Learning Assistant

Learning Assistant

Forestry Commission

Apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 27th July 2023

Reference number: 298005

Salary: £23,098

A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Contract type: Permanent

Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Location: Westonbirt The National Arboretum, Nr Tetbury

About the job

The Learning Assistant plays a pivotal front-of-house role leading many of our formal education / community group activities and contributes to our wider efforts to engage all visitors to connect with Westonbirt’s significance; providing an inclusive welcome to everyone and inspiring them with knowledge and passion for trees and the environment. The role ensures every group receives exceptional service from the moment they book in, working with other team members, our external learning partner and other workshop leaders to make sure our offer provides the highest quality of experience. Now is an especially exciting time to be joining the learning and participation team, as we seek to re-imagine our programmes for inspiring young people (0-25). We are particularly looking to grow our offer for KS3 through to university, as well as looking to develop new initiatives to enable more youth-led programmes that lead to positive action. Key to this will be building fantastic partnerships with other organisations to facilitate their use of Westonbirt and widen access to opportunities for young people.

Job description

The successful candidate will be someone that thrives on a busy and varied workload. They’ll be a creative and positive educator, able to utilise a blend of approaches (e.g. inquiry-based, arts based, sensory / experiential, mindfulness and practical conservation) and techniques (teaching, coaching, facilitation, mentoring) to adapt to and support the different needs of the people they engage with, from leading specialist formal education programmes for KS3 and above and facilitating youth-led projects, to supporting our wider community programmes aimed at fostering wellbeing and welcoming families to our discovery holiday events. Where appropriate they will also deliver imaginative outreach programmes that take the arboretum ‘beyond its boundaries’ as a means of widening access to what Westonbirt has to offer. Alongside direct engagement they will also help us develop self-guide learning materials and trails. They will be empathetic to people’s needs and thrive on engaging with people and forging strong relationships using a variety of communication tools.

The role sits within the Learning and Participation team, which is also responsible for the development and delivery of interpretation, volunteering and community activities. From time to time, you will also help support other L&P activities.

Key responsibilities

Development and delivery of our offer for young people / community groups

• Curriculum-based programmes (led / self-guide) for Key Stage 2 and above – onsite / outreach. Provision of careers information and support work experience placements
• Specific programmes targeting hard-to-reach audiences to support Westonbirt’s social remit to improve wellbeing and widen access to the arboretum, including outreach activities
• Network with educational establishments, teachers, group leaders to facilitate activities and develop longer term partnerships, especially around growing youth-led action / youth voice
• Year-round creative and experiential family offer including self-guide trails and discovery activities; day-to-day management / oversight of discovery event days; liaison with onsite staff teams
• Support training / coordination of learning volunteers
• Development, implementation and monitoring of robust health and safety procedure

Evaluation and monitoring

• Support collection of quantitative and qualitative data to enable ongoing improvement of services, respond to participants’ needs and reporting both internally and externally
• Implement reflective practice / learning plan to improve own delivery of learning services

Day-to-day administrative processes

• Manage effective administration of educational visits, coordinating these with the wider site programme
• Support the day-to-day running of the learning facilities including room preparation / management, hosting groups
• Maintain ongoing communications with other onsite staff teams; support for our learning partner, workshop leaders etc.
• Purchasing of materials for programmes in line with Forestry England financial procedures
• Support of marketing activity in relation to activities
• Attend learning meetings / networks to further Westonbirt’s learning objectives

The duties of the post require the successful applicant to have a full current driving licence that enables them to drive in the UK.

The post will include some weekend and evening working to support delivery of our engagement programmes.

Apply Here