English Language Research Senior Researcher, Education Technology

at  British Council

English Language Research Senior Researcher, Education Technology
Date: 30 May 2024
Location: London, UKM, GB
Belfast, UKM, GB
Edinburgh, UKM, GB
Manchester, UKM, GB
Cardiff, UKM, GB
Company: British Council
We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.
We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.
Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

Area Specific Knowledge:

• The role requires an up-to-date and practical knowledge of the area of education technology.
• Minimum PhD in the area of language teaching and learning (e.g., Applied Linguistics, TESOL, SLA) or Education Technology. (equivalent significant recent experience in undertaking and disseminating research in the area of EdTech will be considere

ROLE PURPOSE

This post is based within British Council English Language Research (ELR) which sits within the wider English and Exams Strategic Business Unit (E&E SBU). ELR works with teams across the British Council, including E&E and English Programmes, coordinating and overseeing an active thought-leadership agenda, including publishing and presenting as experts in the field, providing editorial direction on specialised publications and research reports, and convening conferences and events that bring together international experts on language assessment, learning and policy. There are five research hubs within ELR: the Data Science & Insights (DS&I) hub, the Assessment Research (AR) hub, the Future of English hub, the Teaching and Learning hub, and the Research Engagement & Dissemination (RED) hub.
This role will work with and support the Director of English Research, the Director of Online Learning and the Director Teaching Excellence. The role will entail four key areas of work. These are operational, research, advice and dissemination. The most important aspect of this role will be to lead on designing and overseeing the delivery of innovative research which will inform the development of British Council digital portfolio products and pedagogical approaches on the use of technology to underpin our Teaching & Learning, with additional interaction with our Assessment and Data Science Insight hubs.
The role will play a pivotal role in contributing to the creation of validation arguments for our portfolio of Teaching, and Learning (and occasionally assessment) products through the development of innovative statistical analyses and reporting, advice and support for ongoing international British Council projects, and advice to key British Council clients and partners globally. This role is intended to add significantly to the British Council’s ‘World Authority’ status.
The role will also lead in the delivery and dissemination of innovative data analysis-based reports. These will be a regular feature and support for our dissemination activities. Another aspect of the role will be to advise internal and external partners on research matters related to statistical sampling and data analysis. Since the British Council engages in a substantial amount of research work globally, this is a key element of the role in profile building.
The final aspect of the role is that of dissemination. This is seen as comprising a number of elements, including publishing, conference presentations and co-presentations with internal and external stakeholders.

ROLE SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• Expertise in application and reporting of statistical approaches in educational measurement.
• Expertise in large-scale project design and data analysis.
• Expertise in large-scale data management and analysis.

Area Specific Knowledge:

• The role requires an up-to-date and practical knowledge of the area of education technology.
• Minimum PhD in the area of language teaching and learning (e.g., Applied Linguistics, TESOL, SLA) or Education Technology. (equivalent significant recent experience in undertaking and disseminating research in the area of EdTech will be considered

What you will receive in return

• 32 days annual leave plus statutory public holidays and half day privilege Christmas leave
• Non-contractual discretionary annual performance bonus
• Extensive and generous family friendly benefits
• Extensive range of voluntary benefit options
• Outstanding defined benefit career average Civil Service Pension Scheme which includes life cover and pensions for eligible dependants, e.g., Spouse, civil partner, partner, dependent children