Info for Applicants
Welcome to Researchers in Schools
Are you ready for a new, exciting and rewarding challenge?
The Researchers in Schools programme will support you to become an excellent secondary school teacher and maximise the benefits that having a PhD brings to your new career in teaching. You will use your highly sought-after subject knowledge and understanding of higher education to help more young people from underrepresented backgrounds progress to university
As part of our three-year programme, you’ll receive:
- A dedicated programme officer to support you to transition into teaching and help you maximise your impact
- Support to complete our fully-funded Research Leader in Education award
- One day a week of protected time to develop and deliver research-informed projects and activities for your pupils and colleagues
- Access to generous funding whilst you train
Hear from our participants
You can find out more about our participants’ projects, experiences and impact on the programme by reading our two case studies below.
Paulina Guerrero Gutiérrez, Biology
Paulina completed her PhD in Science Education at Kings College London and and now works as a teacher of Biology at Debden Park High School in Essex.
Using her links to the academic world, Paulina has created the “Skype a Scientist” sessions. Once a term, a Skype call has been set up in order to present people of different backgrounds and at different stages in their careers so that students realise that the scientific community is diverse, and allows them to consider this as a path for themselves in the future.
Click the poster below to read more about this project
Alex McGaw, Maths
Alex joined the programme as a member of our 2018 cohort. He completed his PhD in Pure Maths at the University of Manchester and now works as a Maths teacher at Essa Academy in Bolton.
Alex has covered advanced topics which pupils generally struggle with, including transformations of graphs, trigonometric graphs, and proofs. He ran 8 classes for a specifically targeted 8-10 pupils. Alex also organised and ran the national UKMT intermediate and junior Mathematics challenges. His Uni Pathways project focused on how Google Maps plans routes.
Click the handbook below to see a poster summarising his work
You can view more about our particpants’ projects in our 2016 cohort RLE review by clicking the image to the left.
Feedback from Alex, Paulina and their colleagues
“The initial attraction was that it is a bespoke programme for PhD graduates - it felt like the programme was designed for me, compared to a PGCE or another route into teaching. To be part of the education research community was important to me as well. I want to influence the way maths is taught in schools and influence my colleagues with evidence-informed teaching strategies. When I broke it down, RIS was the only route for me.”
Dr Alex McGaw
Maths Teacher, Essa Academy, Bolton
“Alex’s commitment to delivering a high quality education and engendering a love of his subject in his students is unwavering. He has been a huge asset to Essa Academy, both in the classroom, and in his willingness to involve himself in the wider life of his school.”
Matthew Wilkinson
Alex's subject mentor, Essa Academy, Bolton
“University Pathways is an extraordinary opportunity for students to improve their writing, subject knowledge, and critical skills; and to increase their confidence to progress into highly selective universities.”
Paulina Guerrero Gutiérrez
Biology Teacher, Debden Park High School, Essex
“During Uni Pathways, I have learnt how to reference my work. I have also learnt about how you learn at university (tutorials, lectures, etc). Another thing I learnt is how to structure a university level essay.”
One of Paulina's Pupils
Debden Park High School
How you can find out more
Register your interest and explore
Use the menu links above to find out more about the various aspects of the programme. We recommend you start with the Programme Overview.
To keep up to date with applications for 2020, you can fill out our brief registration of interest form by clicking below.
Register your interest
Contact the recruitment team
If you have questions about starting an application, or you’re not sure if the programme is for you, you can view a list of frequently asked questions here.
If you’re unsure how our eligibility criteria apply to you, or you have any other questions, you can email us or call us on 0203 005 3344.