Science Education Officer – Public Engagement (Education outreach)

Reports to: Education Manager

This is a full-time, permanent position on Crick Terms and Conditions of Employment,

Summary

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease.

One of the Francis Crick Institute’s strategic priorities is to engage and inspire the public. Our successful education outreach programme currently works with thousands of children, giving them an exciting, age-appropriate introduction to science and the range of careers on offer to those with STEM qualifications. It encompasses hands-on practical workshops, careers events, competitions, teacher training and family events. The young people we work with are aged 5-18, and whilst the majority are in mainstream education, we work to ensure that our offer is also accessible to those with special educational needs or disabilities.

This role is an excellent opportunity for someone with a STEM background and love of science to join our team of enthusiastic science educators, who aim to inspire the next generation of children and show them that science is ‘for them’. The successful candidate will be highly motivated, well organized and with a strong interest in sharing their science knowledge and enthusiasm with our wonderful audience of local children, young people and their teachers. The post-holder can expect to have numerous opportunities to develop a wide range of skills in communication, project management and science.

Reporting to the Education Manager, the Science Educator Officer will be based in the Education team, which sits within the wider Public Engagement team. The post-holder will work closely with the other members of the Education team and with our school contacts, as well as with the Crick’s Public Engagement, Communication and Facilities teams and our scientists.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

These include but are not limited to:

• Delivery of Crick Education outreach activities to primary and secondary school children on themes relating to the National Curriculum and current research at Crick:
  • Solo delivery of up to 5 practical science workshops per day in school to children aged 5-11;
  • Lead practical science workshops in the lab for children aged 9-18;
  • Delivery of careers-related learning activities to groups of school children from individuals to whole year groups.
  • Assist with logistics and behaviour management of other events, e.g. science shows.
• Development of novel activities for the Crick Education programme, leading on individual projects from inception to delivery.
  • Independently research, design and develop content for new workshops, taking into account best practice and external developments.
  • Design and deliver the training for new workshops and other resources and deliver to internal team and local teachers.
  • Deliver and evaluate new resources
• Lead on the programme’s engagement with parents/carers
  • Devise and deliver a parent/carer engagement strategy that supports and reinforces key aspects of the wider education outreach programme.
  • Build relationships with key internal and local external stakeholders and identify opportunities for collaborations that will allow us to reach parent/carer audiences.
  • Development and delivery of activities and associated marketing materials that reach parents/carers, including our newsletter to primary schools.
  • Proactive evaluation and refinement of the parent/carer engagement strategy and comms processes.
  • Management of administration tasks including GDPR-compliant databases; yearly reports.

KEY EXPERIENCES AND COMPETENCIES

The post holder should embody and demonstrate our core Crick values: bold, imaginative, open, dynamic and collegial, in addition to the following:

Essential

Qualifications, experience and competencies:

• BSc or equivalent in a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) subject;
• Experience as a primary or secondary school teacher, or delivering education sessions with a science outreach organisation, or through other organized activities with groups of children;
• A broad scientific knowledge and understanding of the importance of STEM qualifications.
• An ability to confidently present hands-on science workshops to classes of young children in a fun and engaging way;
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, appropriate for a diverse audience that includes young children;
• Excellent organisational skills, including a methodical approach to administrative tasks and strong attention to detail;
• Computer literacy, particularly the effective use of the Microsoft suite of packages;
• An ability to build effective relationships with a range of stakeholders;
• Self-motivated and able to work independently and within a team, demonstrating enthusiasm and initiative;
• Flexibility, with a willingness to work occasional evenings/weekends (approximately 3-4 times per year) when required as part of the Crick’s broader public engagement programme;
• The role involves some manual handling which includes moving equipment within and between schools so the post-holder should therefore be capable of lifting and carrying boxes up several flights of stairs;
• Appointment to the post will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Desirable

Qualifications, experience and competencies:

• PGCE/MSc/PhD or equivalent in STEM or Science Communication;
• Experience of delivering a wide variety of practical science sessions for classes of primary school children, or other similarly-sized groups of under 12s;
• Experience of working or volunteering in the informal science education sector, e.g. in a museum or discovery centre, and/or in the STEM sector.
• Experience of working with audiences who have special educational needs or disabilities.

As this role will primarily be working with Camden schools, the post holder will be expected to take the majority of their annual leave during the borough’s school holidays.