The Student View is a charity on a mission to create a newsroom in every school. We aim to improve diversity in the media, media literacy, and revitalise local news deserts. Our work won The News/Media Literacy Award category of the 2019 Global Youth & News Media Prize.

We launch pop-up newsrooms where pupil journalists write local news stories, focused on the issues that our young people care about most. Supporters of our work include the Financial Times, we are also the founding Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Media Literacy.

Job Description

You will be working on the My Voice London initiative with the global-award-winning Student View team. This initiative has been sponsored by the Financial Times since 2018. Volunteer journalists from the Financial Times will support your efforts in workshops to bring the world of journalism alive and inspire young people to share their stories. In the past volunteer journalists have included Chief Data Reporter John Burn-Murdoch and Associate Editor Sarah O’Connor.

The role focuses on facilitating workshops digitally, developing stories led by young people with the support of volunteers and gathering stories through FOIs and open-source datasets between workshops. You will play a key role in combating misinformation and helping young people from underserved backgrounds in London understand the media landscape.

Around half of your time will be spent leading workshops digitally, while the other half will be focused on developing the stories the pupils have been working on. The curriculum you will be teaching is focused on key media literacy topics, such as the media landscape, anti-misinformation tactics and basic journalism skills. Outside of workshops, you will be filing Freedom of Information requests, ensuring their timely return, and finding local newspapers to publish the investigations of our TSV reporters. Our investigations have been published by The Guardian, BBC, Yorkshire Post and the South London Press.

The role is relatively independent, with the flexibility to work from wherever you want, facilitating digitally in our pop-up newsrooms. Your main point of contact will be our Editorial and Programme Lead who oversees our projects and work with young people.

Training will be provided and The Student View is committed to the personal and professional development of its staff. This is an exciting chance to join a growing and influential charity with real potential to shape the programmes and future direction of The Student View.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all and champion diversity.

Skills Required

• Ability to work with children from a variety of backgrounds and of varying academic ability
• Good public speaker
• Able to break down complex issues into accessible ideas
• Comfortable with data using either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel
• Enthusiastic about working with teenagers and supporting the mission of the charity
• Willingness to learn new skills on the job, such as filing FOIs effectively
• Good research skills
• Emotionally responsive and able to adapt to pupils’ needs
• Ability to tackle challenging topics head-on, such as violent crime, racism and homophobia, while showing sensitivity to the lived experience of young people you teach
• Good time management – both in and out of the school environment
• Independence, able to establish your own workflow
• Able to follow The Student View’s and our partners’ safeguarding policies
• Able to coordinate between multiple stakeholders including teachers and journalists

Desirable Skills:

• Experience with working with children is highly desirable
• Ability to spot a news story in a dataset and able to manipulate data on the fly
• Knowledgeable about identity issues
• Experience with open-source data, as well as filing, chasing, and managing Freedom of
• Information requests
• Knowledge of how local authorities operate and their respective responsibilities

Further Details

Hours: Part Time (3 days per week)

Term: Nine month fixed-term contract (April 4th 2022 start)

Reports to: Editorial and Programme Lead, The Student View

Notes: Access needs will be accommodated and flexible working requests accommodated whenever possible. Applicants need permission to live and work in the UK.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

How To Apply

Please email info@thestudentview.org with a short covering letter and your CV attached. Please include ‘Community Reporter vacancy’ in the subject heading. Please mention Journo Resources when you apply, it really helps us out.

We thank all those who apply, however, only those considered for an interview will be contacted.

The appointment is subject to a final sign off from The Student View’s board of trustees.