The application procedure differs slightly depending on whether your school is state-maintained or independent and which country of the UK your school is located in.
Schools in England or Local Authorities in Scotland that are considering employing a Chinese language assistant, should read the information for schools wishing to host a Chinese assistant.
The application procedure for French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian assistants for each country in the UK is as follows. Schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are usually asked to pay Russian assistants' travel and visa costs to the UK.
Maintained schools and colleges should make their request(s) to their Local Authority co-ordinator, who will usually be able to suggest sharing arrangements.
Secondary schools should contact their Modern Language Adviser. Primary schools should contact the primary coordinator in their Local Authority.
Local Authority co-ordinators should write to potential host schools for their requests as soon as possible after the start of the Winter term, in order to get the provisional number of requests. You should then complete the Local Authority request form (MS Word) and send it to us by 7 March 2008. Late requests may be accepted.
Independent schools and post-16 establishments should apply to us directly using the independent schools' request form (MS Word) by 7 March 2008. Late requests may be accepted.
Once you have received the dossier of your assistant(s) you should refer to our page on Contacting your assistant.
In December, designated contacts in local authorities are sent request forms to complete on behalf of all maintained schools in their area. They can suggest arrangements where schools wish to share assistants.
Independent schools, colleges and universities which already take assistants also receive request forms in December directly from British Council Scotland. If you wish to share an assistant, the British Council may be able to put you in touch with another institution with a similar request.
The deadline for request forms from all local authorities, independent schools and colleges to be returned to British Council Scotland is 29 February, however late requests may be accepted. Read our overview document which summarises how the programme works.
If you have not recently taken assistants and would like to receive a request form, please email internationaleducationscotland@britishcouncil.org or telephone 0131 524 5717.
Interested schools and colleges should make their initial request(s) (to be updated for 2008/2009) to the Language Adviser in the appropriate Education & Library Board. Received requests will be collated by Advisers into sharing arrangements where necessary. The closing date for the receipt of such requests is 15 February 2007.
Colleges of Further & Higher Education should apply directly to the British Council.
For institutions wishing to employ an Irish Language Assistant, please complete the application form and return it to the Language Adviser as directed. Please also contact the British Council with details of your request.
For further information, please contact the British Council Northern Ireland
In March and April we meet with our partner organisations and decide which assistants are allocated to which regions. In May, the allocations to individual authorities and schools are made. We are usually in a position to send out the assistants' application forms to authorities and schools in mid May (Scotland and Northern Ireland) or late May (England and Wales).
Requests for second year extensions are often discouraged, but it depends on the language. This is to give new applicants the opportunity to come to the UK and also enable the same number of UK assistants to work overseas as part of the bi-lateral programme.
The situation for 2008-2009 is as follows:
French – depending on the number of applications from French-speaking assistants, we usually write to current assistants in the spring to invite them to apply for a second year.
German – we are likely to have a long waiting list of new applicants so second year extensions are not encouraged.
Spanish – we will have a long waiting list of new applicants so second year extensions are not encouraged.
Italian – we will have a long waiting list of new applicants so second year extensions are not encouraged.
Chinese - assistants are officially on a year’s secondment from their school in China and should return to their school after the period of appointment. Therefore, second year extensions are not encouraged.
Japanese - there are likely to only be a small number of posts for Japanese language assistants each year, so second year extensions are not encouraged.
Russian - there are likely to only be a very small number of posts for Russian language assistants each year, so second year extensions are not encouraged.
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