however. As a staff member, my time management skills really developed and came in very useful when planning my thesis.
You'll also have access to spaces that students can't access, and spaces reserved for PGR students specifically, as well as to more conferences and symposiums. And, finally, if you can't get a student discount, maybe there's a staff one available.
Useful Links
IELLI provide essential courses for PGR students who teach as well as additional support and resources.
Academic Skills Project - Design and Delivery
The Academic Skills Project allows subject-specific academic skills to be delivered to undergraduate students through high-quality workshops delivered by PGR students, creating benefits for both.
PGCAP - Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
This is a free professional practice programme for all staff at St Andrews who are engaged in university teaching or supporting student learning in a direct student-facing role, regardless of contract type or level of experience.
Higher Education Authority fellowship - including STARS
Getting a category of AdvanceHE (HEA) fellowship allows you to evidence your professional practice in higher education and demonstrate your commitment to teaching, learning and the student experience. It is increasingly listed as a desirable or essential criterion by employers across the higher education sector in the UK.
PGR students can join the Hive community - a place to discuss how to best use technology in teaching and learning.
IELLI tutors and project officers
Throughout the year IELLI has a number of vacancies for PGR students to work as academic skills tutors and PGR student Project Officers in the Learning and Writing Centre, assisting the IELLI Student Development team in a range of ways. Vacancies are advertised on the Career Connect platform.
