Trainee/Lead Practitioner D&T/Product Design at Aston University Engineering Academy & Sixth Form
Job Description
Accountable to: Director of Engineering & Mathematics
Core Purpose:
The Lead Practitioner in D&T will support the Director of Engineering & Mathematics in developing outstanding teaching and learning practice in D&T/Product Design at AUEA with our Engineering and Mathematics Faculty. The role will focus on ensuring learning maximises progress and is exciting and engaging and delivered in partnership with Aston University and our significant industry partners so that our young people are motivated to strive for excellence.
Key Responsibilities:
Responsibility for raising the standards of all the students you teach in the subject of D&T & Product Design:
- To be responsible for the teaching of relevant teaching material within D&T.
- To contribute to the ongoing development of appropriate syllabuses, materials and schemes of work.
- To be responsible for managing the resources in the teaching rooms to which you are deployed.
- To be a tutor, when assigned, and to be responsible for carrying out the duties as set down in the generic tutor job description.
- To be responsible for carrying out a fair share of supervisory duties and cover for absent colleagues.
- To be responsible for developing D&T Curriculum Area and AUEA policy on matters such as lesson preparation, schemes of work, marking, record keeping and homework, and quality assurance.
- To be responsible for organising a disciplined working environment in which students can achieve their maximum potential.
Responsibility for educational progress for all your students in the subject of D&T & Product Design:
- To be responsible for monitoring students’ progress in your D&T groups through academic tracking and data analysis.
- To be responsible for reporting to and liaising with the Director of Engineering & Mathematics, teaching/support staff, Lead Practitioner on University staff and students, industrial partners, and parents/carers.
- To ensure a culture and ethos of challenge and support in your teaching where all students can achieve success and become engaged in their own learning.
- To demonstrate and articulate high expectations and set stretching targets in D&T.
Additional Lead Practitioner responsibilities within the Engineering and Mathematics Faculty:
- Leading the application of D&T and Product Design.
Additional responsibility for enhancing teaching and learning through embedding industry contextualized learning into the D&T and Product Design and other D&T schemes of learning for AUEA - Maintain expert knowledge of teaching and learning and disseminate this to other teachers
- Understand and promote the benefits and effective use of ICT
- Understand and promote links between the subject and the wider curriculum
Support staff teaching in D&T and Product Design to consistently and effectively plan lessons and sequences of lessons, to meet students’ individual learning needs by:
- Disseminating examples of effective planning practice
- Taking steps to ensure that teachers are aware of the needs of inclusion of all pupils and groups and make provision for this in their planning
- Taking steps to ensure that feedback from lesson observation, work scrutiny and analysis of assessment data is appropriately reflected in teachers’ planning
- Establishing strategic planning, including short, medium and long term plans for the development and resourcing of the subject
- Taking steps to ensure teachers are clear about the teaching of outcomes in lessons, understand the sequence of teaching and learning in the subject area and communicate this to students
- Observing colleagues teaching (through subject monitoring) and provide evaluative feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching strategies to bring about further improvement
- Identifying and promoting innovative and effective strategies within D&T to meet the needs of all students
- Working with staff in D&T to develop a range of innovative teaching and learning resources
Additional Lead Practitioner responsibilities across the UTC
- Support the Head of UTC and AP Teaching and Learning to lead the whole school teaching and learning objectives inline with academy development plan and Trust priorities
- Defining intervention strategies to address issues for development that are identified
- Undertake and develop the quality assurance of teaching and learning across the academy in conjunction with the wider Teaching and Learning Team
- Support and lead CPD training for staff in priority areas
- Produce data for governors, external bodies including Ofsted
- Contribute to the UTC’s Self Evaluation process and reports. Creating a climate, which enables staff to develop, challenge and support each other, resulting in positive growth
- Mentoring and coaching staff to develop confidence and maintain positive attitudes
- Communicating effectively with professional integrity within and beyond the school community
Take responsibility for your own professional development and use the outcomes to improve your teaching and students learning by:
- Maintaining ‘leading edge’ knowledge through reading, CPD and research to inform own practice, demonstrating impact in teaching and on students’ learning
- Assimilating and implementing new curriculum guidance to lead the process of change within engineering
- Prioritising and managing own time effectively, balancing the demands made by teaching, subject management and involvement in AUEA development
- Achieving own challenging professional objectives
Additional responsibilities:
- To attend appropriate INSET to enhance subject knowledge, awareness of curriculum developments, classroom management skills etc, and whenever appropriate, share new knowledge and experiences with colleagues.
- Attend Trust and Governor meetings as required with the role.
- To contribute to the enrichment curriculum.
- To undertake any other duties or work at the request of the Executive Principal /Head of UTC and consummate with responsibility level.
Closing date: 8th May 2025
Interviews: w/c 12 May 2025
Please complete the attached application form and send with covering letter to Amanda Naan, email: principalpa@auea.co.uk
Application Form https://www.jobs.ac.uk/enhanced/fp/AUEA-2025-Application-Form.doc
Equalities Monitoring Form https://www.jobs.ac.uk/enhanced/fp/AUEA-Equalities-Monitoring-2025.docx
Person Specification: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/enhanced/fp/DMT643.pdf
