Part Time Creative Arts & Skills / Music Tutor - HMP Grendon
Milton Keynes College, HMP Grendon, Grendon Underwood, Buckinghamshire, HP18 0TL17 days remaining to apply
Start date details
As soon as possible
Closing date
1 November 2026 at 11:59pm
Date listed
15 October 2026
Job details
Job role
- Teacher or lecturer
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subject
- Music
Working pattern
- Part time: 15 hours per week, 52 weeks per year (Mon-Thurs - 3 x afternoons)
Contract type
- Permanent
Full time equivalent salary
- 38144
What skills and experience we're looking for
Creative Arts & Skills / Music Tutor
Make Creativity Matter
MK College Group is seeking an enthusiastic and adaptable Creative Arts & Skills / Music Tutor to join our education team at HMP Grendon.
This is a unique opportunity to use creativity as a tool for engagement, confidence-building and personal development within a prison education setting. Working with learners from a wide range of backgrounds, you will deliver practical, inclusive and engaging sessions that encourage participation, develop skills and support positive progression.
Unlike a traditional classroom environment, success in this role is not measured solely by qualifications or completed projects. It's about helping learners develop confidence, explore their creativity, build transferable skills and experience the benefits of positive learning.
About the Role
You will design and deliver creative, hands-on learning activities that may draw on areas such as:
- Art and design
- Creative making and crafts
- Music – e.g Keyboard, Guitar (instruments suitable to the restraints of the environment)
- Visual arts
- Product design and development
- Creative projects and enterprise activities
- Other practical and creative disciplines
Learners may join and leave courses at different stages, with varying levels of experience, confidence and ability. You'll therefore be comfortable creating flexible, accessible activities that can engage learners both as one-off sessions and as part of a broader programme.
HMP Grendon operates a Therapeutic Community model, and your work will complement the wider rehabilitative environment by encouraging self-expression, problem-solving, collaboration and personal development.
Key Responsibilities
- Plan and deliver engaging, practical creative skills sessions tailored to the needs of adult learners.
- Develop learners' creative, technical and transferable skills through hands-on activities.
- Adapt learning activities to accommodate differing abilities, interests and learner starting points.
- Support learners to plan, create and complete individual and group projects.
- Encourage confidence, communication, teamwork and problem-solving.
- Monitor learner progress and provide constructive feedback.
- Maintain learner records and contribute to the assessment process as required.
- Create a safe, positive and inclusive learning environment.
- Work collaboratively with prison and education colleagues to maximise learner engagement and progression.
- Ensure all teaching activities comply with prison security, safeguarding and health and safety requirements.
About You
We're looking for someone who:
- Has experience, qualifications or professional skills within a creative arts, design, crafts, music or related practical discipline.
- Can inspire and motivate learners from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities.
- Has a learner-centred, practical and flexible approach to teaching or facilitation.
- Understands how creative activities can support personal development, confidence and employability skills.
- Is adaptable, patient and solutions-focused.
- Can work effectively within the security and professional boundaries of a prison environment.
- Has strong communication, organisation and classroom management skills.
- Is committed to inclusive education and helping learners achieve their potential.
Teaching qualifications and experience of working with adult learners are desirable; however, we welcome applications from experienced creative practitioners who are passionate about supporting others to learn and develop.
Why Join Us?
This is an opportunity to do more than teach a subject. You'll help learners discover new strengths, develop valuable skills and engage positively in education, often for the first time in many years.
If you're a creative professional who can think on your feet, adapt to challenges and inspire others through practical learning, we'd love to hear from you.
What the college offers its staff
What Makes This Role Different?
Working within a secure prison environment requires creativity, flexibility and resilience.
Some materials, tools and resources commonly used within creative industries may not be permitted for security reasons. You will need to think creatively, adapt activities and make the most of available resources to provide meaningful and engaging learning experiences.
The role is also offered on a fixed timetable of three afternoons per week, reflecting the prison's operational regime. While there is flexibility over which three days are worked (Monday to Thursday), the teaching hours themselves cannot be altered.
Further information about the job
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
Applying for the job
Apply for the job by following the link below.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
View advert on college website (opens in new tab)About Milton Keynes College
- Organisation type
- FE College, ages 16 to 99
- Education phase
- Sixth form or FE college
- Size
- No information available
- Age range
- 16 to 99
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- Email address
- recruitment@mkcollege.ac.uk
Milton Keynes College Group was formed in 2021, with the mission of Building Fairer Futures. The College Group includes 1,200 colleagues who work across MK College, the South Central Institute of Technology (SCIoT) Bletchley, our prison education services in 30 prisons and MK Commercial which comprises The Brasserie restaurant, Sport Central, Courtside, and the Chaffron Centre.
At MK College, our colleagues support approximately 4,000 16-19 year olds currently studying with us and a total student population of over 8,000. Founded in 1982, MK College offers a broad variety of programmes, including Study Programmes, Adult, High Needs, Apprenticeships, T levels, A Levels, and Higher Education.
We are proud to have opened one of the biggest Institutes of Technology in the country. The South Central Institute of Technology (SCIoT) in Bletchley is a consortium of prestigious partners led by Milton Keynes College. We offer a hub of innovation and world-leading technological advancements with relentless dedication to future-proof the lives and skills of learners.
The College is a national provider of education services in prisons across the country. For over 30 years, we have worked with offenders in both custody and the wider community and currently work with 30 prisons across England. This includes public sector prisons and the privately operated HMP Fosse Way.
Founded on the principle of Further Education’s ability to transform lives through learning, we’re proud to create an environment that attracts the best colleagues and students from Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas and supports education in prisons nationally. The value we gain from the diverse communities we serve is immeasurable. We want all our colleagues, students and learners to feel they are an integral part of the College Group and together we will create an inclusive culture where everyone can contribute to College life and our collective knowledge and growth.
We know that education has the power to build fairer futures for all, and we know that we can’t create real change on our own. That’s why we work with key stakeholders across our communities - civic partners, employers, educational providers and third-party organisations to offer the best opportunities for our students to be the best they can be.
When applying for a role at the College Group, you can expect the same level of commitment towards diversity and inclusion as you’ll experience when you’ve started with us. We treat all our applicants fairly and with respect, irrespective of their background, disability or any other individual characteristic. We particularly encourage applications from people with backgrounds which are currently under-represented within Milton Keynes College Group.
Milton Keynes College Group is a committed safer recruitment employer in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). We take extreme care in ensuring the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All offers made to successful candidates are subject to satisfactory outcomes from a range of pre-employment checks including a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In addition, security clearance is required for all prison services positions up to Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) level. For more information, please visit our website and read our Safer Recruitment Policy.
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