Education assistant - Devon
Contract: Part time, variable hours, ongoing
Location: Devon park, based outside of Ottery St Mary
Reports to: Education Manager
Responsible for: This role has no direct reports or line management responsibility
Grade: 6
Closing date: 03 October 2025
Job Purpose
This role is central to delivering engaging, informative and memorable experiences for all visitors to our living history village. As a key member of the education team, you will bring history to life through interactive storytelling, demonstrations and visitor interactions. You will play an important role in interpreting the historical environment for the general public, while supporting the delivery of our key mission statement and maintaining high standards of presentation and professionalism throughout the site.
Key Responsibilities
• Deliver engaging, accurate, and age–appropriate historical interpretation for general visitors
• Present historical demonstrations, talks and interactive activities that reflect the daily life of the period represented in the village
• Provide warm, professional and informative engagement with all visitors, answering questions and encouraging participation in order to increase return visitors
• Assist in the preparation of educational workshops that will be happening in the week
• Maintain historical settings, props, and costumes to a high standard and ensure authenticity where possible
• Monitor visitor safety and follow all health and safety procedures, reporting any issues to the Education Manager or Duty Manager on the day
• Contribute to the ongoing development of public engagement activities, providing feedback and ideas for new interpretation methods
• Representing the organisation in a positive and professional manner at all times
The Working Week
Your working week will be varied and busy. Priorities will be the running the public engagement activities on weekends and general maintenance tasks in and around the education centre.
Your working hours are 09:00 until 17:00 with an unpaid half an hour for lunch. This post is for 8-16 hours per week over one–two days. The job will involve overtime, including some evening, week day, and bank holiday working as part of your normal duties.
This job involves undertaking duties which include the following health, safety and wellbeing considerations:
• Regular use of Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
• Use of machinery / tools
• Hand Arm Vibration
• Repetitive limb movements
• Lone working
• Use of company vehicle
Mandatory Training for this role includes
• DBS check
• Manual Handling
• Equality & Diversity
• Safeguarding Awareness
• GDPR / Data Protection Awareness
• Fire Safety Awareness
• Ladder Safety
• First Aid
• Customer Service
• Food Allergen Awareness
• Food Hygiene
Skills, Knowledge, Qualifications & Experience
All Wildwood staff are passionate, committed, and resourceful. To succeed in this specific role, you will be self-motivated, creative, and a great team player.
Essential
• Public speaking and presentation skills
• Confidence to carry out tasks independently, whilst also having the ability to work productively and successfully with a team
• Well-rounded knowledge of Anglo-Saxons and History
• Friendly and polite customer service
• Capable of working to deadlines in a busy environment
• Demonstrate a genuine love of British wildlife and belief in Wildwood’s Mission; to protect, conserve, and rewild British wildlife
• Attention to detail
Desirable
• Qualifications in history related subjects
• Experience designing public engagement activities
Why work for Wildwood
Wildwood is a native species conservation charity established in 2002 to push the boundaries of innovative conservation and rewilding. We work with nature to fight the biodiversity crisis, to halt the extinction of species and to create resilient habitats in which nature thrives. We focus on nature-based solutions to return native species and recreating truly wild spaces.
Wildwood has a proud culture of respecting and valuing all colleagues. Our people are integral to our success; their expertise enables us to achieve our ambitions, their professionalism creates strong collaborations, and their integrity upholds our organisational values.
Employment Package
• Hourly rate of pay in line with national living wage (age dependent)
• Accumulative annual leave allowance based on hours worked
• Workplace pension
• Inclusive and family-friendly working policies
• Training & development opportunities
• Selection of staff benefits including discounts
• Free or reduced price entry to BIAZA accredited zoos and aquariums