The British-German Association seeks to recruit a Learning Executive
Summary
The British-German Association (BGA) is the UK-registered charity that promotes mutual understanding between the peoples of the UK and Germany. www.britishgermanassociation.org.
The BGA seeks to encourage schools to teach German, pupils and students to learn German, and universities to continue to offer German as a degree course. We also seek to stimulate an interest in Germany amongst pupils and young people who speak no German.
The BGA is therefore seeking to recruit a Learning Executive to take forward this work. The Learning Executive will devise and implement ideas to keep German on school and university curricula and course offerings, and to promote educational coverage of Germany. The Learning Executive will be the BGA’s primary point of contact with German-teaching secondary schools and with university German Departments. They will work closely with the German Embassy, the Goethe Institut, the UK-German Connection and other partners. And they will inform public-policy discussions on issues relevant to the above topics.
About us
The British-German Association (BGA) is a UK registered charity, founded in 1952, and governed by a Board of Trustees. The BGA enjoys the Royal Patronage of HRH the Duke of Kent, and the Patronage of the German Ambassador in London and the British Ambassador in Berlin. We are supported by an Advisory Council of very senior individuals from a range of professional backgrounds. The BGA works closely with the German Embassy and the FCDO in London, with the British Embassy and the Auswaertiges Amt in Berlin, and with other relevant institutions.
The BGA receives no regular public money. We are supported by individual, institutional and corporate donors, as well as by income from membership and events.
The BGA’s Strategy
The Board of Trustees has recently agreed on a new strategy, based on four pillars: Learning, Reach, Communities and Public Policy.
The Learning Executive would have responsibility for developing the Learning pillar. They will work alongside the executives who are the Executives for the other areas.
Learning. The number of British pupils taking a GSCE in German has fallen by around 70% in the past twenty years, so that now only one pupil in thirty now studies German to GCSE. The BGA is concerned by this trend. So we engage with a network of around 550 British secondary schools that teach German.
In addition to our work with schools, the BGA works with some of the leading university German departments and academics. We were closely involved in the German Ambassador’s initiative, Making the Case for German, and we worked with a group of leading language institutions to help inform the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review.
In promoting German-language teaching, the BGA has developed an informal working partnership with the Cultural Section of the German Embassy, with the Goethe Institut, with the UK-German Connection, and with the Dresden Trust, which support exchanges between British and German schools or visits by British pupils to Germany.
The BGA also seeks to inspire an interest in Germany amongst pupils who speak no Germany. We have recently launched a free Associate Membership for anyone learning, studying or teaching German at a British secondary school or university. We have attracted over 100 Associate members in the first month of the scheme.
The other three themes of the BGA’s strategy are summarised below:
- Reach. The BGA has around 800 paying members, with around 30% of our membership aged 35 or under. We organise two to three events each month, both in person and on-line. The events involve the leading speakers in their field. Events cover history, culture, economics and current affairs. We are now seeking to reach a broader audience through appropriate use of both traditional and social media.
- Communities. The BGA encourages municipal and regional links between the UK and Germany, working both with Combined Authorities and Councils, and with voluntary town-twinning associations. We also promote partnerships between British and German regional authorities, in which context we initiated the successful regional partnership between Greater Manchester and the Ruhr. We have a strong presence in Scotland. We are seeking to widen and deepen our engagement across the UK.
- Public policy. The UK’s exit from the European Union has made bilateral relations with European countries more important. Several years of strengthening UK-German relations culminated in the bilateral Kensington Treaty, the first UK-German Treaty since 1890, which was signed in July 2025. The Kensington Treaty acknowledges “the important role of civil society.” We are seeking to engage more closely with politicians, officials and think tanks on public-policy aspects of the bilateral relationship that are relevant to our charitable objectives.
The Learning Executive
The Learning Executive will have the following responsibilities:
Engaging with secondary schools. The Goethe Institut is the pre-eminent organisation that promotes German-language teaching in the UK. The UK-German Connection provides opportunities and funding to bring young British and German people together. These organisations receive funding from the German and British Governments respectively. However, the British-German Association believes that it is important for there to be a British civil-society organisation that works with the Goethe Institut and the UK-German Connection, and that complements their work in promoting German-language learning, stimulating an interest in Germany amongst British pupils, and encouraging links between British and German schools and young people.
The BGA’s Learning Executive will lead the BGA’s interaction with the Goethe Institut, the UK-German Connection, and other organisations that support German-language teaching or that encourage an interest in Germany in British schools. The Learning Executive will manage, energise and grow the BGA’s network of contacts with over 550 British secondary schools that teach German. The Learning Executive will devise and implement projects that stimulate an interest in Germany and the German language amongst secondary-school pupils. The Learning Executive will also consider how to encourage an interest in Germany amongst pupils who have not learned and are not learning German.
Informing the curriculum and related policies. The Learning Executive will stay abreast of curriculum changes, whether at the level of Government policy, examination boards, or academy chains and individual schools. The Learning Executive will develop an understanding of the practical classroom implications of the curriculum and proposed changes to it. The Learning Executive will shape the BGA’s input to relevant aspects of the Government’s continuing curriculum review, working with other expert bodies as appropriate. The Learning Executive will develop an understanding of the issues surrounding school exchanges, and will help to communicate new opportunities to schools. In conjunction with the BGA’s Head of Public Policy, the Learning Executive will engage with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages, the Department for Education and the Culture Section of the German Embassy.
Engaging with universities. The Learning Executive will engage with British universities that teach German, develop an understanding of the issues affecting applications to study German, and explore how the BGA can help university modern languages departments with outreach to schools. The Learning Executive will develop an understanding of the issues surrounding youth mobility and Erasmus+.
About you
You are likely to have learned and studied German at a British secondary school or university, and/or to be teaching or have taught German or subjects involving Germany in a British secondary school or university department.
You have an enthusiasm for helping young people to fulfil their potential by developing a better understanding of German and of Germany. You have passed or would pass a DB check.
You understand, or can develop an understanding of, the pressures facing teachers and academics. You have the empathy to engage sympathetically with teachers under stress, and the ability to engage with academics, politicians and Government officials.
You speak native-level or near-native-level English and fluent or near-fluent German.
You are based in the UK, and you have permission to work in the UK. You can live anywhere in the UK, but if you do not live in or near London, you would be able occasionally to travel to London for meetings. You are able to work full-time.
What we offer
As explained above, the role of Learning Executive offers the opportunity to play an important role in the effort to keep German on the British school and university curriculum, and to help motivate pupils, students and teachers. You will be able to develop relationships with all the other key people involved in this effort.
The Learning Executive will report initially to the BGA’s Chair, and will also benefit from the advice and guidance of the Trustees responsible for our work with schools and universities.
We offer a starting salary in the range of £33,000 to £40,000, depending on experience and expertise. We will enrol you automatically into a pension scheme unless you decide to opt-out, and we will make the contributions required by law.
You will be entitled to 32 days paid holiday each year, including Public Holidays.
The British-German Association is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all diversity groups and backgrounds.
Next steps
The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 28 June. We will consider applications in the order they arrive. If you are interested, please send a CV and a covering letter (of no more than two pages) explaining your interest and qualifications to [email protected] as soon as possible. Ideally, we would like the new Learning Executive to start work in the early Autumn, before the start of the next school year.
You can download the job specification below.