job specification - Life Cycle UK

Freelance Cycle Training Instructors: Preliminary questions
Can you answer YES! to all of the following questions:
1. Do you live in Bristol?
2. Do you ride everyday or almost everyday and feel confident and competent cycling on a
variety of roads including very busy ones?
3. Do you have recent proven experience working with young people? (not including your
own!)
4. Do you have good other, on-going freelance work? (Cycle training can be very patchy at
times – read below!)
5. Do you have availability two days a week?
6. If are not an NSI, are you able to part-fund your NSI training?
7. If you are not an NSI are you available to attend training on: 14 th , 15 th , 20 th , 21 st May 2013
8. Are you already a NS instructor? (Still read on – you need to make sure that what Life
Cycle can offer will suit you.)
If you were able to answer YES to all of the above then read on!
Freelance Cycle Training Instructors: Job description
Life Cycle UK’s mission is to help more people take up cycling. We see the bicycle as an
affordable, practical means of transport that benefits the environment, promotes health and that
helps create safer, friendlier communities. We specialise in innovative, “hands on” projects that
raise awareness of the benefits of cycling and that enable more people to take it up.
Demand for our services is growing and we are looking for more people to act as cycle training
instructors accredited to, and delivering, the National Standard. 90% of our work is providing onroad
training for young people of primary school age. We also provide one-to-one training for
adults and teenagers. We operate mainly in Bristol.
Recruitment is on-going and I would be happy to receive an application from anyone who is
interested. If you cannot be recruited immediately then I will keep you on file for when we have a
vacancy.

Hours
• Variable. We are looking for people who have regular weekday availability. We are able to
offer almost year round casual employment on a freelance basis.
Location
• We are looking to recruit people in Bristol.
Main tasks
• Providing training for students in primary years 4 to 6.
• Delivering training in schools as well as teaching courses during the school holidays.
• Occasional work with Year 7 students in secondary schools and on holiday courses.
• Teaching control skills away from traffic plus practical on-road training.
• Riding on-road with the young people from the playground to the training area.
• At all times looking after the safety and well being of the young people in your care.
• Collecting and returning course paperwork to the Life Cycle UK office.
Additional tasks
• Providing training to adults on a one-to-one basis.
• Providing training for teenagers on a one-to-one basis.
• Providing training for groups of year 1 to 4 students
• For the right applicant there may be bike maintenance work
• Occasional work with other young peoples’ groups e.g. Scouts/Guides
Qualifications
• Ideally you would be a National Standard Instructor Qualified (NSIQ) or National Standard
Instructor Provisional (NSIP). However for those with the right experience and availability, Life
Cycle will part-fund people to train to The National Standard.
Potential instructors should
Have good other freelance work. Why?
• The cycle training courses run in 4 or 5-week blocks during term times, which
leaves gaps at the beginning and start of each term when you will not be working.
• Afternoon bookings in general. Due to literacy and numeracy being taught in the
mornings many schools prefer to have their cycle training in the afternoons.
• If you work 2 afternoons per week your likely earnings for one term will be £133.50
(although you could earn up to £400 per term) in total although it can be much
busier in June & July.
• Gaps in work for holidays. We do run holiday courses on 3-consecutive days
during half term and summer holidays in Bristol but unless you can make yourself
available for these courses there will be gaps between work that can be several
weeks.
• It is essential that you have good other freelance work to fill all the gaps.

Does it sound like we are trying to put you off? We are! The pay and conditions only work for a
small minority of individuals so please think carefully about whether it would work for you before
putting in an application.
You must:
• love cycling and like children!
• be a regular urban cyclist able to cycle competently and confidently in a variety of traffic
conditions.
• be fit and healthy. Our training covers a wide geographical area and you are standing up
whilst working. You need to have good physical fitness and plenty of stamina.
• have recent, proven experience working with and being solely responsible for groups of 8 – 11
year olds. (Having your own children is not sufficient!)
• have experience in a teaching, training or instructing role with young people and adults.
• be friendly, tolerant and outgoing and able to empathise with the problems that young people
may experience.
• Have good organisational and computer skills. You will need to be able to read an excel
spreadsheet to find out when and where you are booked for work, print some of your own
paperwork to use at the school and report back to the office on a regular basis. You are
freelance so you also need to be able to manage your own tax returns etc.
• be a good listener and have good communication skills.
• be familiar with the current theory of safe cycling and/or be willing – and able – to learn.
• be able to stay calm in all situations.
• be punctual, reliable and trustworthy.
It is also essential that you are available for work a minimum two days a week Mondays to Fridays
on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.
It is also useful if you have
• A first aid qualification.
• A clean driving licence and access to a car would be advantageous. We work over a wide
geographical area where public transport is sometimes not available or impractical.
• Bicycle maintenance skills (other work within Life Cycle UK may be available if you do)
Disclosure (“police checks”)
• Due to the nature of our work all instructors should be prepared to be checked via the
Disclosures and Barring Service.
• Schools in Bristol will often ask to see your original DBS + a form of photo ID and may refuse
entry to anyone with anything on their DBS. (Disclosure and Barring Service)
• Additionally, Life Cycle UK will require two references, one of which must be related to your
work with young people.
Payment
• Instructors operate as freelance contractors carrying out work when it is convenient for you.
We pay £8.90 ph for provisionally qualified instructors, rising to £10.20ph when fully qualified.
• 1 mile from your home Life Cycle will make a contribution towards your travel costs of 30p per
mile.

Life Cycle UK’s National Standard Instructor recruitment process
Step one: Return your application form and chat to Life Cycle
Before returning your application make sure that you have read the job specification (above), that
you are sure you are who we are looking for and that what we can offer is what you are looking for.
On the strength of your application form and after an informal chat with Jacqui or Frances in the
Life Cycle office, you will be offered a subsidised place on one of our National Standard Instructor
training courses. Offering you a subsidised place means that from what you have told us, we think
you would make a good cycle training instructor. It is not a commitment to offer you work at this
stage.
Step two: National Standard Instructor training course:
This is a nationally recognised certificate and consists of a four-day course which includes both
classroom based and practical activities. To work for Life Cycle you must achieve a Provisional
pass.
The course cost is £450 per person. Life Cycle UK will contribute £150 towards this cost leaving
you a cost of £300. For some candidates we may be able to put a ‘salary sacrificing’ arrangement
into place whereby Life Cycle UK will pay the £300 cost of the course up front and you pay it back
from your earnings over 3 or 4 months. Please remember that this is a nationally recognised
qualification and you take it with you when you leave Life Cycle.
Step three: Decision on you joining the freelance team:
At the end of the Instructor training course the Instructor Trainer gives the office information on
your overall performance and suitability for the kinds of work we have on offer. Your Instructor
Trainer will have worked as a cycle trainer for us for many years and is best placed to assess if
you would make a successful trainer for us or not.
If the feedback on you was positive then we would invite you to join the freelance team. You
would need to come into the office and meet us (Jacqui & Frances), start your DBS etc.
Additional requirements for Instructors who join the freelance team:
• Observing training:
You must observe 2 sessions of Level 2 training before you take the National Standard Instructor
training course. This is unpaid and for your benefit in helping you to decide if the cycle instructor
role is for you.
If you are already trained you would need to observe 2 sessions of a Level 2 course before you
start work to see the Life Cycle UK Delivery guide in action. This is unpaid and for your benefit in
helping you to decide if working for Life Cycle UK is for you.
On-course mentoring: We would give this to you as soon as possible and would be when you
are working with a National Standard Instructor Trainer. You would work alongside but they would
guide you, support you and feedback to you.

Observed mentoring: within the first 6 months of your employment, one of Life Cycle UK’s
National Standard Instructor Trainers will come and watch you teach. They will chat to you
afterwards to review the session and give you written notes as feedback. This is similar to but not
a Post Course Assessment – see later.
Guided ride training:
Life Cycle rides on-road with trainees. Before you are able to lead this activity you need to have
specific training. Life Cycle pay for this training course but expect you to give your time.
Post course assessments:
To achieve full accreditation you must have two post course assessments, ideally within 6 months
of passing the 4 day course. One is mentored, the other is assessed. The cost for these
assessments would normally be £100 per visit. If you work for Life Cycle we would pay for these
assessments. Once you pass you will receive the enhanced rate of pay for schools work.
Still interested?
Fill in the application form and email it to frances@lifecycleuk.org.uk