Neurodiversity Support Manager in Worksop

The post holder will be responsible for leading on supporting prisoners with needs arising from neurodivergence. Developing and implementing, through close collaboration with stakeholders, a 'whole system' principle is of paramount importance, with the focus firmly on supporting individuals to achieve and progress through Education, Skills and Work pathways throughout their sentence. The Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM) will liaise with the Head of Education Skills and Work (HoESW), Learning and Skills Manager (LSM), Industry Managers (IMs), Activity Managers (AM) and the education provider to ensure prisoners are supported to engage with education skills and work or not, and that they continue to be supported in the community, including by the probation teams. The post holder will provide support and guidance to ensure that all staff and stakeholders share the same vision and ethos of neurodiversity. The post holder will ensure that actions across education, skills and work (ESW) within their prison support a whole prison improvement approach which supports wider improvements across the estate. This is a non-rotational, non-operational job with no line management responsibilities.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

• Focus on improving and ensuring that the quality of neurodiversity support and provision is at least good and moving towards outstanding. This includes assessment of quality to inform the prison education, skills and work improvement plan which can be applied across various learning channels, e.g. classroom, industries, work areas, workshops, gym etc.
• Develop and maintain neurodiversity needs strategy for the prison, incorporating and working with key stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain the systems and structures to ensure that delivery of all Education, Skills and Work activity is appropriate to all cohorts.
• Manage the collection and collating of data on neurodiversity at local level.
• Track the progress of neurodivergent prisoners in education, learning and work.
• Case manage prisoners who require additional support to access education, skills and work opportunities within the prison.
• Ensure that the needs of neurodivergent prisoners are considered in terms of availability of activities, appropriate adaptations and reasonable adjustment as required.
• Raise awareness of Neurodiversity in the prison.
• Work with key stakeholders to ensure that neurodivergent prisoners receive the support and advice that they need to help them prepare for a release into the community.

Essential Experience

• Experience of operating in a specialist neurodiversity role.
• Experience of working within the Special Educational Needs/ Additional Learning Needs and Disabilities field.
• Detailed knowledge of OFSTED/Estyn's EIF (Education Inspection Framework) and further education and skills criteria.
• Substantial teaching experience that has developed a range of strategies for developing accessible and appropriate resources to match the specific learning needs of individuals/ cohorts of learner.
• History of developing highly effective partnerships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Worked in a complex multi‑agency operational setting to achieve mutual outcomes.
• Experience of setting goals and achieving targets.
• Experience of implementing change, preferably within an educational setting.
• Evidence of innovation and impact in an educational context.

Technical Requirements

• Essential Qualifications: PGCE, Cert Ed or Level 5 in Education and Training. Level 4 Certificate in Supporting the learning of learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)/Additional Learning Needs (ALN).
• Desirable Qualifications: Level 4 TAQA qualifications in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes or equivalent, Level 7 Diploma in Assessing and Teaching Learners with Dyslexia, Specific Learning Differences and Barriers to Literacy.

Ability

• Strong written and excellent verbal and non‑verbal communication skills.
• Knowledge and use of the Microsoft suite of packages particularly Word, Excel, Project and PowerPoint.

All candidates are subject to security and identity checks prior to taking up post. All external candidates are subject to 6 months probation. Internal candidates are subject to probation if they have not already served a probationary period within HMPPS.