The philosophy department has just extended for a few days the deadline for applying to Graduate Teaching Assistant positions in 2017-2018. The new deadline is this sunday March 12th, midnight.

Applicant profiles and teaching opportunities

We’re particularly keen on attracting applicants willing to lead seminars for intro courses in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Science / Decision theory. Applicants need not be specialized in those areas, though. The courses are intro-level and brief (5-weeks) and applicants may use them as an opportunity to broaden their range. They are particularly enjoyable to teach: the students are medical students, PPE, PPL and Liberal arts students who tend to be highly motivated, enthusiastic about the subject and hard-working.

The full list of courses for which we are offering GTA positions is below. The courses where our needs are most pressing are first-year (“level 4”) courses

The courses are the following.

  • MBBS Belief and Decision Under Uncertainty for first year medical students, 5 weeks. Term 2 (jan-march 2018)
  • 4AANA102 Introduction to Philosophy I, Logic block, for PPE, PPL and Liberal Arts students, 5 weeks. Term 1 (oct-dec 2017)
  • 4AANA102 Introduction to Philosophy I, Ethics block, for PPE, PPL and Liberal Arts students, 5 weeks. Term 1 (oct-dec 2017)
  • 4AANA103 Introduction to Philosophy II, Metaphysics block, for PPE, PPL and Liberal Arts students, 5 weeks. Term 2 (jan-march 2018)
  • 4AANA103 Introduction to Philosophy II, Epistemology block, for PPE, PPL and Liberal Arts students, 5 weeks. Term 2 (jan-march 2018)

The MBBS course is on theoretical and behavioural aspects of decision making. In terms of preparation time, the readings are very short compared to standard philosophy courses. It’s well designed and students enjoy it. Any graduate with training in epistemology and/or philosophy of science and/or the decision-theoretic side of ethics can teach it.

The 4AANA102 and 4AANA103 modules are described here.

There is a wide range of other courses you can apply to teach. Feel free to list those you think you can teach. As mentioned our most pressing needs are in level 4 (first year courses). Modules are described on the department module page.

First-year modules are 4AAN… and MBBS, second year are 5AAN…, third year are 6AAN…

Semester one

  • 4AANA002 Ethics I
  • 4AANA001 Greek Philosophy I
  • 4AANA003 Elementary Logic
  • 4AANA102 Introduction to Philosophy I, Logic element
  • 4AANA102 Introduction to Philosophy I, Ethics element
  • 4AANB006 Political Philosophy I
  • 4AANB007 Epistemology I
  • 5AAN5001 Neuroscience and the Mind
  • 5AANA001 Greek Philosophy II: Plato
  • 5AANB004 Modern Philosophy II: Leibniz and Spinoza
  • 5AANB008 Political Philosophy II: History of Political Philosophy
  • 5AANA014 Intermediate Logic
  • 5AANB012 Philosophy of Mind
  • 5AANB053 Philosophy of Physics I: Space and Time
  • 6AANA034 Aesthetics
  • 6AANA024 Philosophy of Psychology I
  • 6AANB049 Philosophy of Psychology II

Semester two

  • MBBS Belief and Decision Under Uncertainty
  • 4AANA004 Metaphysics I
  • 4AANB005 Modern Philosophy I
  • 4AANB008 Methodology
  • 4AANA103 Introduction to Philosophy II, Metaphysics element
  • 4AANA103 Introduction to Philosophy II, Epistemology element
  • 5AANB002 Greek Philosophy II: Aristotle
  • 5AAN5002 Advanced Topics in the Philosophy of Mind
  • 5AANA003 Modern Philosophy II: Locke and Berkeley
  • 5AANA005 Ethics II: History of Ethical Philosophy
  • 5AANA010 Metaphysics II
  • 5AANB006 Ethics II: Contemporary Ethical Philosophy
  • 5AANB015 Topics in Applied Ethics and Politics
  • 5AANB091 Introduction to Chinese Philosophy
  • 6AANB025 Philosophy of Religion
  • 6AANA032 19th Century Continental Philosophy
  • 6AANA046 Topics in Political Philosophy
  • 6AANA051 Morality and Convention
  • 6AANB039 Gender and Philosophy

How to apply

GTA applicants must be current graduate students in a UK university and must be graduate students at the time of teaching (first and/or second semester 2017/18). [Further information on being a GTA at King’s].

Given the tight deadline, it’s best to send as much as you can for Monday morning and give the completed materials as soon as possible after that. See at the bottom of this post for attached documents.

The deadline is this sunday March 12th midnight. The result of the application process should be announced by Friday 28 April 2017.

New applicants

(*please note a “new” GTA could be someone who was a GTA in King’s in 2015/2016 or previous years; a new GTA is someone who is not currently teaching in 2016-2017)

  • Complete the attached GTA application form for 2017-2018 (please remember to quote the module code and module title for every module you wish to apply for; you can find them in the list of modules above).
  • Send a copy of the completed application form, your academic CV and the attached Academic Reference form to your primary supervisor, asking him/her to complete the academic reference form and forward the reference to philosophy@kcl.ac.uk
  • Send to philosophy@kcl.ac.uk (please send all the documents listed below in the same email and not separately) the following documents by midnight 12 March 2017:
  1. a copy of the completed application form you just sent to your supervisor
  2. your academic CV
  3. the attached equality diversity form (you can type your name instead of physically signing this form)
  4. the staff registration form (I’m afraid you need to print it and physically sign the form; you will need to then scan it and send the pdf with the physical signature)
  5. the attached starter checklist form (I’m afraid you need to print it and physically sign the form; you will need to then scan it and send the pdf with the physical signature).
  • Make an appointment via email with the Research & Resources Officer, Joseph O’Connor (joseph.o’connor@kcl.ac.uk) to visit the departmental office and have your original passport/visa/residence permit verified and scanned (page 3 of the GTA application form lists the valid documents you can present).
  • Please note that it’s essential that GTAs complete the Preparing to Teach course offered by the King’s Learning Institute before they commence teaching. More dates will be advertised shortly. If a GTA already has other teaching certificates, a copy of these need to be presented with the application in order to be exempt from taking the one day Preparing to Teach course.

 Currently employed GTAs

  • Complete the attached GTA application form for 2017-2018 (please remember to quote the module code and module title for every module you wish to apply for; you can find them in the list of modules available).
  • Send a copy of the completed application form, your academic CV and the attached Academic Reference form to your primary supervisor, asking him/her to complete the academic reference form and forward the reference to philosophy@kcl.ac.uk
  • Send to philosophy@kcl.ac.uk (please send all the documents listed below in the same email and not separately) the following documents by midnight 8 March 2017:
  1. a copy of the completed application form you just sent to your supervisor
  2. your academic CV
  3. the staff registration form (I’m afraid you need to print it and physically sign the form; you will need to then scan it and send the pdf with the physical signature) ONLY if your address or bank details have changed since you submitted this form a year ago.

Documents and forms 

Academic-Reference EqualityDiversity

GTA-app-form-2017-18-final

StaffRegForm-2016

Starter_checklist_v1.0