Work with us.
Make an impact.
Make a difference.
Help us remove all and any barriers to learning for students nationwide.
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Working With MATs and Local Authorities
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What does work look like?
We believe that happiness is contagious and that we can create it by respecting colleagues, valuing experience, having a level hierarchy and championing a work-life balance.
At Next Steps Education you can work as much or as little as you want. Liz and Sarah know each of our tutors and mentors individually and work with you to develop your ideal work pattern. Tutoring and mentoring can be online or face to face, within students' home settings, in local community facilities or here at the Next Steps Home Rooms.
You'll find working with us offers a challenge where you should be prepared for anything but it also offers you a fantastic feel-good factor when you see your students making progress in leaps and bounds.
Next Steps Education was founded by Liz and Sarah, both former teachers, so we understand respecting your autonomy to teach whilst supporting you with up to date CPD, processes to keep you safe and a virtual staff room.
If you share our value of People First! you'll fit right in, and we'd love to welcome you to our team.
Who are our students?
Students at Next Steps have usually had a difficult journey before arriving with us. School might not be working for them... for a variety of reasons:
The majority of students we work with have social, emotional or mental health needs. This could be Emotionally Based School Avoidance, eating disorders, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, self-harm or any other mental health need.
Some of our students find themselves permanently excluded from school and are referred to us whilst they wait for a longer term placement. Excluded students often find themselves a little lost and in need of a confidence boost.
Sometimes schools can't meet a student's very individual needs. In these cases we support them with an Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) package of support.
Some students are at risk of exclusion or have low attendance that disrupts their learning. Next Steps works with schools to address missed core curriculum lessons or support students with mentoring.
Safer Recruitment Information Pack
OpenWhat should I know first?
We're not your typical agency. In fact, we're not an agency! Next Steps Education was founded and is led by two former teachers, Liz and Sarah. We thought long and hard about the type of tuition business we'd want to work at and we think we've created it. Autonomy, respect, fairness and excellence are all key to enabling tutors to be their best for our students. Our tutors and mentors have a wide range of experience and often pair supporting our students with other interests, talents and responsibilities in life.
Because of the nature of our work supporting very vulnerable students, Next Steps Education follows a very robust Safer Recruitment Policy, in line with best practice. Read through our Safer Recruitment Policy and Safeguarding Policy before you apply.
Most of our tutors work on a freelance basis but there are possibilities of PAYE if you prefer that (and some commissioners require PAYE). We don't contract/ employ you for a set number of hours per week, rather we ask you to agree to our terms in a Casual Worker Contract.
How do I apply?
Your application starts online through our education portal.
Our application form is much like one you'd see in a brick and mortar education setting. You'll need to complete all sections including a work history and self disclosure form. We'll also need to see relevant certificates and ID which you can upload securely to our portal.
Once you've uploaded your key documentation (3 pieces of ID, qualifications, QTS and a DBS) you'll be invited to an interview with us. If you don't have a current DBS let us know. We can process this for you for the standard fee. We'll also run social media checks on you (more info in the Information Pack above).
Your interview is informal and an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have. We will ask safeguarding questions, complete a Right to Work check and ask you to sign your application form. Interviews can be face to face or online.
We'll ask you to sign an overarching Casual Worker Contract. This is not a guarantee of hours but sets out our relationship together.
Final checks, such as DBS and prohibition checks will also happen now.
Your profile will become live within our portal and we'll be in touch with new students and work opportunities. You make your own decisions on which work to accept or turn down and each opportunity will have its own agreement to sign and return.
Our welcome pack explains more about the way we work and signposts you to training that we need you to undertake (Safeguarding, Prevent, FGM, CSE, GDPR, Fire Safety). If you've completed recent training elsewhere and have a current certificate we are happy to accept these in lieu of our training.
I really enjoy working for Next Steps, it's been an exciting new challenge for me. I look forward to every day, supporting a range of young people across Devon; Liz and Sarah are amazing, they're always approachable and make me feel a valued member of the team.
John W Tutor since December 2022