Head of Contextual Practice (School of Musical Theatre & Dance)

Job Summary

£38,000 to £42,000 Full time. Permanent Woking, Surrey

Job Description

Are you an accomplished Contextual Practice tutor with FE or HE experience, a background in Dance & Musical Theatre, and expertise in face-to-face, blended and online delivery?

Would you relish the opportunity to lead the Contextual Practice provision for Dance & Musical Theatre courses at Britain's first performing arts academy?

Working closely with Course Leaders, you will lead, develop and enhance an engaging, insightful and immersive Contextual Practice provision across our Dance & Musical Theatre programmes. Managing a small team of Sessional Tutors and external markers, you will help ensure our graduates enter the profession as thoughtful, informed and well-rounded performers.

You will bring an innovative approach, broad cultural awareness, a strong academic background, and familiarity with the literary and theatrical canon, critical theory, and contemporary performance discourse. Experience supporting students through Practice-as-Research and independent performance projects is desirable.

As a training institution, Italia Conti places performer development at the heart of its provision. You will foster a supportive learning environment while coordinating Contextual Practice across our BA and CertHE courses. Success in this role requires the ability to work collaboratively and autonomously with Course Leaders and Heads of Department, alongside an understanding of the distinct requirements of each programme.

A commitment to supporting talented students from a wide range of educational backgrounds is essential. You will encourage learners to achieve their full potential and contribute to our inclusive approach, supported by our established SEN Tutor and dedicated student support provision.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Italia Conti. Since relocating to our state-of-the-art Woking campus in September 2022, we have continued to build on our proud heritage while looking firmly to the future.

Job Requirements

Acting as the lead ambassador for Contextual Practice both within the organisation for the Dance & Musical Theatre courses and externally, working to raise standards through quality exercises and internal development measures.
Liaising with Course Leaders to ensure the provision of Contextual Practice is appropriate and effectively delivered within each course, and good practice upheld Academy-wide.
Line-managing sessional and salaried tutors and leading on the recruitment, induction and development of teachers in Contextual Practice. Representing these specialist tutors and having oversight of their workload, ensuring an appropriate and consistent range of teaching skill is deployed, as required, to courses.
Ensuring that the coverage of teaching and learning required by modules/units is being met by specialist teachers and that student progression is tracked from entry to graduation in the area of Contextual Practice.

Job Responsibilities

Assisting with the observations of specialist teachers and conducting the necessary quality processes to ensure a high standard of delivery in Contextual Practice across the institution.
Designing, or supporting the design of, schemes of work that can be threaded throughout the student journey as a 3-4 year training plan to be able to meet an expectation of being able to deliver on exceptional academic targets by graduation.
Designing, populating and overseeing the virtual learning environments used within Italia Conti including Moodle and Microsoft Teams Student Learning Areas for contextual practice delivery.
Working as part of a team to track student progression within Contextual Practice throughout the learning journey, using a development plan.
Providing advice, knowledge and assistance within the organisation in relation to Contextial Practice.

Job Overview

Job Title: Head of Contextual Practice (School of Musical Theatre & Dance)
Salary: £30k-£40k
Hours: Full time
Artform: Performing arts
Role: Teaching
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026
Location:

South East

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Job: Head of Contextual Practice (School of Musical Theatre & Dance)

Organisation: Italia Conti

Postcode: GU21 6BU

How to Apply

For further details of the post and of how to apply, visit our website https://www.italiaconti.com/about-us/work-for-us.
The closing date for applications is Monday 31 August 2026, 6.00pm.
Candidates must have the right to work in the UK. Only applicants shortlisted for interview will be contacted.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion matter at Italia Conti. We promote a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential. We try to embed an inclusive mindset in everything we do.

We positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, or religion or belief. As part of our drive to improve representation within our staff team, we would particularly welcome interest from Global Majority and LGBTQI+ applicants.

Contact name: Tim Rounding, Director of Human Resources
Contact email: [email protected]

Apply now

About Italia Conti

Italia Conti is one of the leading Performing Arts institutions in the country; built up over the 110 years since it was founded. The Academy has an international reputation for providing Performing Arts training for a wide variety of disciplines, enabling students to become versatile, valuable members of the profession. With a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, talented students become communicative triple threat artists.

Find out more