Lead for Quality and Compliance, Initial Teacher Training

Salary: £56,021 to £64,914 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 29 March 2024

The Role

Do you have a passion for Quality and enhancement in Initial Teacher Training?

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Initial Teacher Training team, working with us to continue to shape the excellence of our Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision, working across our partnership. The position is a new development. You will lead on quality assurance and enhancement for Newcastle University’s ITT Partnership and programmes, including our significant partnership with Durham University, alongside our important partnerships with schools in the region.

You will be based within the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, working into and across our partnership locations in the region. This includes Durham University, our Lead Partner Schools and our school partners offering placement opportunities to our students. A willingness, flexibility and ability to travel within the Partnership contexts for QA/QE purposes is required for this role and all appropriate travel expenses will be reimbursed.

You will be an integral member of the overall team, contributing to and supporting improvement and development within Initial Teacher Training. You will ensure our work, across the partnership, is compliant with external frameworks, including Ofsted. You will have knowledge and experience of ITT and understand the external landscape. You will bring your experience of working within a team improving educational outcomes ideally in HE or a school partnership setting, to lead on compliance and quality, including Ofsted readiness.

You will be required to have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment. We would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible working, including a combination of working on campus and remotely, and/or flexibility around start and finish times. This would need to be appropriate to the needs of the role.

For more information about our team and the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, please click here.

Informal enquiries are welcomed. Please contact Jon Haines (jon.haines@ncl.ac.uk) or Fred Clark (f.clark@ncl.ac.uk) to discuss this opportunity.

To apply, please upload an up-to-date CV and letter of application outlining specific examples around how you meet the requirements set out in ‘The Person’ section below.

Interviews to take place on Friday 19th April 2024.

Key Accountabilities

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include the following:

• Manage quality assurance and Compliance across Newcastle University’s Initial Teacher Training partnership, in line with internal and importantly external requirements (DfE, Ofsted)
• Embed and continue to develop systems and processes to support this, working alongside the ITT team and Professional Services colleagues
• Collaborate across the partnership, with internal and external stakeholders to ensure quality assurance and enhancement, working with all colleagues to enhance provision
• Lead on external inspections (Ofsted)
• Manage and be a critical part of the quality assurance process (including placement/student visit moderation/sampling)
• Work with the ITT programme leads, the Head of Subject Area and School to continually refine and develop practice, in line with agreed objectives, including the ongoing development of school-mentor engagement and training
• Undertake scholarly and developmental opportunities which contribute to the development of the partnership’s ITT provision
• Other duties, as required by the Head of School

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience of managing inspections/scrutiny of education provision, (for example, school improvement, curriculum development, oversight of Initial Teacher Training, or as a nominee in an Ofsted inspection)

• Experience of organisational or departmental level observation and scrutiny, and an ability to facilitate complex conversations, constructively raising issues and supporting where improvement is required
• Experience of leading on educational development and improvement within either Higher Education, Further Education, Multi Academy Trust, school or departmental level
• Experience of mentoring trainee teachers and/or coaching colleagues with a track record of improving pedagogical practice and learners’ progress and outcomes
• Knowledge of relevant Quality and curriculum frameworks, whether university or school level or external (DfE), including demonstrating in-depth knowledge of the school and/or ITT Ofsted inspection framework
• Demonstrates a good knowledge and understanding of the external landscape relevant to Initial Teacher Training particularly
• Ability to project manage and meet delivery goals

Desirable 

• Experience of delivering Initial Teacher Training and professional teacher development, including the Core Content Framework (CCF) and Early Career Framework (ECF)
• Experience of working as a School Improvement Partner, HMI or Ofsted Inspector, senior leader within an educational setting or an External Examiner

Attributes and Behaviours

• Team worker who builds effective internal and external relationships with colleagues and partners
• Excellent communicator with highly developed interpersonal skills, both written and verbal
• Promotes and actively drives change
• Works collaboratively and in partnership with others
• Displays enthusiasm, integrity and personal resilience

Qualifications

• Good undergraduate degree
• Teaching Qualification (such as PGCE / PGDE / BEd / BAEd / with QTS)

Desirable

• Postgraduate study in a relevant area
• Professional qualification in school / educational leadership (e.g., NPQH / NPQEL / NPQSL) and / or leading teacher development or similar (e.g. NPQLTD / NPQLT) or a professional qualification in higher education, e.g. HEA fellowship

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26825