Location: UK Remote (office or hybrid options available)

Annual Salary: Starting salary £23,000

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week)

Line Manager: Katie Niedzielski

Recruiter: Hope Parkin

Closing Date: 27/03/2024

We are looking for an experienced science educator to join the team of content writers and editors on our secondary science product, Beyond Science. In this role, you will contribute to the creation of original, curriculum-driven content for KS3 and GCSE science subjects. You’ll be a go-to specialist for biology, chemistry or physics, using your up-to-date knowledge of secondary education to ensure that our resources are suitable for the target audience and that the materials provide appropriate levels of challenge and support. The tasks that you will perform on a particular day will be determined by the team leader according to workflow and customer needs.

We welcome applications from qualified and enthusiastic secondary science teachers who have experience designing and creating their own resources for the classroom based on the KS3 and KS4 science programmes of study from the national curriculum in England. You will also ideally have a working knowledge of the GCSE science specification from one of the main exam boards in England (AQA, Edexcel or OCR).

Your weekly activities could include:

  • Writing and editing new resources to support teaching and learning of secondary science, with a particular focus on KS3 and GCSE topics linked to your area of specialism (although you may be required to edit content from other science specialisms depending on business needs).
  • Sensitively giving and responding to editorial feedback around grammar and punctuation, curriculum relevance and factual accuracy.
  • Working alongside colleagues to elevate resources to an excellent standard.
  • Using your specialist knowledge as a science educator to support other team members in improving their resource content.
  • Producing resources that respond to customer needs and current teaching methodologies.
  • Meeting with other members of the team to discuss and develop new ideas.
  • Maintaining excellent communication with the writers, editors, designers and illustrators that you collaborate with.
  • Reviewing existing content on the Twinkl website to ensure that it is up to date and meets customers’ needs.
  • Administrative tasks associated with this role.

You will join a group of experienced writers, editors and designers, who are dedicated to producing high-quality content and make Beyond Science a fun and diverse team to be part of. Our ideal candidate will be passionate about giving back to the education community and keen to share their science expertise with others in the team. This position can take place at Sheffield HQ or it can be a work-from-home, flexible position.

Remote working and hours:

  • Although we allow flexible working patterns to fit in around family or other commitments, our full-time team members are expected to complete most of their work during office hours, Monday to Friday. To be considered for this role, you must be available around our core hours (10 am – 2 pm) Monday to Friday.
  • You will need to have good daytime availability for training, meetings, collaboration and ongoing CPD, particularly in your training period/first month.
  • Essential for remote working – You will need access to a fast and reliable internet connection of at least 6 Mbps down and 1 Mbps upload. We recommend you use speedtest.net to check.

Requirements

To succeed in this role, you will:

  • produce original teaching resources that are accurate, engaging and curriculum-driven, according to a monthly target;
  • proofread and edit content produced by other team members, according to a monthly target.

In this role, you will learn:

  • how to produce classroom material that is engaging, inclusive and varied;
  • how to create content that responds precisely to customer needs;
  • how to write and check content according to product guidelines;
  • how to give and receive constructive feedback;
  • how to work in ‘agile’ teams, allowing you to solve problems and prioritise tasks to meet deadlines;
  • how to apply your teaching experience to create new products, from ideation stage to publication.

You’ll work with:

  • Rebecca Driver (Beyond Science Product Owner);
  • Katie Niedzielski (Beyond Science Team Leader);
  • our friendly team of qualified teachers who write and edit the content for our outstanding resources;
  • our accomplished designers who produce the eye-catching, polished resources you see on our website;
  • our talented illustrators who work across all Beyond teams to produce diagrams and other illustrations to support teaching and learning;
  • digital copywriters and the Beyond marketing team.

We’re interested in anyone who meets a combination of the following: 

  • qualified teacher status with a PGCE or equivalent qualification;
  • at least 2 years of classroom based science teaching experience with full class responsibility (please state your science specialism when applying);
  • a good working knowledge of the national curriculum in England’s science programmes of study for KS3 and KS4;
  • the ability to consistently check a broad range of resources for spelling, punctuation, grammar, curriculum relevance and factual accuracy;
  • excellent communication skills for sensitively delivering feedback;
  • excellent IT skills and the ability to operate fluently between a range of different IT platforms;
  • experience designing and creating your own resources for the classroom.

We’re particularly interested in anyone who meets one, or a combination of the following: 

  • Has experience of teaching Science in KS3/KS4 and has strengths in Biology, Chemistry or Physics
  • Has experience of leading science within a UK secondary school.

How to apply:

Along with your up-to-date CV, please submit a cover letter to help us better understand why you are interested in this position and how your teaching skills and experience will make you successful in this specific role.

Please ensure that your application specifies which area of science is your specialism: Biology, Physics or Chemistry. 

Disclaimer: Potential Closing of Job Application Before Advertised Deadline

Please be advised that in the event of an exceptionally high volume of applications, the job advertised may become unavailable before the originally stated closing date. While we strive to adhere to the published timeline for accepting applications, circumstances beyond our control, such as overwhelming response rates, may cause an earlier closure of the application process.

We encourage all interested candidates to submit their applications at their earliest convenience to ensure consideration.

Benefits

In return for everything you can bring, we can offer you an exciting role in a fast-growing and dynamic business, with plenty of career opportunities.

Here are a couple of the things that make Twinkl a great place to be:

  • A friendly, welcoming and supportive culture. We believe work should be fun and always put people before the process.
  • Diversity, inclusion and belonging – our Employee Network Program includes working groups for LGBTQ+, People of Colour, Disabilities (visible and invisible), Women in Tech and Working Parents.
  • From day 1 – Westfield Health, 29 annual leave days per year plus up to four additional days that may be awarded each year by the company, flexible working policy with opportunities to work from home and Twinkl subscription.
  • After probation – company sick pay and cycle-to-work scheme.
  • Long-term service reward – Life insurance, enhanced pension contribution, enhanced maternity pay, enhanced adoption pay and enhanced paternity pay.