Role Purpose

This is a permanent role within Scran Academy with the core purpose of leading and managing the delivery and development of our Academy Programme.

The successful candidate will help change the lives of young people facing poverty by supporting them through a year-long programme of learning in a youth work setting. Each year the post holder will support a cohort of 15 young people at S4 and S5 to guide their own education and gain positive experiences through a blend of vocational training, accreditation, 1-2-1 delivery and outcomes-driven youth work.

We are an organisation committed to the welfare and safety of young people. The Academy Programme Lead will be a co-lead in our safeguarding processes, and be a key player in ensuring child protection is paramount across the organisation.

We are a youth-led organisation. Young people come to us to learn in a bespoke way. They set their own outcomes and goals, and co-design the nature of the programme accordingly. This means both relationship-building and record-keeping are absolutely central to the role. Using a Theory of Change approach, the post holder will be expected to compassionately support young people to dream big, developing unapologetically ambitious goals and achieving meaningful steps towards them, tracking impact along the way through tailored planning, delivery and evaluation.

We are an independent SQA centre, allowing us to offer young people the opportunity to gain qualifications outside of the classroom. Leading a team of youth workers, the post holder will design and deliver exciting, experiential learning sessions for the programme that maximise positive impact for young people. They will also proactively engage in all necessary compliance and training required for the SQA, and ensure continuous capture and celebration of young people’s progress.

Our success is underpinned by our catering social enterprise, and we provide real-life work experience and confidence-boosting opportunities that shift power dynamics, create trust through responsibility, and establish pride and a positive regard for work. The Academy Programme Lead will be key to ensuring young people are engaged with opportunities across our organisation.

The post holder will act as a critical relationship builder and point of contact for young people on the programme, and be the operational link for families and referral partners, including schools.

It is expected that the successful candidate will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the role and demonstrate a commitment to excellence in all aspects of the job.

This role embodies our values: We Love, We Trust, We Unite and We Lead:

We Love – the successful candidate will nurture young people. They will care deeply and see all behaviour as communication that deserves a dignified response. They will be non-judgemental and take a trauma-informed approach.

We Trust – the successful candidate will believe in the potential of young people. They will trust them to be the expert of their own life and circumstance. They will support young people to take responsible steps in learning, work and life.

We Unite – the successful candidate will courageously bring young people together. They will aim to create safe spaces where stepping outside comfort zones is supported and encouraged.

We Lead – the successful candidate will see all young people as leaders in their own lives. They will be ready to both lead and be led by young people. They will listen and provide a platform for young people to lead their learning and thrive.

About the role

The Development Leads in Iriss design and deliver high quality and effective projects that have relevance to the social work and social care sector. Directed either by sector or policy priorities, and working with a range of partners, our work aims to make support work better for both workers and people.

Our Development Leads come from a wide range of backgrounds including research, systems thinking, social work/care practice, community development, and design. What they have in common is a drive to support positive change and an ability to take a project through from initial idea to completion and product development.

Main activities

• Working with partners to develop and design projects and programmes using the broad parameters of our innovation approach.
• Developing and delivering engaging workshops and facilitated discussions, both online and in person.
• Delivering projects to overall time and budget, using the right project management approach for the task.
• Developing and maintaining good relationships with key people and organisations relevant to the project.
• Taking a flexible approach to managing projects, considering partner pressures and the changing context in which we work.
• Identifying learning from projects, workshops, and programmes through effective capture during sessions, post-session reflection and wider discussion.
• Synthesising a range of types of evidence and knowledge to draw practical conclusions and develop useful products for the sector.
• Contributing to the development of Iriss’ positions on key social policy issues through knowledge synthesis and discussion with colleagues.
• Working with communications and digital colleagues to produce a range of outputs from project work. These might be written, video, audio, an online course or something else.
• Being part of the Iriss team through participating in monthly team sessions, 1:1 support meetings, project and organisational level planning.
• Contributing to funder and other reporting as required.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who really wants to change the social work and social care system for the better. This role would suit someone with the following qualities:

• Innovation and change: You are confident in supporting people, teams or groups to make change happen. You are confident using a range of methods and approaches to doing this, bespoke to the situation.
• Curiosity and listening: You are curious about social work and social care and how it could be made better. You listen and attend to what workers and people tell you about their experience and use your expertise to help them solve the problems they face.
• Analysis and synthesis: You enjoy using evidence, knowledge, data, and information and ideas to create practical resources and programmes that will make a difference.
• Working in a team: We are a small, busy team that works hard to make best use of everyone’s skills.
• Learning and development: You should be a confident problem solver and able to learn new skills, methods and approaches.
• Diplomacy and customer focus: We want everyone who comes into contact with Iriss to have a good experience. You are the kind of person who takes pride in doing excellent work and supporting others.

You will have skills and experience in:

• Working confidently with a range of types of knowledge including academic research; practice wisdom; lived experience; and policy literature.
• Facilitating groups and designing workshops, including confident facilitation in online environments.
• Writing clearly and persuasively.
• Synthesising project activities and identifying learning into readable, usable resources for people working in social work and social care.
• Project development in areas where ‘the right answer’ is unclear, contested or unknown.
• Using the standard MS Office suite (or equivalent) in a work or study environment.

You will have knowledge of:

• Research and evidence use.
• Facilitation techniques and approaches.
• The social work and social care sector.

A typical week in the role

In a typical week in the role, you might be doing the following:

• Working with a colleague, analysing outputs from a series of discussions, and deciding on the range of product(s) needed from what you have learned.
• Working with the Iriss CEO to develop an evidence-informed response to a social care consultation.
• Meeting with the Scottish Government to help shape a piece of research related to social work in Scotland.
• Spending time reading academic research and other literature in preparation for designing a new project.
• Doing an in-person facilitation with a social work team to help them think through what they want to make better about their systems and processes.

What we can offer you

• 42 days annual leave (pro rata)
• 9% employer contribution to your pension
• Flexible, results based work environment
• A learning culture with dedicated individual CPD budget and commitment to skills and knowledge development
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) support for health and wellbeing

Prospectus are excited to be working exclusively with IAM RoadSmart to help them recruit for a Regional Road Safety Manager to join their team covering the Scotland, NI and North of England. As the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, formed in 1956, IAM RoadSmart spent more than 60 years making UK roads safer by improving driver and rider skills through coaching and education. The charity has over 77,000 members, all of whom have taken and passed an advanced test in a car, commercial vehicle or on a motorcycle.

Please note this is a full-time role being offered on a permanent basis. (The role involves overnight stays as well as evening and weekend work)

The Regional Road Safety Manager is responsible for overseeing IAM RoadSmart's operational service in Scotland, NI, and the North of England. This includes managing the field service north team. They ensure that all IAM RoadSmart standards and qualifications are followed and regularly checked for quality.

Additionally, they handle the recruitment and ongoing training of IAM RoadSmart volunteers to support the organisation's business model. They also work on growing IAM’s diverse membership as part of the 3-year strategy. Their responsibilities also include overseeing operational delivery, volunteer engagement, group development and nurturing relationships with PCCs, Safer Road Partnerships and other organisations and partners in their designated regions.

The ideal candidate should possess a Police Class 1 Driving and Riding qualification or an equivalent IAM Masters certification, accompanied by IMI National Observer qualifications and IMI Examiner qualifications, where applicable. They must demonstrate a deep understanding of driving and riding techniques. The right candidate for the role will have great interpersonal skills, experience of delivering strategy and managing change. They will have experience of managing volunteers and groups and will be able to work independently as well as a part of a team. This role will oversee a team of 3 full time employees.