You are invited to apply to take on a part-time self-employed facilitator role at Gamechangers-The East London Play and Learning Collective, a self-directed, consent-based learning community for home educated young people ages 6-12. We are based in the City at our host setting Weavers Fields Adventure Playground in Bethnal Green within easy reach of transport links.

To apply

Please submit a cover letter and CV, explaining why you are interested in working with Gamechangers and what you hope to contribute, to info@gamechangerslondon.org by Monday 14th November. Interviews will take place from 21st-26th November on zoom or in person, with paid trial days on the 30th November/1st December. It is essential that you read the job description below and see how your skills and experience apply.

We want to hear about your experience working with children and teenagers, what you understand about self-directed learning, what interests, hobbies or skills you can share with our community, how you deal with conflict and challenging behaviours, and how you model emotional regulation and self-care.

Please also list the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of two references and whether they would be happy to be contacted prior to interview.

Hours

Facilitation Time: Wednesdays and Thursdays 9am-4.30pm typically following Tower Hamlets term times, dates to be given once finalised with Weavers Fields Adventure Playground. This includes 5.5 hours of face-to-face time with the children and 2 hours for preparation, set up and team debriefing.

Meetings: 2 x 1 hour meetings a month with the other facilitators

1 x 1 hour meeting a month with the Directors

1 x 2 hour supervision a month with experienced self-directed facilitator

2 x 2 hour appraisals a year

Annual leave to be arranged outside the 78 term days of the year.

Contract and Pay

This is a self-employed position paid at a rate of £18.50 per hour for facilitation and meeting time. Supervision will be paid at the London living wage rate of £11.05 an hour and any potential training offered will be at this London living wage rate.

You will need to invoice Gamechangers monthly and your contract means you do need to give notice, however you remain responsible for your own taxes and national insurance contributions.

The successful applicant will be offered a probation period of 3 months (24 worked days) from the date of appointment, subject to a possible further 3 months extension by mutual agreement between the company and the applicant. The applicant will be confirmed in the new position upon the mutual satisfactory completion of the probation period.

Description

Facilitators are responsible for emotionally holding an intellectually free space for young people to direct their own education by choosing or designing their own activities, either individually or collaboratively. This includes supporting social-emotional and physical safety while using consent-based conflict navigation practices, trusting community processes, and making dynamic risk assessments. You will be working in a mixed age environment with young people who are diverse across race, culture, gender, ability, neurotype, social class and temperament and this job requires responding to them all appropriately, kindly, and holistically with understanding.

Qualifications and characteristics

Essential

• Experience working with children and teenagers in an informal setting
• Commitment to your own deschooling as an adult who has grown up in a school fixated culture and interested in learning about self-directed education
• Willingness to learn from others and openness about your own needs
• Demonstrates trust and respect for young people of all ages
• Supports children in developing emotional literacy, co-regulation and building consent-based relationships through active and empathetic listening
• Willing to work towards an unconditional approach using affirmation and gratitude, as opposed to rewards/punishments, praise and comparisons
• Values and is willing to make accessible real tools of our culture such as fire, knives, technology and screens (please note that we are a screen-friendly project)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Skilled in time management and organisation, with high levels of initiative and ability to prioritise
• General ability to physically participate in learning community activities, and is comfortable with being outdoors in all weathers for a large proportion of the day
• Current and transferable DBS check
• Right to work in the UK prior to employment

Desirable

• Experience with self-directed education
• Paediatric first aid training (ideally with outdoor specialism) and safeguarding training
• Training and knowledge of non-violent communication or other forms of horizontal communication
• Experience of working with children with disabilities or complex needs.
• Forest school/bushcraft skills, crafts, technical, or other knowledge and skills that can be shared with the children

Roles and responsibilities

• Help to set up the space for the day
• Greet and welcome young people at the start of the day and see them off at the end of the day, paying attention to and passing on any information other facilitators need to be aware of, if appropriate
• Attend community meetings (Circle), be prepared to facilitate Circle or support young people in chairing them
• Support young people to choose activities freely and consensually, express their opinions, needs, bodily autonomy, and boundaries. Support those who need reminding of or voicing of those rights
• Support the responsible use of computers, craft materials and other equipment. Where necessary, engage young people in non-coercive conversations about resources while setting appropriate boundaries
• Exemplify personal engagement in the form of sharing interests, skills, and passions through “offerings” (which young people can choose to engage with or not)
• Uphold community agreements (the PACT) and protect learners’ freedoms and rights
• Supervise young people and make safety judgement calls while they are engaged in self-directed activities, stop any extremely unsafe activity if necessary, with an explanation and suggest an alternative way to meet the need if that’s possible
• Maintain the safety and structural integrity of buildings, grounds, and infrastructure
• Maintain good relationships with Weavers Adventure Playground staff
• Care for the space and resources and reminding others of their responsibilities to tidy ; help people negotiate and share the use of the space when necessary
• Practise interpersonal respect with awareness of power dynamics, expressing your personal boundaries and taking a curiosity-led “no bystander” approach
• Maintain confidentiality of young people and family data, keeping a constant eye out for the protection of young people privacy in less formal ways
• Photo document (with consent) throughout the day, as well as keep track of a ‘narrative’ to be logged and shared with the Gamechanger families fortnightly
• Maintain good relationships with the families of the children and share concerns/celebrations in a sensitive and timely manner
• Facilitate off site trips
• Carry first aid kit and apply first aid when necessary
• Support other staff and volunteers, and manage your own wellbeing by checking-in with them during the day and listening to your own needs and theirs as they develop or change
• Reflect regularly on your own practice and commit to your own personal growth including a monthly supervision session with an experienced SDE facilitator and team meetings with Directors
• Attend meetings with the facilitator team to discuss any plans for the following week and troubleshoot any issues that may have arisen during the week’s session/s,
• Discuss and manage budget for resources that may be needed for future sessions
• Use online tools to keep in touch with the rest of the team such as WhatsApp, Signal and Notion.