Community education officer : Employers and vacancy sources

Main employers are:

• local authorities;
• schools and colleges of further and higher education;
• voluntary educational bodies, such as the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) ;  
• youth and community organisations, such as youth services and umbrella or liaison organisations;
• sports clubs, arts organisations, such as orchestras, theatres, galleries and museums, and heritage organisations such as Historic Scotland  and the National Trust ;
• voluntary organisations particularly those with a specific remit for work with young people, the homeless, those with mental health difficulties and special interest groups.

Related roles may be found in careers service partnerships, including Next Step , which are supported by the Skills Funding Agency .

Recent government initiatives in relation to widening participation and lifelong learning have resulted in increased funding for many new projects and a broader range of roles. These occur in:

• outreach work;
• the creation of more flexible educational provision, such as family learning programmes;
• programmes to encourage participation in vocational training and life skills development, for example, through Connexions ; 
• work with a specific client group or within a particular educational specialist area, for example, in a partnership where a local college or local authority departments, such as social work, community services and housing, work together.

At grassroots level, you may work alongside community organisations such as residents' associations, ethnic minority organisations or faith groups, and there are many opportunities to gain voluntary experience prior to employment. Community education is just as likely to happen informally through community action projects as through formal programmes of learning. Contin You  promotes a wide variety of programmes - check their A-Z list of projects for examples of the work being done. A further example is extended schools, which aim to provide a range of services and activities to help meet the needs of children, parents and the community. See Training and Development Agency - Extended Services  for more information.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• Local Government Jobs   
• Goodmoves  
• CharityJOB  
• NIACE Dysgu Cymru   
• The Voice    
• The Big Issue   
• Times Educational Supplement (TES)    
• Children & Young People Now Jobs   
• Local authority vacancy bulletins and websites.
• National and local press.

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