Youth Engagement Officer
About the Fair Education Alliance
The Fair Education Alliance (FEA) unites 300 member organisations under a shared vision that no child’s success is limited by their socioeconomic background. Our members (charities and social enterprises, think tanks, businesses and foundations, youth organisations, unions, universities and schools) are working collectively to create an inclusive system. We exist to close the gap in educational outcomes between children from low-income households and their wealthier peers.
This autumn, we’re kicking off our next strategic phase, which will take our work from neighbourhood to national, building a movement for systems change towards a fairer future for children and young people.
Why we need you (Job Summary)
Education is not fair. The gaps in educational outcomes between children from low-income households and their wealthier peers are staggering at every stage of education. Our Alliance exists to tackle this inequity, and we believe this will only be possible by empowering young people who have faced barriers in education, to co-lead systemic change as part of diverse cross-sector coalition. This is a unique opportunity to be a part of the movement to ensure all young people are respected and heard in decisions affecting their education. You would be joining the organisation at a very exciting time as our youth engagement work is growing and building momentum across the sector. This role will play a critical part in the success of taking this work forward. As the Youth Engagement Officer, you will work with our Head of Youth Engagement to ensure our Youth Steering Group can lead their own campaign activities, engage directly with decision makers, and collaborate with other young people to bring about the change they want to see. You will also support and manage the logistics of our Youth Summit, Youth Engagement Working Group and other youth engagement events.
What we’re asking of you (Key Responsibilities)
Support our Youth Steering Group to feel safe and confident as they co-lead our Alliance and create change
Our Youth Steering Group is made up of 25 brilliant young people, aged 14-24, who draw on their lived experience of the different barriers to accessing a fair education, to campaign for change. You will support the young people to lead their own campaign activity, write their monthly Youth Bulletin and engage directly with policy makers. You will also help the group to participate in FEA decision making, support the design and facilitation of their monthly meetings and training days, help them make progress against their personal development plans. This role will include working directly with young people, session planning and facilitation, policy research and managing logistics.
Ensure the Fair Education Youth Summit is a success and remains truly youth-led
Our Youth Steering Group design and run the annual Fair Education Youth Summit. The event is led by young people for young people and brings together young changemakers from across our membership and the wider education and youth sectors to develop their youth leadership skills, collaborate on campaigns, and engage directly with decision makers. You will support the young people to design sessions, secure speakers, embed past feedback and plan the event structure. You will also support with the event logistics, guestlist management, participant communications and collecting attendee feedback.
Support our members to improve their youth engagement practice
Our Youth Engagement Working Group supports FEA members and other sector organsiations to increase and improve their own youth engagement practice. You will support the management of logistics, promote the workshops, and communicate with working group members. You will also support the facilitation of the workshops and ensure the attendee data and feedback is correctly logged and actioned.
The critical responsibilities of this role are described above. They may be subject to reasonable changes from time to time in line with business need and the decisions of the youth leaders we support.
After passing probation, up to six weeks ‘super remote’ working per year is offered, where you can work anywhere in the world as long as you’re online for four hours of the UK workday.
Please note as this role works with young people there will be occasions where your working hours will be outside the standard 9-5:30pm. This will typically be a few meetings per month that can last until 7pm and about four weekend days over the year. This is to ensure our activities fit around the young people’s education and work commitments.
How to Apply
Please send a CV and cover note (no longer than two A4 pages) to recruitment@faireducation.org.uk with the subject line ‘Application – Youth Engagement Officer’.
Your cover note should answer the following questions:
- Why do you want to be part of the Fair Education Alliance Youth Engagement team?
- How do you meet the skills and experience set out in this job description? Please provide specific examples.
We kindly ask you to complete our Equal Opportunities Form to make sure we can continue to be as fair and inclusive as possible. All responses are optional and anonymous (link likely provided on application).
Application deadline: 8am on Thursday 3 July 2025
Candidates will be notified by the end of the day on Tuesday 8 July as to whether they will be progressing to interview.
The recruitment process will take place in two rounds:
- First-round interviews: 16 and 17 July (online)
- Second-round interviews: 31 July (in-person at our London Victoria office)
All interview panels will include members of our Youth Steering Group. You will be asked to complete a task during the first interview and another ahead of the second interview.
