Inclusion Specialist

Job Title: Inclusion Specialist
Starting Salary: £31,537 progressing to £34,434 pa pro rata
Hours: 22 hours per week, term time only
Location: Hemel Hempstead
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

Do you enjoy working closely with families to enable deaf children to thrive? Can you offer a supportive and knowledgeable professional presence in homes and settings whilst working collaboratively with Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People?

You can play a part in Hertfordshire’s vision to deliver services that have positive outcomes for the community, striving to empower citizens and communities, who are at the centre of everything we do.

About the role

Our well-established service are looking for an Inclusion Specialist to join the Deaf and Hearing Support Service to work with deaf children, young people and their families to deliver services to meet their needs.

You will work within the Deaf and Hearing Support Service to:

• Offer one-to-one home visits with parents to accurately assess their needs and offer them family centred support in parenting a deaf baby.
• Introduce the concept of Deaf Choices to parents and families.
• Provide basic training in Cued Speech to parents of deaf babies and children.
• Help to set up parent support groups for deaf babies and children.
• Encourage and support parents in maintaining parent led groups.
• Provide information advice and guidance to professionals about Cued Speech and how it works in partnership with Cochlear Implants and Sign Language and supports language acquisition.
• Collaborate with other practitioners in the team around the child in order to support the best outcomes for the child and the family.
• Be able to present to groups of both parents and professionals

This role involves actively taking on board the views of the people of Hertfordshire, respecting the diversity of communities and acting on their feedback to improve their access to deaf services. Therefore, you’ll need to be able to work under pressure and be extremely well organised, taking a pro-active approach to your workload.

About you

Essential:

• Experience of working with families and preferably deaf children.
• Comprehensive knowledge and practice of safeguarding procedures, confidentiality and data-protection.
• Excellent knowledge and experience of child development.
• A good understanding of the concept of family centred practice.
• A good understanding of language development and acquisition.
• Able to work as part of a team and on your own initiative.
• Able to keep accurate records using a data-base, and a good understanding of data-protection and confidentiality protocols.
• You must be experienced in Cued Speech or prepared to work towards your Level Two qualification in Cued Speech.

Join us in making a meaningful difference—empowering deaf children and their families through inclusive, compassionate, and expert support that helps every child thrive.

If this sounds like the opportunity for you, we would love to hear from you!

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC8 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Helen.Cromack@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 6th November

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Additional information

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.