Education Officer

The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust is looking for an Education Officer to join our friendly team in Tobermory. Starting July 2025.

School pupils shouting ‘sighting’ during a floating classroom visit

Education Officer: Full-time, 1 year fixed-term contract, £26,641 per annum.

The Education Officer is responsible for the development and delivery of HWDT’s new education project, Hebridean Marine Explorers - Connecting Scotland’s seas and communities.

This project will enthuse young people and local communities about their local seas and amazing marine life through unique boat-based education experiences and innovative co-design education approaches.

The Education Officer will develop and deliver;

  • a 12-week co-design project with schools resulting in a community exhibition

  • a programme of digital school workshops

  • boat-based floating classroom education workshops

  • marine mammal research expeditions for young people

  • community open boat events.

Educating young people on land and at sea is key to the role so we are seeking a confident, enthusiastic, organised self-motivator, familiar working with schools and young people, with outstanding communication skills. Experience of marine mammal surveys and the ability to identify cetacean species in the Scottish waters is also essential to the role.

We are looking for somebody experienced in teaching and delivering environmental education activities and training for young people, ideally with knowledge of co-design project delivery and its implementation within a primary school environment.

Our ideal candidate will have experience coordinating a funded project and the skills to provide effective communication, evaluation, and reporting against project targets.

The ability to work with external partners, the wider team of HWDT staff and boat crew to deliver project outcomes and a genuine interest in cetaceans and marine conservation is essential. An understanding of the workings of a charity/NGO would be an advantage.

A valid medical fitness certificate (i.e. ML5 or ENG1) and PVG check is required for the role.

Read the full role description here: Role description and person specification.

Further information about our education programme, Silurian and the work of the Trust can be found at hwdt.org

To apply send a CV and a Covering Letter describing your skills and experience relevant to the role, and two references to: Sadie Gorvett at sadie.gorvett@hwdt.org  with ‘Education Officer Application’ in the subject line. 

You do need to have the right to work in the UK to apply for this role, https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work. As a small charity HWDT are unable to sponsor visa applications for international workers at this time.

 Closing date for applications: 9am Monday 5 May. Interviews will take place on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 May.

This post has been generously funded by Scottish Power Foundation

Sadie Gorvett