Community Focused School and Education Improvement Professional Advisor

Job summary

We are currently recruiting a secondee to work closely with Local Authorities (LAs), schools, multi-agency partners, families and wider communities to build and maintain a better understanding of local challenges and experiences to inform national policy and to facilitate connection and join-up working across Wales to support the holistic delivery of Community Focused Schools (CFS) approaches within the context of Education Improvement (EI).

The Welsh Government leads regular strategic engagement with LAs on national priority areas to support EI, develop cross-sector understanding and provide national support as appropriate. In this context, the Welsh Government wants all schools to be CFS, building a strong partnership with families and responding to the needs of their community, alongside collaborating effectively with other services.

Job description

We are currently recruiting a secondee to work closely with Local Authorities (LAs), schools, multi-agency partners, families and wider communities to build and maintain a better understanding of local challenges and experiences to inform national policy and to facilitate connection and join-up working across Wales to support the holistic delivery of Community Focused Schools (CFS) approaches within the context of Education Improvement (EI).

The Welsh Government leads regular strategic engagement with LAs on national priority areas to support EI, develop cross-sector understanding and provide national support as appropriate. In this context, the Welsh Government wants all schools to be CFS, building a strong partnership with families and responding to the needs of their community, alongside collaborating effectively with other services.

Working across the CFS Team within the Welsh Government Equity in Education Division and new Education Improvement Team (EIT), the CFS & EIT Professional Advisor (Professional Advisor) will ensure that the CFS ethos and equity policies more generally are reflected within Education Improvement and that Education Improvement considers community and equity when trying to determine what barriers and challenges need to be removed to allow schools to thrive and improve. The Professional Advisor will also represent Welsh Government education priorities in an integrated way and will need to remain agile and responsive to the needs of the sector.

The Professional Advisor will be required to support the work of the Welsh Government in the continued development and embedding of regulations, guidance and policy. This, is in addition to working with external stakeholders to ensure the views and opinions of the sector are captured and reflected in the emerging policy on CFS.

The Professional Advisor will provide professional and practical advice to the CFS policy team, bridging the gap between stakeholder requirements and policy development. The Professional Advisor will work closely with education providers as well as with families and the wider community, to ensure that policy development is both deliverable and impactful.

The Professional Advisor will support policy development and embedding of CFS structures including: the development of the Community Focused Schools Manager (CFSM) and Family Engagement Officer (FEO) roles; support to Whole School Approaches to supporting the child and have opportunities to contribute to the development of a range of policies and programmes across the Equity space.

The Professional Advisor will liaise with Dysgu, the new national professional learning and leadership body, in order to ensure the development of a suite of professional learning approaches at a range of levels to support the embedding of CFS approaches.

As a member of the EIT, the Professional Advisor will be expected to contribute to discussions around the wider school improvement agenda. The EIT is a developing function that will build up over time and will largely consist of individuals seconded from the sector who bring a range of skills, specialism and experience.

The Professional Advisor will need to demonstrate proven ability to engage with credibility at high levels across a range of education partners. They will be expected to proactively manage and prioritise activities, taking responsibility for delivering outcomes on time and to the highest standard.

Person specification

• Provide advice and guidance on the response to the recommendations of an independent review of CFS.
• Provide advice and support in further development consistent national guidance for monitoring and evaluation, whilst recognising local flexibility.
• Provide advice and guidance in the further development of a national framework for the FEO role description.
• Support officials with the embedding of guidance and best practice for LAs and practitioners on CFS - Community Focused Schools , GOV.WALES
• Provide professional advice - working with officials and engaging with wider stakeholders on embedding the policy framework for CFS (regulations, guidance and other support).
• Facilitate policy development and embedding of CFS structures including the development of the CFSM and FEO roles.
• Consider the training and development requirements of education practitioners and other stakeholders and lead on establishing an approach to support a professional learning offer to support the embedding of CFS approaches.
• Consider the funding and governance arrangements underpinning the national CFS approach.
• Facilitate and drive the continuation of international collaboration to support the CFS agenda.
• Lead on stakeholder engagement throughout the education system and wider, to support integration of services, including but not limited to, social work and health.
• Chair external stakeholder groups to secure buy in and input into policy development work, using their professional experience to overcome potential challenges in policy delivery.
• Work with the EIT and play a key role in embedding inclusive and equitable approaches across the education improvement programme.
• Through strategic discussion with LAs and school leaders, ensure a consistent focus on national priorities with support for inclusion and more equitable attainment and outcomes for learners, with a particular focus on CFS.
• Support the work of the EIT more widely, in engaging with LAs and schools on school improvement through collaborative work and working with Welsh Government policy teams to support greater integration of policy and system intelligence.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,098, Welsh Government contributes £17,700 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Number of Stages:2 stage processStage 1Application FormStage 2Interview

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Martyn Gunter: Schools.EnrichmentAndEngagement@gov.wales
• Email : Schools.EnrichmentAndEngagement@gov.wales

Recruitment team

• Email : SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales