Experiential, Climate & Environmental Education

Position: Experiential Education Manager
Organization: The New Farm Centre

Location: Creemore, Ontario
Housing: Not on-farm. Nearby: Creemore, Stayner, Collingwood, Alliston, Barrie, Shelburne, Orangeville (map)

The New Farm Centre seeks an enthusiastic and experienced educator with a passion for experiential education and knowledge of agriculture, climate change, and the environment. The Experiential Education Manager will develop curriculum, evaluation metrics and methods, and lead tours and on-farm programming for a wide range of farm visitors, including school groups, farmers, policy makers, corporate teams, and other social sector organizations. The ideal candidate will be a self-starter and quick learner, able to lead programming and collaborate with an interdisciplinary team. Reporting to the Director of Programs and Operations, the Experiential Education Manager will work closely with several team members, including the Events Manager, who manages event logistics.

The New Farm Centre is a registered charity dedicated to developing, demonstrating and advocating for a regenerative farming system that mitigates climate change, fosters healthy ecosystems and communities, and improves farmer livelihoods. We operate grant-funded charitable programs and revenue-generating social enterprise programs on our working farm. Our Experiential Education program provides opportunities for stakeholders from across sectors and industries to visit the farm to see regenerative agriculture in action and understand its impact.

Responsibilities:

• Curriculum Development
  • Lead presentation development, tour plans and systems, and curricula for multi-day educational retreats (in collaboration with senior leadership)
  • Ensure programming and content is tailored to the audience
  • Introduce more experiential and immersive elements
  • Create serial education opportunities for repeat visitors
  • Practice tours and presentations with the team, provide coaching on delivery
• Lead Educational Events
  • Meet with prospective visitors about content needs
  • Plan with other team members for each event and delegate responsibilities
  • Work closely with Events Manager to make sure logistics and content are aligned
  • Lead tours and presentations using proven experiential learning techniques
  • Run event debriefs for team in partnership with Events Manager, and record key findings for improvements

• Planning and Management
  • Create and manage program budget with Events Manager
  • Write and manage grants
  • Work with team to create pricing models for different types of programming
  • Monitor team capacity for individual events and for annual planning
  • Supervise Education Coordinator
  • Develop training, templates, scripts and materials for other team members to contribute to and participate in farm tours and educational events.
  • Explore new opportunities for collaboration with farm visitors (with guidance from senior leadership)
  • Plan with Events Manager for future infrastructure needs and expanded programming
  • Conduct risk management with Events Manager and Farm Manager - understand and prevent health and safety issues
• Evaluation
  • Draw upon expertise in learning outcomes and evaluation to develop evaluation metrics and key learning outcomes for this program and each engagement (with support from Director of Programs and Operations)
  • Create feedback and evaluation surveys for each event, collect and analyse information

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will have five or more years of experience creating and running experiential education programming in a professional setting.

• Education, Curriculum Development, and Evaluation
  • Five or more years experience as a professional educator
  • Expertise in experiential education
  • Ability to create and deliver content for a wide range of ages, audiences and learning styles
  • Deep experience creating educational materials and programming
  • Expertise in creating and measuring against appropriate evaluation metrics and learning outcomes
• Agriculture, Food Systems, and Climate Change Experience:
  • Knowledge of agriculture, environment, and/or climate change

• Communication and Collaboration:
  • Ability to collaborate effectively with a multi-disciplinary team, delegating different event components to appropriate staff members
  • Experience managing other staff members
  • Enthusiasm and strong interpersonal skills to welcome guests to the farm
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Excellent organizational skills and proficiency in Google Workspace
  • Knowledge of equity, diversity, and accessibility issues is an asset

If you don’t meet every qualification we’ve outlined but this role really excites and interests you, we would still love to hear from you. Ability to work legally in Canada is a requirement.

Position Details:

This position is a full-time position (40 hours / week) starting March 1.

Location: Hybrid. This position will require frequent in-person work at the farm near Creemore, Ontario and remote work from a home office.

Compensation: $85,000 annual salary, with salary to be commensurate with experience. This position also includes health and dental benefits, matching GRSP contributions, 4 weeks paid vacation and a 2 week winter shutdown.

How to Apply:

Please submit a detailed cover letter and your resume in an email with the subject line: Experiential Education Manager Application to sophie@thenewfarm.ca by February 3, 2025 at 9am EST.

Please mention you saw this at GoodWork.ca.

No phone calls or in person applications please.

If you require accommodation for the job application process, please contact sophie@thenewfarm.ca .

While we will do our best to respond to all candidates, we may only be able to notify candidates who are selected for an interview.

The New Farm Centre is working to create belonging, equity, and justice in our organization and work. We encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, women, LGBTQIA2S+ and persons with disabilities and strive to create an inclusive workplace. We value diverse perspectives and will consider relevant life experience alongside professional qualifications when reviewing applications.