Programme Officer, Research in Schools

Job Title: Programme Officer, Researchers in Schools (based in London)

Hours - 09:00 to 17.30 Monday to Friday, with 10 hrs per week flexible working. Some evenings and weekends required

Benefits - 30 days holiday plus bank holidays, employer contribution to pension, flexible working, interest-free season ticket loan, professional development day allowance + budget

Start Date - October 2017

The Organisation

The Brilliant Club is an award-winning charity that exists to widen access to highly-selective universities for pupils from under-represented groups. We do this by mobilising the PhD community to share its expertise with state schools. We recruit, train and place PhD researchers to work with state schools: either part-time as tutors through The Scholars Programme or full-time as classroom teachers through Researchers in Schools (RIS).

RIS is a unique teacher training programme designed exclusively for PhD graduates. The programme aims to increase subject expertise, promote research and champion university access in state schools. It supports PhD graduates to become highly-effective classroom teachers and champions for university access through an initial teacher training programme and on-going CPD training. Researchers in Schools has grown to place over 150 PhD graduates to train as teachers across the country, and continues to grow.

The Opportunity

We are excited to be recruiting a Programme Officer for Researchers in Schools. The Brilliant Club has recently launched its new strategy, The Path to Outcomes, in which we have committed to delivering consistent and reliable outcomes for our pupils. This includes a pledge to support 6,500 pupils from under-represented backgrounds to progress to highly-selective universities by 2021.

As a member of Researchers in Schools Team, this role will play an important part in delivering this strategy, managing the delivery of the initial teacher training programme in schools across the country. They will support a cohort of participants to develop as excellent teachers, from career transition through to leadership. To do this, they will manage a cluster of relationships, working with ITT providers and placement schools.

The role requires a driven and dynamic team player, with demonstrable success in school teaching and some experience of teacher development. They will deliver aspects of our provision directly (e.g. training and support) and will support teachers to deliver others (e.g. Uni Pathways). They will build and maintain excellent relationships with teachers and ITT providers, ensuring that the support participants need to qualify for QTS and complete their NQT year are in place. As well as this, they will have opportunities for additional cross-organisational responsibilities, for example the charity's Annual Conference or public affairs and policy.

The successful candidate will champion the charity's values and embody them in interactions with colleagues and partners. They will be comfortable in building relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and managing relationships through our online CRM system. They will co-ordinate programme activities, track progress and deliver results. They will be positive and pro-active, with a commitment to delivering excellent standards.

Person Specification

• Essential - Qualified teacher with at least two years' experience teaching in a UK secondary school
• Essential - Experience of delivering training and support to trainee teachers
• Desirable - Experience of programme management

Role Specific Knowledge and Skills

• Essential - Relationship management skills, including within/across schools
• Essential - Impact management skills, e.g. data collection, analysis and evaluation
• Essential - Teaching skills, including delivering training to adults
• Essential - Knowledge of current ITT frameworks and school management structures
• Desirable - Knowledge of education research
• Desirable - Knowledge of current widening access agendas

Key Areas of Responsibility

The following areas of responsibility are the core of the Programme Officer role. However, the role is flexible and will vary according to the needs of the team, and the background and experience of the successful applicant.

Participant Training and Support

• Manage the support provided to a group of participants to complete the programme
• This includes: providing coaching and mentoring to participants, reporting on progress to mentors
• Support the design, delivery and logistics of training to help participants develop as teachers
• This includes: residential summer training, three development days per year, ad hoc training
• Support participants to deliver Uni Pathways, an in-school university access intervention
• This includes: ensuring that participants complete activities, collect data and write up successes

School Relationship Management

• Manage relationships with a number of lead partner schools, including professional mentors
• This includes: ensuring necessary support is in place, helping mentors to understand programme
• Support the development of new partnerships, including new school and university on-boarding

Participant Recruitment and Placement

• Support the planning and delivery of assessment centres held by lead partner schools
• Support the placement process, matching accepted candidates to school training places
• Support the on-boarding of new participants, especially in the run up to the programme starting

Wider Support

• Supporting the RIS Programme's wider activities, e.g. data collection and reporting
• Supporting The Brilliant Club's wider activities as a university access charity, e.g. training events

Core Competencies

The Brilliant Club has five core competencies that all team members develop: Communication, Enterprise Focus, Leadership, Project Management and Relationship Management. Within these competencies, the Programme Officer will focus on the following sub-strands:

• Demonstrates commitment and high standards, delivering agreed outcomes
• Coordinates the delivery of high quality outcomes across multiple projects.
• Demonstrates excellent partnership management, engaging stakeholders and setting expectations.
• Actively drives the delivery of agreed programmes, events and projects.
• Adopts communication styles and techniques appropriate to the audience and information.
• Communicates deadlines and progress regularly, escalating at the appropriate times.
• Challenges situations where appropriate, listening effectively and influencing as appropriate.
• Uses working knowledge of processes to identify efficiencies, e.g. reducing cost, saving time.

To Apply - For more information and to apply, please visit our website via the button below. We will not consider applications that do not refer specifically to one of these posts.

Deadline - The deadline for applications is 10am on 12th October 2017.

Interviews - First round w/c 16th October 2017, final round w/c 23rd October 2017.

Further Details - Please visit our website or call Anna Aleksandrowicz on .