Educator

Are you an educator, teacher or trainer with a strong interest in learning design and innovation? Do you have a learner-centred approach to teaching and training? Do you recognise the importance of collaborative approaches to course design? Are you interested in how educational theory can be used to enhance outcomes for professional development in surgery? Do you have the skills to influence others to achieve the best outcomes for learners? If so, this role would be an excellent fit for you.

Job Title: Educator

Salary: £40,340 per annum

Contract Type - Permanent, full-time (35 hours)

Location: We fully support flexible working, from our superb offices in Holborn and from home. We do require staff to spend minimum 20% of their time in the office. This is subject to role requirements.

About us

The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS Eng) is one of the best-known professional membership organisations in the world, with a name and reputation that speak for excellence in the UK and across the globe. We provide education, assessment and development to nearly 30,000 surgeons, dental surgeons and members of the wider surgical and dental teams at all stages of their career; we set professional standards, facilitate research and champion world-class surgical outcomes for patients.

About the role

RCS is looking for an Educator to join its Learning Innovation team in a wide-ranging and varied role focused on CPD for surgeons.

The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, developing and delivering professional development courses and materials for postgraduate surgical learners at all stages of their career. They will work as part of a skilled team to review and update existing courses and develop new ones to meet the needs of all learners. It is vital that the candidate has a keen interest in educational principles and theory and is able to apply them successfully to course development and delivery.

Educators work very closely with surgeons on course design and delivery. This can take place in a face-to-face classroom setting, virtually or in clinical environments. While surgeons are the subject matter experts, educators bring the research, curriculum design and course delivery expertise that means our courses remain up-to-date, relevant and inclusive. We offer over 30 different face-to-face and online courses for surgeons, dental surgeons and the wider surgical team and whether these are professional development courses like Train the Trainer or practical skills courses like Core Skills in Laparoscopic Surgery, it is vital that our learning offer remains of exceptional high quality and is based on sound educational principles.

The role is expected to evolve over time in line with technology, the needs of the College and developments in educational practice. The postholder will be supported to develop new skills as required and offered mentoring and training as part of their professional development. The role provides an insight into a range of roles and functions in a professional membership organisation and provides a strong foundation for those wishing to progress either into learning or operational management.

Key responsibilities

• Providing educational expertise to inform the development of learning activities. This includes new course or product development, the redevelopment of existing courses and advising on areas of innovation in education, technology and medicine.
• Developing and designing courses, activities and educational products using up to date educational principles, practices and methods.
• Keeping up to date with the surgical environment and ensuring activities complement relevant curricula, legislation and policies.
• Contributing educational expertise to learning development meetings and discussions with programme managers, clinical leads and other stakeholders.
• Piloting and evaluating educational activities.
• Working with the Operations team to train the clinicians who deliver surgical skills courses.
• Teaching on professional development courses, formal workshops and surgical training development days.

About you

• You will have comprehensive experience designing, developing and delivering educational activities (e.g. courses and workshops) to meet a variety of different learning objectives and needs.
• You will have excellent interpersonal skills, able to establish trust and build relationships with people at all levels including surgeons volunteering their time.
• You will have strong communication skills and experience working with multidisciplinary teams to achieve successful outcomes for learners.
• You will understand developments in educational theory and the changing role of technology in learning and be able to apply both to course development and delivery.
• You will be able to work independently on a range of tasks, demonstrating initiative, whilst using your strong prioritisation and organisational skills to meet deadlines.
• Ideally, you will have experience of leading the design and development of e-Learning packages to sit within learning management systems and blended learning products.

You do not need experience or knowledge of medicine or surgery, although a willingness to learn is vital.

Your first six months

You will have progressed through an induction programme, learning about RCS and the surgical profession. This will have included observing several face-to-face and online courses, attending meetings with surgeons, joining working parties and taking part in course pilots and evaluations. You will have worked with project managers, programme managers and clinical leads to advise on course design and content and written materials for course redevelopments.

You will have become an integral part of the team working collaboratively with colleagues, surgeons and freelancers to develop courses and learning material. Through this experience you will have begun to understand what training pathways look like for surgeons in the NHS and therefore, what effective professional development is. It is likely that you will have taught your first course to trainee surgeons and contributed to events and networks run by the Learning Innovation team.

You will have used up-to-date academic research to inform discussions around learning design and delivery and supported training for clinicians (known as 'faculty') delivering courses. You may also have visited a regional centre which delivers one of RCS' courses, spent a day learning about professional development in a training hospital or attended a conference.

What we can offer you

• 27 days paid holiday + bank holidays and up to 4 college closure days
• Flexible working
• Enhanced contributory pension scheme & other leave entitlements
• Variety of learning and development opportunities
• Wellbeing programme & Employee Assistance Scheme

Interested Candidates:

If you wish to apply or if you have any questions about this position please email your CV together with a cover letter to .

Any personal data collected from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us in accordance with our recruitment processes. If unsuccessful in your application, your information will be held by us on our database for a period of 6 months before deletion. If you would like your information removed sooner, please contact

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We are open to all talent and we actively ensure that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regards to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

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