We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.
Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.
We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.
Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.
We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.
Learning Facilitators are the public face of our learning programme, engaging audiences in an exciting array of high-quality, face-to-face and online learning experiences.
Part of the wider School and Family Learning team, Learning Facilitators make learning accessible, memorable and fun: sparking curiosity, encouraging scientific enquiry, asking questions and facilitating dialogue. As well as delivering activities to visiting schools and family groups, there are opportunities to support our Community, Youth and National learning programmes.
A Day in the Life of a Learning Facilitator (the rota changes daily and so this should be seen as a “snapshot” of a typical day)
9:30am – Start of the day
You begin with a briefing alongside the Learning Operations Manager, reviewing the day’s rota and checking in on any specific requirements for visiting groups. This is your chance to prepare, ask questions and make sure everything is set for a smooth day.
10:00am – Preparing to welcome schools
You’ll either be setting up in our dedicated learning spaces or heading to meet and greet school groups as they arrive at the Museum.
10:30am–12:30pm – Morning sessions
Time to deliver one of our engaging sessions for booked school groups. For example, you might be leading our Evolution workshop in one of our dedicated learning spaces, running a pond-dipping session in the gardens, or facilitating a live virtual workshop for a school joining remotely.
12:30pm – Break and admin
A well-earned pause to recharge, have a bite to eat and catch up on emails.
1:30pm – Afternoon session
You’ll deliver another booked session – this time, perhaps you’ll be presenting our high-energy Emergency! Earthquakes and Volcanoes show in the Attenborough Studio.
2:30pm – Lunch
Once schools have headed home, the team get a chance to have lunch.
3:30pm – Team debrief
You’ll come together to reflect on the day: celebrating highlights, sharing what worked well, and troubleshooting anything that could be improved.
4:00pm – Gallery delivery or project time
The late afternoon might be spent learning new activity, training, researching, or engaging visitors on gallery - bringing learning to life in a more informal setting.
5:30pm – End of shift
You wrap up and head home.
You need to be an excellent communicator, skilled at tailoring your approach to different audiences and have an ability to make learning fun. You will also need to have the energy and stamina to operate within a high-pressured museum environment.
Teamworking is a key part of the role, so an ability to operate as part of a large and busy team is imperative to success. Excellent customer service skills are essential.
You will be passionate about sharing the joy and wonder of the natural world with our visitors. A background in learning, either in a formal or informal setting, is also a key requirement of the role. Whilst not necessary, experience or interest in STEM learning would be an advantage.
We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.
- 35.5 days holiday (full time equivalent, includes working bank holidays)
- Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
- Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
- Life insurance
- Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
- Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
- We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
- Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
- Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi
Due to the nature of this role the work pattern will be 100% on site.
