Electoral Educators - Communication, Education and Engagement

Agency Purpose

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is an independent statutory authority established by the Australian Government to maintain an impartial and independent electoral system for eligible voters through active electoral roll management, efficient delivery of polling services, and targeted education and public awareness programs.

The AEC’s values and commitments

The AEC values and commitments are an essential component of our operating environment and frame how AEC staff work. The AEC's focus is on electoral integrity through the values of quality, agility and professionalism.

The Branch

The Electoral Education section sits within the Communication Education and Engagement Branch at the AEC. The branch is a team of energetic, passionate and skilled practitioners, responsible for ensuring all people are informed about the process of voting in federal elections and referendums and encouraging voters to participate. This includes consideration of people who experience barriers and may need additional support to equitably participate. This is achieved through the collective work of our sections, covering electoral education, strategic communication, campaigns, community engagement, Indigenous electoral participation, and design.

The Section

The Electoral Education team are education experts who deliver innovative and high-quality programs that are inclusive, accessible and engaging. The section is responsible for the AEC’s school and community education program including the highly regarded National Electoral Education Centre (NEEC) at Old Parliament House in Canberra; a digital 3D electoral game available to schools via an app; online education resources; and a teacher professional learning program.

The community program includes the Writs to Referendums exhibition at Old Parliament House; and a well-established community education program with a particular focus on communities that may face barriers to electoral participation.

The Opportunity

Electoral Educators deliver several cornerstone education programs to at the NEEC and welcome schools who visit Canberra from across Australia as part of their civics and citizenship excursions. The NEEC accommodates approximately 80,000 in person visitors annually (mainly year 5 and 6 students). The NEEC is also exploring the development of digital education program options such as live-streamed and pre-recorded virtual education sessions.

You will present education sessions about Australia’s federal electoral system and facilitate engaging learning activities for in-person visitors to the NEEC. There are currently three programs delivered to both students and adults that cover the House of Representatives, Senate and Referendums. This includes the planning and preparation for the delivery of the education programs, including setting up the learning area, ensuring all appropriate resources are available, tailoring presentations to the audience as appropriate, and ensuring technology is working and ready prior to the commencement of a session. You will be required to learn all programs offered by the NEEC.

You will also contribute to the continual development, implementation and evaluation of our training and educational resources, ensuring inclusive and contemporary educational techniques are utilised. You may participate in external engagement for a variety of events and audiences. You may also produce and deliver digital programs via live-streamed and pre-recorded virtual education sessions to schools and other electoral stakeholders. From time to time, you may perform additional duties or assume responsibility of functions as directed by the leadership team.

You will anticipate issues and problems which could impact on your designated tasks and seek guidance when required to see tasks through to completion under guidance from your supervisor. You will have the ability to remain positive and respond to pressure in a calm manner and the ability to respond in a positive and flexible manner to competing priorities and change.

To excel you’ll have:

• Demonstrated professional experience delivering education or training sessions in an engaging, clear, concise, and well-structured way using language appropriate to your audience.
• Exceptional organisational and communication skills to proactively manage daily workflow and competing requests, ensuring clear, timely and effective co-ordination.
• Demonstrated professional experience delivering education or training sessions in an engaging, clear, concise, and well-structured way using language appropriate to your audience.
• Skills to provide organisational and logistical support for education sessions and activities conducted by the Section and collaborate with other team members.
• Ability to develop and update electoral educational resources for schools and teachers using your excellent written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and with integrity to deliver objectives, and a strong commitment to working harmoniously within a team to achieve positive results.
• Knowledge of, or ability to quickly gain knowledge of the Australian electoral law and practice.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in education, teaching or training or equivalent experience in a similar field.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Australian curriculum and how this can be applied to education resources.
• Proven ability to deliver effective training and education programs to a variety of audiences.

Essential

• Relevant tertiary qualification and/or relevant experience in education, teaching, training and assessment or related field.
• Understanding of the Australian curriculum and the principles of inclusive education, including the ability to work with young people in a teaching or educative/ instructional capacity.
• Proven ability to deliver effective training and education programs to a variety of audiences.
• Understanding of effective and inclusive learning techniques for adults and young people
• Demonstrated personal integrity whilst achieving results within legislative and policy parameters.

Desirable

• Knowledge of, or ability to quickly gain knowledge of, Australian electoral law and practice.
• Experience with the use and implementation of contemporary digital education resources such as video casting, serious or educational games or virtual reality products.

Eligibility

• AEC employees must be Australian citizens.
• Any person who is, and seen to be active in political affairs, and intends to publicly carry on this activity, may compromise the strict neutrality of the AEC and cannot be considered.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain a character clearance.
• Applicants are required to consent to, undergo, obtain and maintain the security clearance required for this role.