School Science Technician Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Prepare equipment materials and solutions for lessons.
• Manage chemical stock labels and secure storage.
• Maintain laboratories equipment and safety resources.
• Support practical setup clearance and waste handling.
• Record checks faults spills and replenishment needs.

A realistic working scenario

You work across classrooms, prep rooms, stores and occasional off-site education locations. Typical day: prepare practical materials to lesson or activity plans, test and label equipment, perform pre-use inspections, complete inspection and test records, isolate faulty apparatus, arrange parts or asset replacements, hand over outstanding defects, and update workflow systems and attendance or progress records where required.

Outputs to agree

• Completed equipment inspection and test records for each practical session or booking.
• Isolation or defect-closeout reports logged in the workflow system with proposed remedial steps.
• Parts and asset control logs showing issued, returned and serviced items.
• Handover notes for incoming staff covering outstanding faults, safety isolates and operational status.
• Safeguarding and attendance entries related to practical sessions where required by education procedures.

Records and evidence

• Inspection and test records for apparatus, including date, tester, outcome and next-check date.
• Isolation logs for equipment taken out of service and reason for isolation.
• Parts and asset control register with serial numbers, location and issue/return dates.
• Handover checklist: outstanding defects, safety mitigations, and action owner.
• Workflow system entries for defect-closeout and service requests.
• Work records.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Line Manager or Department Manager. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• Approve routine consumable issue and return within delegated stock limits. Authorise temporary isolation of equipment for safety pending repair and record it in the isolation log. Escalate any safeguarding disclosure or suspected pupil welfare risk to the practice or department manager immediately. Service vendors or replacement-parts purchases must be raised via the practice or department manager or submitted as a workflow system request where approval limits are exceeded.
• Obtain approval before committing expenditure, changing contractual commitments or making regulated or staffing decisions outside the assigned role.

Tools and systems

• Risk assessment records.

Workplace context

• School, college or other agreed education premises and authorised off-site educational activities.

Training and certification

• Complete employer-required safeguarding training.
• Complete employer-required health and safety training.

Contract priorities

• Keep inspection, test and isolation records accurate and up to date in the workflow system.
• Record and control parts, consumables and assets using the asset register.
• Escalate safeguarding disclosures and Ofsted-related concerns to the practice or department manager.
• Complete handovers documenting outstanding defects, isolates and required actions.
• Use PPE, follow safe systems and log any unsafe equipment or manual-handling incidents.

Information the employer should prepare

• the sciences year groups and laboratory facilities
• the preparation timetable and technician team
• the substances equipment and competence required
• the purchasing storage and waste arrangements
• the emergency training and holiday-work expectations