Education Officer
Job Title: Education Officer
Department: Services
Reports to: Early Intervention Project Manager
Hours: 21 hours (over three or four days a week, days to be confirmed)
Location: Home-based, with travel across England and occasionally Wales and Northern Ireland
Salary: £29,870 (pro rata)
Purpose of the role
To lead on Shine’s exciting and innovative Education Project supporting our young members to have the best opportunity to achieve their potential within education. Whilst raising also awareness within schools and education settings of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
Shine delivers support, information and advice to individuals and families whose lives have been affected by Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, or associated conditions, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Shine’s Corporate Plan (2022 to 2027) sets out seven ambitious strategic goals. This role will focus primarily on supporting the delivery of:
Goal 1: Enabling babies and children with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus to achieve their potential.
Goal 2: Empowering young people with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus through knowledge, confidence and skills to manage their conditions and thrive.
Both goals drive Shine’s ambitions to provide the foundations for improved health, equal access to educational opportunities, social and emotional outcomes for babies, children and young people living with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus, and associated conditions and they grow and develop, and journey through key stages of life.
Shine is uniquely placed to listen to the needs expressed by children/young people with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus, and their families, to offer early intervention strategies for these specific educational needs.
Project Delivery
Shine has a clear vision for the Education Project and a framework in place to take the project to the next phase.
We are looking for an exceptional team member who will be able to continue with the progress we have made over the last year and ensure delivery of Shine’s education project: supporting children and young people aged 2 to 25 years.
The project activities will include:
- Lead on the development and delivery of Shine’s education service for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
- Provide condition-specific information and advice relating to education to our members, parents and support groups.
- Be the ‘knowledge expert’ for Shine staff for complex education referrals.
- Maintain knowledge of changes in education legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and how these relate to children/young people with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
- Organise and facilitate Shine education-related member events (online and face to face).
- Develop and deliver presentations and training, raising greater awareness of Shine and Spina bifida/Hydrocephalus across the education sector.
- Provide training to Shine’s Services and Health teams to upskill them around issues affecting our members in educational settings i.e. access to EHCPs, managing personal care in school, school transport etc.
- Review existing and develop new education resources for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus in partnership with others where appropriate.
- Working with other national charities, expand Shine’s educational offer to include co-morbidities affecting our members such as epilepsy, ASD and ADHD, learning disability etc, and how these conditions may impact on hydrocephalus and learning.
- Actively promote Shine membership to prospective new members, parents, education professionals and education settings, whilst developing a clear understanding of parents’ increasing expectations of their child’s education, addressing learning, equal access, rights and inequality issues.
- Review and further develop the recording of education information, statistics and records on Shine’s membership database.
- Develop and maintain an education service evaluation process that captures the positive impact that Shine’s interventions have.
- To support any funding application highlight case studies, maintain data and record monitoring and evaluation as required.
- Identify fundraising opportunities for Shine across education settings and liaise with appropriate Shine Fundraising team members.
- To ensure that Shine’s safeguarding policies and processes are followed and staff are aware that it’s ‘everyone’s responsibility’.
- Any other duties in line with the job role.
Person Specification
Experience – essential
- Qualification in relevant discipline - teaching, psychology, special educational needs.
- At least 3 years’ experience of working in an education/learning setting.
- A clear understanding of current education legislation in England, and awareness of key differences in Wales & Northern Ireland.
- Experience of working with neurodiverse children/young people and how living with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus might affect learning and behaviour.
- Evidence of presenting at regional/national events and facilitating training to professionals and parents.
- Clear understanding of the importance of working within safeguarding policies and procedure and GDPR.
- Proven ability to work alone, remotely with others and as part of a national team.
- Have the vision to review, develop and transform Shine’s education services, maintaining the focus specifically on Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
Experience – desirable
- Working with children and young people with disabilities, particularly Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus.
- Developing and delivering opportunities to enable and empower people with Spina Bifida and / or Hydrocephalus to achieve their developmental goals.
- Multi-disciplinary working and advocacy.
- Successfully developing a base of local, regional and national contacts/partners who can enhance delivery of Shine’s Strategic Goals.
- Evidence of marketing education services to individuals, schools and professionals.
- Evidence of CPD within the education sector
Knowledge, skills and abilities – essential
- Excellent communication skills, both verbally and written.
- Ability to develop and deliver professional presentations and training in a variety of settings.
- IT literate with a good knowledge of Microsoft 365 and databases.
- A non-judgmental approach to working with people.
- Enhanced DBS/Access NI check.
- A sound knowledge of both child and adult safeguarding policy, procedures and reporting.
- Willingness to travel and work occasional evenings and weekends
For an informal conversation about the role and/or your application, please call Nicola Griffiths, Early Intervention Project Manager on 07917 620463.
To apply, please submit your CV and supporting statement* (your statement should be no more than 2 pages A4), which should outline your interest and explain how you meet the role criteria to recruitment@shinecharity.org.uk. *CV's without a supporting letter will not be considered.
Closing date: Thursday 7th December 2023
Interviews (online): Friday 15th December 2023
Shine is a Disability Confident employer and will offer guaranteed interviews if a disabled applicant meets the minimum criteria for the job.
Please note we reserve the right to interview suitable candidates before the closing date, therefore we encourage applications as soon as possible.
