ESOL Tutor

About the Borough

This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.

Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.

Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.

Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.

We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.

Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.

About the Service and Team

Kingston Adult Education is rated by Ofsted as a ‘Good’ adult education provider and is on an exciting journey towards being an outstanding provision.

Our mission is to offer high quality learning and training opportunities to meet the needs of individuals and employers in Kingston and surrounding areas and to work alongside community partners to achieve this.

We are looking to appoint enthusiastic and experienced ESOL tutors to teach ESOL courses to groups of adult (19+) learners. Due to members of the current ESOL tutor team stepping up into management roles, as well as expansion in response to ongoing high levels of demand for our ESOL provision, we have a number of courses to offer to the right candidates, starting from September 2025.

You will be joining our vibrant team of fantastic teachers and will be given a full induction to working at KAE. As well as this, there are regular training sessions and CPD opportunities available throughout the year to help our teachers continually develop their teaching skills.

Courses in the ESOL department typically run throughout the academic year (September to July). Our standard courses have 4.5 hours of contact time per week, other courses such as conversation classes, Family Learning ESOL or our ESOL for Work employability course have between 2 - 2.5 hours per week. We need tutors for both daytime and evening courses.

Our ESOL courses run from the Hook Centre, Chessington; the Guildhall, Kingston; and New Malden Library.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will:

- Hold a relevant qualification for teaching English as a second language to adults, e.g, CELTA.

- Have experience in teaching ESOL to adult learners living in an English speaking country

- Be familiar with the ESOL curriculum, and be able to deliver a programme of learning which gives all learners the best possible chance of passing their exams. We use ESB as our exam board.

- Be able to teach in both classroom and online settings (we use Google Classroom and Google Meet to deliver online learning)

Be able to include digital skills within your delivery of your course

- Question and challenge ways of working, with an understanding of the bigger picture in terms of the corporate context and external environment

- Demonstrate agility and adaptability in mindset and ways of working

• Demonstrate commitment to own personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the role
• Demonstrate innovation and creativity
• Actively engage in positive cross organisational communications and team working
• Communicate clearly, confidently and appropriately with colleagues

You will also:

- Assess learners at the start of the course and plan a programme of learning to meet their needs

- Deliver learning that may take the form of a blend of classroom-based learning and online learning

- Review learners’ work regularly and mark classwork / homework where appropriate. Provide constructive developmental feedback on work including spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG)

- Monitor and track progress and adapt the Scheme of Work to meet the needs of the learners when necessary

- Negotiate learning objectives for each learner and record them in their personal learning plan

- Differentiate the delivery to meet the needs of individual learners

- Prepare learners for exams

- Ensure all course documentation (such as scheme of work) is in place and up to date

- Ensure that Health and Safety, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Safeguarding, Prevent and other KAE policies are implemented

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Additional Information

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the ‘Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme’ at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we’re incredibly proud of.

Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.