Vacancy: Literacy and Digital Skills Coordinator

Company Profile

EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and locally driven UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips voluntary community educators to create transformative literacy and STEM opportunities through education spaces named ‘Spots’, with a focus on female empowerment and environmental action. Together, we are creating a movement of community-based changemakers.

Since 2016, through collaborating extensively with over 250 local volunteers, we have supported 50 communities in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’, with a strategy to support them in moving towards our ‘Dream Spot Model’. We are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have applications across the world.

Our 16-strong but entirely part-time and remote working Ghanaian team creates collaborative learning opportunities through our Ignite and Community Leadership in Development (CLEd) Programmes which include training to lead our EduLit, EduSTEM, EduKidz and Ignite Girls clubs, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 15,000 students of all ages annually. Read our 2022 Impact Report here.

We are in an exciting period of our development. We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a finalist for the Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize. In 2021, our Founder was a Finalist in The Varkey Foundation’s $1 million Global Teacher Prize, supported by UNESCO, partly for her role in developing EduSpots.

We are excited by our future. Do visit www.eduspots.org for further information.

Job Description

• Reporting to: Education & Research Manager 

We are looking for an organised, dynamic and passionate educationalist, with the educational and creative skills to drive forward EduSpots’ work in literacy and digital skills development.  

This important full-time role, reporting to the Education and Research Manager, will involve leadership of our established volunteer-driven EduLit Clubs programme for Junior High Level students, which engages learners from 20 communities in Ghana in a range of practical literacy activities that also aim to promote skills in creativity, critical thinking and leadership, with a focus on connecting educational activities to the community context and play-based learning. The coordinator will manage the EduLit Peer Mentor to support and develop our literacy WhatsApp community of over 100 community-based literacy volunteers, ensuring that they feel motivated and gain continuous professional development support. 

They will also create, research and procure educational resources across a wide range of literacy-related and digital learning areas, as the needs of the organization, volunteers and learners determine. Once embedded into the role, the post-holder will lead a wider organization-wide strategy in literacy and digital skills development, which will be embedded into our wider volunteer leadership and learner programmes. 

They will thrive in a fast-paced environment, with our work strongly centered on the quality and sustainability of the change created with our grassroots volunteers. They will be able to take on board extensive feedback to further develop the quality of their work and the resulting impact. They will have a thirst for learning and be able to produce high quality outcomes independently within a mainly remote working environment, utilizing strong IT and design skills, using Canva or other design tools effectively to produce content. 

EduSpots is highly committed to the professional development of all staff with an in-house training programme with external facilitators developed as a core part of our approach. Staff receive extensive guidance on their work and development, with the opportunity to consult with highly experienced advisors. We have a particular focus on promoting staff well-being and building a supportive community, built around our collaboratively created values of community leadership, play, care, passion, teamwork and sustainable impact. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• To lead on strategies for promoting literacy development across the network.  


• Support the development and continuous review of a curriculum for our EduLit clubs. 


• Create content to support the clubs: a monthly action plan, monthly mentoring session and wider supporting information.


• Lead monthly zoom session for EduLit volunteers, with training tips and enabling volunteers to share their ideas and collaborate. 


• Lead all communication with EduLit volunteers, via WhatsApp, phone call and email, as appropriate. 


• Create in-house context-specific resources to go into EduLit kits to match the designed curriculum. 


• To lead on the Reading Buddies scheme, encouraging Spots to adopt this. 


• Track participation in our EduLit Programme and oversee all monitoring and evaluation for the programme.


• Manage the EduLit Peer Mentor 


• To create an integrated strategy for digital learning, leading on the creation of training sessions on digital skills and online safety for roll-out across the network. 


• To create resources to enable volunteers to use the app and digital devices effectively. 


• Lead on researching effective literacy development applications to be housed on the tablets, and train volunteers in effective use of these. 


• Lead on the long-term literacy-focused relationship with UK school partners. 


• Lead on the acquisition and distribution of books by local authors and relevant text books, alongside the development of our in-house story books, working with the wider Programmes team and the Head of Operations. 


• Work with the Head of Communications to ensure the activity and impact of our literacy and digital learning work is communicated to wider stakeholders. 


• Supporting the process of impact reporting and evaluation for the Ignite Programme and the digitalisation process.  

Other

• Ensure all administrative tasks relating to the role are carried out accurately.


• To comply at all times with the organization’s policies, procedures and performance expectations of staff as set out in the Staff and Volunteers Handbook.


• Any other duties as may be reasonably required under the role, which may include some communications team support or supporting our online courses. 

Required Skills or Experience

Knowledge & Experience

• At least 3 years’ experience in the area of literacy development, preferably with experience of designing and leading a literacy programme at Junior High Level. 


• Experience in programme development and management with an understanding of the need to meet deadlines. 


• Experience in education resource design (e.g. curricula, student activities, teacher/facilitator guides).


• A strong training facilitator, with the ability to model outstanding pedagogy and inspire volunteers.


• Strong IT knowledge and skills, with an interest in, and ability to, equip volunteers and learners with the digital skills needed to thrive in today’s world. 


• Experience in online educational delivery of various forms (e.g. via zoom, WhatsApp, and phone call) 


• Experience of working with volunteers to drive educational change. 


• Experience of home-based, online working 

Personal Qualities & Skills

• A creative thinker, able to use innovative ideas to drive educational engagement and outcomes. 


• A strong educationalist, with a genuine passion for the power of education to transform lives


• Strong skills in design (e.g. on Canva), with an ability to use a range of resource and communication methods to convey information to a diverse mix of community-based volunteers (e.g. videos, posters, voice notes etc).  


• A team player with a belief in the value of collaborative approaches to learning. 


• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work to maintain a high standard of performance with minimum supervision.


• Strong IT skills and understanding, with an interest in the use of educational technology to drive outcomes. 


• Ability to work under pressure, prioritise and meet deadlines.


•  Ability to respond to feedback effectively, always looking for improvements in their work, and that of the organisation. 


• Flexible with the ability to react to change and be adaptable.


• An ability to understand and meet agreed international standards of working and promote strong professional standards in their team. 


• A strong personal affinity with EduSpots’ mission, vision and values (community leadership, play, care, passion, teamwork and sustainable impact) with a genuine passion for educational equity and community-led development, with the ability to work collaboratively with grassroots volunteers who are the leaders of our network.   

Desirable

• Volunteer experience and commitment.


• Experience of working in a multicultural team


• Masters qualification in a related field