Adoption and Fostering Alliance (AFA) Scotland is an independent, charitable organisation dedicated to improving outcomes for children in care by providing support to all those working with and caring for the children. AFA Scotland provides a range of services to inform, educate and support the agencies and professionals working with children and young people, with a particular emphasis on achieving positive outcomes for children who are cared for through adoption, fostering or kinship care. AFA Scotland is the host organisation for Scotland’s Adoption Register and jointly hosts the Kinship Advice Service for Scotland.

PURPOSE

To provide administrative support to the Business Support & Finance Manager on a day-to-day basis and to support the overall work of the organisation.

Adoption and Fostering Alliance (AFA) Scotland is an independent, charitable organisation dedicated to improving outcomes for children in care. AFA Scotland provides a range of services that inform, educate and support all those working with the children and those who care for them. The service assists agencies and professionals to develop the knowledge and skills they require when working in this specialist area. Services include training, consultancy, workshops and conferences – the training ranges from half day sessions through to two part time master levels courses run in collaboration with Strathclyde University. AFA Scotland has a strong focus on research and on developing resources and sharing information that enable practitioners to access and apply the latest evidence to their practice.

For some time AFA Scotland has been considering how to develop its online services and introduce more e-learning opportunities. The advent of COVID-19 has made this a critical development in the short term but has also highlighted longer term opportunities to radically rethink and improve the way services are delivered to take full advantage of the available technology. AFA would like to adapt its existing services and to develop further learning packages. It would like to explore opportunities for blended learning, for incorporating elements of e-learning into training materials or directly commissioned training programmes. It would also like to enhance its online presence through a wide range of platforms to maximise its ability to engage, inform and influence practitioners, policy makers and academics.

The e-learning development post has been created to support AFA Scotland to make these far-reaching changes in the delivery of its services. It has been made possible by a grant from the Adapt and Thrive fund linking to our recovery from the impact of the pandemic. The postholder will also be closely involved in the work that AFA Scotland is undertaking in response to the independent Care review and the recent publication by the Promise Team of The Plan 21-24. The post holder will liaise with colleagues to develop and adapt materials and methods of service, and work with the whole organisation to develop longer term strategies in line with The Promise making best possible use of the available technology.

Key skills include:

• a strong understanding of the interplay between technology and learning
• a general understanding of design accessibility, good principles and practice in e-learning development and design
• excellent communication skills
• ability to write effectively and communicate complex information simply