Job Title: / Education & Community Officer
Reporting to: / Head of Education & Community/Education & Community Manager
Location: / Loughborough RC - East Midlands (Notts/Derbyshire/Leicestershire/Lincs)*
Revised: / August 2014
Summary
Our 22 full time, Dogs Trust Education & Community Officers educate children and young people on responsible dog ownership - targeting communities with particular bad social problems, through schools, youth groups, secure units and Young Offenders Institutes etc.
Workshops are curriculum linked and use the theme of dog ownership as a platform for developing self-esteem, confidence, responsibility, communication and teamwork skills.
The Education & Community Officer will seek to meet the following objectives
- To deliver Dogs Trust presentations, workshops and activities within selected primary and early secondary schools across a number of LEAs and other target groups.
- To deliver Dogs Trust presentations, workshops and activities in secure units and Young Offenders Institutes.
- To deliver the key Dogs Trust messages to those young people most in need of them.
- To modify the beliefs and behaviours of those youths that contribute to the problems of so called ‘status dogs’, dog abandonment and ‘disposable dog culture’, dog related antisocial behaviour,cruelty and irresponsible ownership.
- To improve young people’s knowledge of dog welfare, dog law, dog care and dog control through reward based training methods.
- To help and encourage them to relay our messages to their parents and peers.
…whilst communicating and representing the Dogs Trust key messages
- We can all enjoy and benefit from dogs by learning about them and learning from them.
- A dog is for life: owning a dog means making a commitment and taking responsibility for that dog.
- Young people can make a difference to the welfare of today’s and tomorrow’s dogs.
- Dogs have feelings too – they need respect, affection and care throughout their lives.
Duties
- Develop a positive and effective working relationship with Dogs Trust Head of Education & Community, EducationCommunity Manager and Education & Community team.
- Develop and maintaincontacts with LEAs, schools, youth groups, Councils’ YouthOffenders Teams, Young Offenders Institutions and other relevant organizations.
- Assist with ongoing development of activities and resources for use with young people.
- Liaise with appropriate partiesto promote, arrange and deliver workshops to Primary schools, Pupil Referral Units and other establishments.
- Develop and maintain a system to log activity and feedback from adults and young people and report this into Dogs Trust on a regular basis.
- Provide evaluation and feedback on the materials and activities and advise on amendments and improvements.
- Maintain an accurate record of schools and youth groups visited and numbers of young people worked with.
- Develop positive relationship with otherUK EOsin order to share learning and ideas.
- Undertake reviews with the Head of Education & Community and Education & Community Manager in person at Dogs Trust London to assess progress.
- Attend and represent Dogs Trust at Education Shows and other Events as required.
- Extensive travel and overnight stays will be required.
- Maintain an accurate record of working hours and travel.
- Represent Dogs Trust to the media, as required.
- Other duties as required.
Person Specification
The applicant should possess the following experience, qualities and qualifications:
Required / Preferred
Teaching Qualification / Y
Youth Work Experience / Y
Two references from within the Youth Service/Schools / Y
Clean police check (undertaken by Dogs Trust) / Y
Experience of delivering self-development activities with young people / Y
Demonstration of organizational and self-management ability / Y
Creativity and enthusiasm / Y
Knowledge and understanding of dog ownership / Y
Knowledge of the role of animal welfare charities and Dogs Trust in particular / Y
Understanding of the education system for 7-11 year-olds / Y
Understanding of the education system for 11-16 year olds / Y
Understand and experience of secure units/YOI’s / Y
Confident, outgoing personality / Y
Willingness to work in a ‘dog’ environment / Y
Flexibility of working hours / Y
Full clean driving license / Y
Full training will be given by Dogs Trust.