Scottish Episcopal Institute
General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Salary: £36,799 pro-rata, (equates to £20 an hour)
Contract: Part-time, for 0.5FTE. Fixed-term until 31st August 2027
Hours: 2.5 days per week, 17.5hrs/week. Some occasional evening or weekend work may be required with time off in lieu.
Location: 40 Torphichen Street, Ground Floor West, Edinburgh EH3 8JB, with occasional travel in Scotland.
Annual leave: 28 days of annual leave, plus 10 public holidays
Purpose of this role
The Scottish Episcopal Institute (SEI) is seeking a temporary Contextual Tutor to provide a professional and thoughtful extra provision for our small but suddenly growing, collegiate theological training institute. The Tutor will deliver high-quality and pro-active support to the SEI and its staff team, ensuring the smooth running of all its placements.
In a time of transition with growing student numbers with increasing different learning needs SEI is looking for someone who can support students in their placements, both full-time students who are in context 20 hours a week and part-time students who do 50 and 100 hour placements over the year. The Tutor will work with a wide variety of personal tutors (who are called Diocesan Advisors) and placement supervisors and help with some of the administration of placements at SEI.
Who are we?
The Scottish Episcopal Institute forms those preparing for a variety of authorised ministries in the Scottish Episcopal Church, lay and ordained, shaping vibrant missional ministers for today’s world. We support ordinands, students for lay ministries, and those engaged in deepening their Christian faith in our churches through programmes of formation and learning.
The SEI is part of General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (GSofSEC) which is a registered charity serving the Scottish Episcopal Church at national (or ‘provincial’) level. Located in central Edinburgh, and with a staff complement of c.30, the GSofSEC supports dioceses (regions), congregations, clergy and laity across Scotland. In addition to the SEI, our staff work across a number of areas, including Church Relations, Net Zero Delivery, Safeguarding, Youth Ministry as well as corporate functions such as Finance, Communications, HR, etc.
Who we’re looking for…
Activities within the SEI are determined by the institute’s academic cycle, with a varied pattern of work throughout the academic year. We are looking for a colleague that can help us in a time of transition and ensure we continue our high-levels of formational training for our students. You will be principally in a church-facing role, being the first point of contact for placement supervisors, diocesan advisors and students. You will be responsible for the organisation of placements and the smooth running of our contextual placement pathway. You will also be assisting with the administration of the placements: updating the handbook, making a record of past placements, keeping track of current placements and exploring possible future placements. You should be a good team player and have excellent communication skills as you will be dealing with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders on a daily basis.
You will be an ordained Anglican priest or deacon who has experience of ministering in the Scottish Episcopal Church. You are interested in vocation, formation and the education that is needed to minister in the church. You are educated at least to BA-level in theology ideally to MA-level. You will excel at prioritising competing workloads, have strong organisational, interpersonal and communication skills, attention to detail, with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively. In addition, you should be experienced in using a range of office IT systems and be able to adapt to new systems and processes quickly.
We are an equal opportunity employer and invite applications from people of all backgrounds.
Duties
The following duties will focus on the coordination of placements of SEI students. The tutor will be responsible for the recruitment, training and supervising of placement supervisors. They will oversee contextual training and supervise students and help them reflect theologically on their placements. The tutor may contribute to teaching and be a resource for the development of leadership and missional training.
Key responsibilities include:
- Organising placements for all SEI students and responsibility for their smooth running.
- Laise with potential and actual placement supervisors, students and diocesan advisors.
- Providing general administrative support to make the placements possible, working with the Institute Administrator, the Pastoral Tutor and the Principal
- Reflect theologically with students on their placements
- Contribute to the end of year reporting for students
- Possibly be involved in teaching, marking and moderating as key contact tutors in pastoral/practical theology.
This job description sets out the major duties associated with this role. The postholder may be asked to take on additional tasks depending on the needs of the organisation. The duties of this post could vary from time to time as a result of new legislation, organisational changes, advances in technology or policy changes, in which case appropriate training may be given to enable the post holder to undertake the new duties.
Key Relationships
Staff in the SEI and wider General Synod Office, students, diocesan advisors, placement supervisors.