Community Focused School and Education Improvement Professional Advisor

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.

Key tasks:

• 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.
• 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.

Development opportunities:

The post will offer the opportunity to develop a working knowledge of Welsh Government’s approach to policy development, providing the post holder with an opportunity to develop working relationships with a range of internal stakeholders from across Welsh Government divisions and departments. The post will also offer an opportunity to build cross government relationships with other government counterparts and external stakeholders. The post offers the opportunity to strengthen multi-agency stakeholder relationships, with the post holder needing to work collaboratively as the bridge between Welsh Government and Local Authorities, schools and other educational settings, alongside families and communities.