JOB TITLE:Specialist Higher Education Support Worker

REPORTS TO:Programmes Manager

STAFF RESPONSIBILITY:none

HOURS:3 days per week

SALARY:£27,000pro rata

CONTRACT:2 years

LOCATION:London

Job Purpose:

Refugee Support Network (RSN) provides education support to young people affected by displacement and crisis. We support these young people to overcome the barriers that prevent them from accessing and progressing in education and training, in order that they may realise their potential and build a brighter future, whether in the UK or elsewhere. We work with unaccompanied minors, refugee and asylum seeking children in families, and young survivors of trafficking.

The Specialist Higher Education Support Worker will provide face-to-face sessions to refugee young people who have particular questions or face barriers in moving forward into further or higher education. These young people will be referred to the programme for a face-to-face support session. The referrals will come through our helpline, from our mentoring and specialist educational support teams, and from our networks of schools, sixth-form colleges, further education colleges and social services. In addition to taking referrals, the specialist higher education support worker will take opportunities to offer face-to-face sessions in other contexts (for example, at Widening Participation events in universities or at youth groups or schools).

Each referral will receive a face-to-face assessment during which particular needs will be identified and a higher education action plan created. This plan may include several additional face-to-face sessions with the support worker. At the end of a specified period, the young person will have a follow-up session with the support worker to identify progress against goals.

This project will benefit young people by providing them with the information and support they need to overcome the barriers they face in accessing further or higher education. They will receive accurate and timely advice about their eligibility for home fee rates and student finance, learn about alternative sources of funding, make appropriate plans for moving forward in their education, and be given the emotional and practical support and encouragement they need as they implement these plans and deal with any setbacks along the way. Through this programme, some young people will be enabled to reach university while others, though unable to progress to higher education at this stage, will benefit by continuing to move forward in their education and development with confidence through alternative routes.

Key Responsibilities:

Direct work with young people:

  1. Conduct initial assessments with all young refugees, asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking referred to the project
  2. Provide individual, one-to-one support sessions to help young people overcome barriers preventing them from progressing in their education
  3. Work with young people to create an educational action plan, helping them to identify the actions can take themselves in order to overcome barriers they are facing in their education and support them in any tasks they struggle to complete on their own
  4. Provide clear, correct and up to date information and advice to young asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of human trafficking relating to their education as well as support services and resources which contribute to their ability to progress in education
  5. Identify additional support needs of particularly vulnerable young people, and arrange referrals to specialised internal and external support services when necessary
  6. Carry out all necessary actions and follow-up work post individual support sessions, including advocacy work on behalf of relevant young people
  7. Respond to queries about education rights and entitlements through our education helpline, and ensure appropriate young people are referred for further support
  8. Where appropriate, run group session for young people about creating education action plans

Monitoring, evaluation and record keeping:

  1. Record sessions with children and young people accurately, factually and as soon as possible; all other associated contact to be recorded in accordance with RSN standards
  2. Maintain case records as required by the project outlines
  3. Monitor and evaluate the issues raised by children and young people using the service to further support and shape service delivery
  4. Use internal evaluation methods to review and measure the effectiveness of the education support programme, ensuring the views and opinions of young people are solicited and that they actively inform programme development
  5. Produce reports and provide information for monitoring purposes as and when required

Other:

  1. Keep up to date with policy and practice developments and changes regarding young refugees, asylum seekers and education
  2. Any other reasonable task requested by the Programmes Manager
  3. Ensure at all times that a high standard of practice is maintained in the areas of safeguarding and child protection

Person Specification:

Skills:

  1. Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
  2. Ability to think creatively/problem-solve AND ability to research/investigate solutions to problems
  3. Excellent communication/interpersonal skills (able to engage comfortably with a wide range of stakeholders from newly-arrived young people with low levels of English to university admissions departments)
  4. Good report-writing and record-keeping skills
  5. Ability to cope with emotionally-demanding and stressful situations
  6. Excellent administrative and organisational skills
  7. Ability to assimilate and apply new information, especially around rights and entitlements and competently identify ways forward for individual young people’s cases
  8. Commitment to and ability to work in accordance with RSN’s Child Protection policies and Christian ethos

Experience:

  1. Experience of working with disadvantaged and at-risk young people from diverse backgrounds, working in ways that are empowering and enabling
  2. Experience of providing direct, one-to-one advice and guidance to disadvantaged young people, preferably including refugee and trafficked young people
  3. Experience of developing and coordinating positive partnerships and working relationships with external agencies
  4. Experience of working in an education environment and/or providing educational advice to young people
  5. Experience of working with people whose first language is not English

Knowledge:

  1. Professional qualification or degree in a related field such as social work, youth and community work, education or similar
  2. Excellent understanding of the issues affecting refugee, asylum-seeking and trafficked children, particularly in education
  3. Good knowledge of relevant UK policies and legislation relating to young people subject to immigration control
  4. Good knowledge of relevant policies and practices relating to the safeguarding of young people
  5. Knowledge of the UK post-compulsory education system, including higher education

You must have a visa that allows you to work in the UK to apply for this job

To apply, please submit your CV and covering letter via the Charity Job website by 5 pm on Wednesday 16th August. Interviews are likely to take place the week beginning 29th August.

In the covering letter, please demonstrate how you meet the requirements of this post as articulated above and explain why you would like to work with Refugee Support Network.

We appreciate the time it takes to complete an application, and thank all applicants for your interest in our work. Unfortunately, due to limited resources RSN will not be able to contact candidates who are not shortlisted for interview.

Disclosure of a Criminal Record

The Rehabilitation of Offenders 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order 1986 does not apply to posts where there is access to children. This means that applicants for employment which involves working with children and young people must disclose any criminal record. If your application is successful, you are required to make these disclosures and consent to Refugee Support Network verifying the accuracy of your response with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). References will be taken up and a DBS check carried out for the successful candidates, but as part of our safer recruitment policy all shortlisted candidates are required to complete a Self Disclosure form before interviews.