Education Mentor (Volunteer)

Work directly with children / young people: Yes 

Age range of children / young people: 11-18 years

Disclosure Check: Enhanced

Term of opportunity: We will need you to be available to work with us for a minimum of 1 year.

Commitment: In this role, volunteers will be matched to a school-based programme that is delivered over multiple sessions over the course of 2-4 months. Commitment includes 8 1-hour sessions in school plus planning time.

Location: We are recruiting Education Mentors in Leeds and Bradford.

Volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. The Prince’s Trust couldn’t function without the support of thousands of volunteers across the UK, who are able to offer a vital network to young people facing significant barriers to jobs, education or training.

Prince’s Trust Education Mentors support groups of young people within an educational setting to develop their confidence and skills and support their future employability.

You will be working with groups of young people who are taking part in The Prince’s Trust Mosaic programme. The Mosaic programme was developed with a particular focus on raising the aspirations, self-efficacy and employability of the young people who take part. One of the key ways this is achieved is through connecting more young people to positive, diverse, relatable role model mentors. 

You will work within a team of Education Mentors to design and deliver development activities over 8 sessions.  These sessions will aim to build group rapport and cover a variety of topics such as teamwork, communication and citizenship. You will be supported through this process by a Prince’s Trust Youth Development Lead.

You and your fellow Education Mentors will deliver sessions with a consistent group of school children in one school. The frequency and time of these sessions are led by the school.  Your Prince’s Trust contact will do everything possible to match you up with a school that suits your availability as it is important that you are able to attend all sessions.

Most of these sessions will be face-to-face in the school environment and will last between 40 minutes and an hour. There will be some preparation to do before these sessions (i.e., planning content or reading a fellow mentor’s delivery plan) so mentors will need to be well organised. A successful volunteer will feel comfortable and confident planning and delivering sessions to a classroom of young people as well as leading smaller conversations and breakout activities.

You do not need an education background to apply for this position, however an interest in engaging with and developing the skills of young people is essential. Full training on The Prince’s Trust, the Mosaic programme and our mentoring approach will be provided.

In return for your valuable time, we provide the benefits of being part of a dedicated community of colleagues and volunteers, the satisfaction of directly impacting our success, and the undoubted personal development and pleasure that comes from working for the cause of, or directly with, children and young people, the majority of whom face significant barriers and have significant challenges to overcome.   

Please click here for the role description (opens in a new window)

If you are an already existing volunteer, please don’t apply here and instead speak to your point of contact for more information on changing roles.

Here at The Prince's Trust, we're committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to be an organisation that's representative of the communities we serve, which is why we strive for diversity of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone, from any background, can be themselves and do the best work of their lives.

We’re a Stonewall Diversity Champion and we are an employer that is Disability Confident. Our staff, volunteers and young people are supported by PT CAN (our Cultural Awareness Network), PT GEN (Gender Equality Network), PT DAWN (Disability & Wellbeing Network) and Pulse (LGBT Network). For more information, click here.

The Prince's Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of this commitment, we undertake basic disclosure checks in accordance with the Codes of Practice for all roles within the Trust, and for our roles working directly with young people, at an enhanced level. Having a criminal record will not automatically exclude applicants.

We are committed to equality and believe in building a diverse organisation that is representative of and responsive to the needs of our young people and stakeholders.

Req ID: 3110