If you are a language assistant wishing to teach French, German, Spanish, Italian or Chinese in the UK, you must apply to the office in your home country. Please click on the country name below to see the contact information for your country.
If your country is not listed below, it means that we do not have an agreement with your country and you cannot become a Foreign Language Assistant in the UK through the British Council.
Some additional European countries participate in the Comenius Assistants programme. You have to apply through the Socrates National Agency in your own country.
If you would like to be a Chinese assistant in the UK, you must currently be teaching English in a school in China in order to be eligible. This programme enables Chinese teachers to receive training and employment in order to get experience teaching Chinese in the UK. Participants teach Mandarin for one academic year and/or promote Chinese culture in UK schools and get to experience a UK teaching environment.
To participate in this programme, you must be a qualified school teacher currently teaching in mainland China. This programme is run in partnership with local education authorities, mainly those in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou where we have our centres. British Council in China do not accept applications from individuals, as the scheme is based on an agreement between the Chinese and UK Ministries of Education. The opportunity is open to school teachers only and all of the applicants have to go through the official recruitment procedure in China.
If you are interested in applying to the programme as a French Language Assistant, please check you meet the following eligibility criteria:
•Be a native speaker of French currently living in the UK
•Have lived in France continuously and been educated in France from the age of 12 onwards if you do not hold a French passport
•Have completed at least 2 years at a French university
•Have at least intermediate level in English
•Be interested in working with children/young people
•Have the BAFA or other relevant experience
•Be available for the full period of the contract from 1st October to end May
September 2009 update: The application process to be a French Language Assistant in 2009-10 is now closed.
Thank you for your interest in the programme!
