Coordinator: Choose Geography

The Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

The Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning – supporting education, teaching, research, professional practice and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography and providing advice to policymakers.

The Society has an international membership of approximately 16,000, 31 specialist research groups, and a programme of activities that extends far beyond its membership to broad engagement with more than three million people per year. Over 200 lectures, conferences and other events are organised each year including a major four-day Annual Conference, a programme of popular lectures, professional development for geographers, and policy-related discussions.

The Society also publishes, under contract, scholarly journals and the popular Geographical magazine. It empowers others through a programme of grant-giving in support of research, fieldwork and expeditions, and teaching. The Society’s information resources include its historic geographical Collections of maps, images, books, manuscript archives and artefacts.

The Society offers professional accreditation to members through Chartered Geographer status.

The Society is based in a listed building in its own grounds in Kensington opposite Hyde Park, and operates nine regional branches in the UK and two overseas. There are 54 permanent full-time staff, together with part-time, temporary and volunteer staff.

Applicants are strongly recommended to familiarise themselves with the current work of the Society set out on our website: www.rgs.org, and particularly our work with schools www.rgs.org/schools.

The position

We are seeking a Coordinator to deliver our Choose Geography programme. This is a new role within our established Education Team and it will focus on working with schools and teachers to promote geography as a useful and relevant subject to study, and provide guidance and support for school-based geographical careers education and progression through GCSE, A Level and on to university. This is an exciting opportunity to take forward the Society’s work in this area, which in the past has included our Geography Ambassadors Programme, in a new and innovative way and will involve extensive work across not only schools but also into higher education and the professional geographer community.

The role is ideally suited to someone with a good understanding of working with schools and teachers, who understands what teachers want and need from careers education support and can work effectively with external stakeholders to ensure opportunities are made available to all. The person in this role will have a good knowledge of the types of career areas that geographers work in and will understand the ways in which the higher education and professional communities can contribute to careers and progression support in schools.

Attendance at the Society’s office in Kensington, London is a requirement for a minimum of two days per week (usually Monday and Tuesday, but days may vary depending on event commitments) and additionally as required. Working from home on other days is possible with agreement from the Manager: Educational Professional Support. Full-time remote working is not available for this role. Some travel, in the UK, will be expected.

The Society’s work with schools

Working across schools and universities, the Society holds a unique role in helping to support the teaching of geography at all stages of education, its research, and its application in professional practice. We work with a wide range of schools spanning some of the highest achieving schools and those facing challenging circumstances across maintained, academy, free and independent schools. We are keen to extend this reach.

The Society’s schools programme encompasses a wide range of activities including:

• A School Membership programme providing online access to resources, lectures and more.
• Developing and publishing online contemporary and relevant teaching resources, including collaborations with others and project work.
• Providing continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers nationally and regionally, face to face, and online, and events for students including study days.
• Accreditation of Chartered Geographer (Teachers).
• Supporting geographical careers and further study, via online support, advice and events.
• Partnering with higher education geography departments to support CPD, project work, fieldwork training and other regional activities.
• Acknowledging excellence through competitions for schools and awards for teachers.
• Promoting geography as a good choice to study as a subject beyond compulsory stages, including in support of the Society’s strategic work to provide additional support for underrepresented and underserved pupils and schools.

The Society works with a range of other organisations such as the Geographical Association, Field Studies Council, British Antarctic Survey, Royal Meteorological Society, Department for Education, initial teacher training providers, subject bodies and associations, examination boards, various other charities and higher education institutions.

Esri UK and Inflexion, two of the Society’s corporate benefactors, support the Society’s work in promoting geography as an informed and important choice during education pathways. Our work with schools is also supported by the Ordnance Survey.

Salary and application details

This is a permanent, full-time post subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months. The salary range for this post is £34,288 - £37,150 per annum depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10:00am and 4:00pm.
• Flexible working arrangements are available with a mix of office based and home working.
• 25 days annual leave per annum plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Generous pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

To apply please email HR@rgs.org with a copy of your CV and a covering letter explaining your suitability for the post and how you fulfil the selection criteria, along with the monitoring form.

Applications must be received by 12 noon on Friday 31 May.

We intend to notify shortlisted candidates within a week of the application deadline. All shortlisted candidates will be required to undertake a task before the interview which will be presented and discussed with the panel during the interview. Details of the task will be provided once an interview has been offered.

Please include your name and the post applied for in the titles of any attached files. This appointment is subject to successful references and a DBS check. We thank, in advance, all candidates for applying and regret we are unable to write separately to those who are not selected for interview.

Job Description for the post of Coordinator: Choose Geography

Post:                            Coordinator: Choose Geography

Department:                Education

Responsible to:           Manager: Educational Professional Support

Persons reporting:      None

Location: South Kensington, London

Salary: £34,288 - £37,150 per annum

Overview of the role and the areas of work it will contribute to:

The Society’s work with schools focusses on promoting the value of choosing geography at GCSE, A Level and at university in order to increase the number and breadth of students studying geography at all stages. For almost two decades the lynchpin of this work has been the Geography Ambassadors Programme, where geography undergraduates and people from the workplace visited schools to run sessions with students about the relevance of geography and encouraging increased uptake to the next educational level. What schools want and need has since evolved, particularly in the post-covid climate, and we are now looking to adapt and enhance our progression and careers offer to provide a wider range of support that reaches bigger and more inclusive audiences.

This role is responsible for the delivery of the following key areas of the work:

1. Development of geographical careers materials to support progression and promote geographical career options for teachers and school students, covering a wide range of career types and sectors, and training pathways. These will include classroom activities and case studies, wall displays, posters, videos, brochures and more. These will be linked to the Gatsby Benchmark framework and Ofsted guidance on careers provision in schools.
2.  Careers and progression events. Planning and delivering online and face to face events for teachers and students on a range of progression and careers themes. These will be held online, in person at the Society in London and regionally where appropriate. This part of the role may occasionally involve travel within the UK. This will involve ensuring that at all events involving children, adhere to the Society’s safeguarding policy. You will also work with colleagues in the Research and Higher Education and Professional teams to support training for higher education and professional groups who are engaged in outreach work with schools, sharing a database with schools on professional geographers and university departments (staff and students) who will do school visits.  
3. Promotion of careers and employability work and extending reach and impact. Increasing uptake and reach via promotion of our work and resources to teacher networks and school students. This will involve working with the Society’s Education and Communications Teams to ensure resources and opportunities are flagged (via newsletters, social media, website etc) to teachers and schools, ‘hard to reach’ groups and other target audiences. Working with members of the Communications team, you will be responsible for the content for www.rgs.org/ChooseGeography and the #ChooseGeography social media campaign. This will also involve working closely with the Society’s dedicated widening participation staff member (another new role to be recruited) to ensure the Society is encouraging underrepresented groups to consider geography as an option, and providing dedicated events, support and materials that appeal to particular groups of students and teachers under-represented in the discipline.  

Other responsibilities

• The post holder will also work with other colleagues across the Society at various times, to provide support for events such as the Society’s annual Children’s lecture, A Level Study Day, ITT/PGCE visits and School Member lectures – some of which will be held during evenings (TOIL offered).
• Attendance at relevant events, including the Geographical Association conference. This will include travel in the UK and may involve overnight stays.
• Contribute to regular reports to the Society’s Council and Education Committee regarding progress on workplans and connections to the Society’s strategy.
• An expectation to complete a First Aid at Work course, if not already qualified.
• Undertaking other reasonable duties related to the Society’s schools work as required.

Key Skills and Experience - essential

• At least five years’ relevant work experience.
• Degree level geography (or similar subject) qualification.
• High level organisational and communication skills.
• Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to design and develop materials that will showcase geography as an attractive career option.
• Experience within teaching, careers education, school outreach or widening participation. Passionate about the contribution of geography to the education of young people and an understanding of how we can support teachers in the classroom.
• The ability to work collaboratively and successfully with colleagues across teams within and beyond an institution.
• The ability to multi-task and to work to tight deadlines, and to effectively plan and manage your own work schedule, take your own initiative and be self-motivating.
• An understanding of how best to market such programmes of work to teachers and schools.

Key Skills and Experience - desirable 

• Event organisation experience.
• Experience of writing resources and materials for schools audiences.
• Use of databases.
• Sound knowledge of the curriculum and Ofsted requirements for careers education.

The successful candidate with be required to undertake a DBS check.