The Educator, Art Labs will lead and facilitate impactful, art-based learning sessions in classrooms, promoting creative expression and social-emotional development among children. This role will involve regular observation and documentation of classroom dynamics and student engagement. This role will shape the holistic growth of the children by driving a community-building movement in our model school, thereby creating strong evidence on art and SEL in classrooms.
Roles and Responsibilities
1. School Scouting and Art Lab Development
- Identify and visit potential schools where Art Labs can be set up.
- Assess schools based on available space, infrastructure, student strength, school leadership, and readiness to support an Art Lab.
- Meet principals and teachers to understand the schools needs and assess the feasibility of setting up and sustaining an Art Lab.
- Document school visits and share findings to support school selection and planning for Art Lab setup.
- Coordinate with selected schools to support the setup of Art Labs and their integration into regular school activities.
2. Government Engagement and Stakeholder Relationships
- Build and maintain relationships with relevant state and district government officials, including the Education Department, SCERT, DIET, and other relevant institutions.
- Share SArCs approach and work with government stakeholders and explore opportunities to establish and strengthen Art Labs in schools.
- Coordinate with government officials, funders, and school leadership to facilitate school visits, address implementation needs, and support program delivery.
- Work with artists, volunteers, and creative professionals to bring additional art experiences to children.
3. Art Facilitation and Classroom Engagement
- Facilitate joyful and inclusive art sessions for children from Grades 1 to 8 throughout the academic year.
- Adapt existing art lesson plans to suit childrens needs, interests, and classroom contexts while keeping the intended learning outcomes in mind.
- Create a classroom environment where children feel comfortable expressing themselves, sharing ideas and exploring their creativity.
- Guide children through reflection and discussion to help them express their thoughts, listen to others, and develop self-awareness.
- Design visual teaching aids and lead school-wide art projects, exhibitions and installations that give children opportunities to explore relevant social and community themes through art.
4. Field Observations and Research
- Conduct school visits and structured classroom observations to understand how art education is practised, and the challenges schools and teachers face.
- Collect information through classroom observations, interviews with teachers and school leaders, and other research tools as required.
- Support research studies on art education, teaching practices, student engagement and the implementation of Art Labs.
- Prepare field visit reports, case studies and summaries of findings, highlighting challenges, patterns and practices that can inform program decisions.
- Work with the Research and Impact team to plan school visits, collect data and maintain accurate records.
5. Curriculum and Monitoring and Evaluation (ME)
- Work closely with the Curriculum and ME teams to share feedback from classrooms and schools on the relevance, suitability, and implementation of art activities.
- Identify gaps in lesson plans, teaching resources and facilitation approaches based on classroom experiences, teacher feedback and student participation.
- Share specific recommendations on what needs to change in the curriculum, activities or teaching resources to meet childrens needs better and address classroom realities.
- Support the Curriculum team in reviewing and testing revised activities and resources, and share feedback on their effectiveness.
- Work with the ME team to document classroom observations, track student progress, and assess whether sessions are meeting their intended outcomes.
- Maintain relevant program records, including classroom dashboards, field notes, and documentation of childrens work, to support program review and improvement.
Qualifications and Experience
- A graduate degree in Education, Arts, Child Development, or a related field is required. A postgraduate degree is an added advantage.
- 3-4 years of experience in teaching and classroom facilitation, preferably in creative learning or arts-integrated settings.
- Experience working with low-income or underserved school communities will be an advantage.
- Strong understanding of child-centred pedagogy, experiential learning and childrens social-emotional development.
- Experience in classroom observation, documentation and using feedback or data to improve teaching and learning.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work with children, teachers, school leaders, government stakeholders and internal teams.
- Alignment with Saturday Art Classs vision of making arts education an integral part of public school education.
Skills and Mindset
- Facilitation and empathy: Creates inclusive spaces where children feel safe to express themselves and explore their creativity.
- Curriculum adaptation: Can work with art-based curricula and adapt activities and lesson plans to suit childrens needs, abilities and classroom contexts while keeping learning objectives in mind.
- Ownership and organisation: Takes responsibility for tasks and outcomes, manages multiple priorities and meets deadlines with minimal supervision.