About RAILS

The Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS) is a community legal centre based in South Brisbane. For 45 years, RAILS has provided free legal assistance and education in immigration and refugee law to people in Queensland.

RAILS assists some of the most vulnerable people in our community, predominantly refugees, asylum seekers and people who have experienced family violence. RAILS strives to empower them and help them find and remain in safety.

RAILS is a member of Community Legal Centres Australia and is registered as a Charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for Profit Commission.

About Citizenship Doors

Citizenship Doors is an innovative new initiative that uses a legal education and empowered advocacy model to directly address the barriers that refugees encounter in becoming Australian citizens. Research shows refugees strongly desire to become citizens but face significant obstacles that other migrants do not.

The project combines education seminars and application workshops to strategically target the disadvantages refugees face in relation to the application itself, reducing the risk of mistakes leading to adverse consequences. These are followed by Citizenship in Practice sessions where participants practice their English, learn about topics in the citizenship test and contribute to advocacy, which aims to reform citizenship laws so that they are less discriminatory towards people from refugee backgrounds.

About the Position

• Hours: 2 ½ days per week
• Salary: SCHADS Level 4 $81, 100 - $91, 600 + Superannuation (or part-time equivalent).
• Contract until 30th November 2026
• Location: South Brisbane (WFH may be accommodated from time to time and travel is required, see Summary below)
• Responsible to: Legal Practice Director (Practice Management and Risk)
• Direct Reports: Nil

Summary

The Legal Educator is responsible for facilitating citizenship application workshops and Citizenship in Practice sessions. In the former, they assist participants to use a RAILS’ help-kit to prepare and lodge their applications. In the latter, which forms a significant part of the role, they facilitate learning and discussion groups to improve participants’ understanding of topics such as government institutions and processes, democracy and the Parliamentary system, and Australian laws and history. Interwoven with these are topics and questions around the meaning and value of citizenship and the Legal Educator aids participants who want to document their citizenship story and contribute to law reform initiatives.

The Legal Educator reports directly to a Legal Practice Director and works closely with RAILS’ experienced and well-regarded team of legal educators, including the lawyer, paralegal and volunteers who also have roles within the Citizenship Doors project.

The successful applicant will carry out their duties in accordance with RAILS’ policy and funding guidelines. RAILS has flexible working arrangements for all staff, but the role will require travel to outreach locations within greater Brisbane (including Logan, Gatton and Toowoomba).

This role is of fundamental importance to the delivery of excellent legal education by RAILS.

Remuneration and benefits

• SCHADS 4

• flexible working arrangements

• generous leave entitlements (paid parental leave, cultural and special leave provisions; portable long service leave) including additional paid leave over end of year shut down

• attractive no cost salary sacrifice options.

Successful applicants may be required to complete additional clearance checks.

Role Responsibilities

Workshop facilitation

• Lead small groups of participants through the preparation of their citizenship applications, using the RAILS’ Help-Kit

• Engage collaboratively with the Education Paralegal to ensure participants’ documents are collated and prepared ahead of the workshops

• Accurately identify and escalate to the responsible Education Lawyer any participants who need legal advice

Citizenship in Practice facilitation

• Together with the Legal Practice Director, develop format and content for the sessions that enhance participants’ ability to succeed in the citizenship test

• Lead sessions at RAILS’ office and in outreach locations that create a learning environment that is safe, inclusive, and empowering for participants

• Support participants to document their stories and perspectives on the meaning and value of citizenship, in writing and through video.

Organisational

• Work collaboratively with other staff on the Citizenship Doors project to achieve successful outcomes in the project

• Collect accurate data on activities undertaken for the purpose of reporting to funder

Community Engagement

• Collaborate with stakeholders in outreach locations, in relation to participant referrals and venues
• Maintain and extend community stakeholder and agency networks relationships within education work, alongside and in collaboration with community engagement done through other roles in the organisation.

Selection criteria

Essential criteria

1. Experience working with people from refugee backgrounds who come from a range of cultural and linguistic groups.
2. Demonstrated understanding of barriers faced by people from refugee backgrounds in Australia when applying for citizenship.
3. Highly developed verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain complex ideas simply and accurately.
4. Demonstrated understanding of Australia’s history, legal and political structures and procedures for law-making.
5. Demonstrated experience in collaboratively and productively engaging with other organisations and stakeholders that service culturally and linguistically diverse people from refugee backgrounds.
6. Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and collaboratively with a team.
7. Developed competency in the use of IT systems such as Microsoft (Outlook, Excel, Word, SharePoint), particularly creating resources in MS PowerPoint.
8. Ability to work from RAILS office in South Brisbane and throughout Greater Brisbane at outreach locations.
9. Demonstrated commitment to social justice and RAILS’ mission and values

Desirable

1. Experience providing education to people from refugee backgrounds and/or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
2. Experience working in an immigration and/or legal context.
3. Competence in working with video editing software and/or website creation or editing.

How to Apply

The preferred start date for the Legal Educator position is July 2025.

To apply for the role, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button.

Any questions about this position should be directed to [email protected] using the subject line: Citizenship Doors Legal Educator enquiry via EthicalJobs.

A position description is attached.