Local Public Life Internships for Disabled People

Local Public Life Internships for Disabled People

Job Description and Person Specification

Project Support Officer Internship

Background information

Inclusion Scotland has received funding from The Equality Unit at the Scottish Government to set up 30 internships in areas of public life this year. This includes, but is not restricted to Local Government, Scottish Government, Health Boards, Public Bodies and Organisations that influence public sector employees such as membership organisations. The aim of this project is to provide quality paid work experience for disabled people to increase their skills, opportunities and professional networks. Through this process, host organisations will learn about supporting disabled people as employees and colleagues, increasing the diversity and experiences of people organisations that provide services to the public.

Internships are acknowledged as an important route into the world of work for people pursuing professional careers. Unfortunately, there has been a history of internships being offered as unpaid opportunities which benefit mostly wealthy people and those with few barriers to work. Our internships are paid and open only to disabled people. Previous interns have told us that coming into this programme openly as a disabled person meant that they felt relieved that the opportunity was inclusive. We hope that in the long term our work will help make the world of employment more inclusive with barriers for disabled people considerably reduced or completely removed.

Internships will enable interns to develop skills and knowledge that should improve their employability more generally. Interns will join the employing organisation, where they will carry out a designated project as detailed below. Giving you responsibility for the planning, delivery and evaluation of a piece of work will help you gain a variety of skills and experiences in work. There may also be some chances to shadow the staff team which could give you a better understanding of different work roles you might wish to pursue in your career beyond the internship. The exact content of eachinternshipwill vary, depending on the needs of the employer. The roles will be challenging but you will be supported by your colleagues to successfully carry out the work.

More information can be found in our applicant’s handbook.

Interns will receive support, as necessary, with Access to Work applications, reasonable adjustments, and any issue that might arise. We will aim to signpost you to services which can provide ongoing support to look for work beyond the internship, and we will encourage interns to be involved in our peer network and other activities relating to this work such as events, publicity and shaping the development of the programme.

Eligibility

Have an impairment that means you are a disabled person as defined by the Equality Act 2010: someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal every day activities. (This includes sensory impairments).
You must be unemployed or “underemployed”, meaning that your current employment does not match your skills or required working pattern.
You must demonstrate a genuine need for the opportunity.
There are no age limitations for our internships.
Educational requirements will vary depending on the advertised roles, however we aim to be as flexible as possible. We recognise that there are barriers that disabled people face in education and employment, and that you may have life and work experience that prepare you for the role.

Recruitment process

Shortlisting will take place between Inclusion Scotland and the host employer. We aim to provide prompt, constructive feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful, although we hope to offer interview to as many candidates as we can where practical.

The application form gives you the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments for interview. It is natural to worry that these may be taken into consideration when we shortlist, but this is not the case! We like to know what we can do to help you have a fair and equal chance in your interview.

Inclusion Scotland

We are the grant holders for this project. Our role during the internship includes supporting interns and employers with disability related adjustments,facilitating peer support, carrying out monitoring and evaluation, and gathering learning to inform approach to inclusive employment.

Inclusion Scotland’s mission is ‘to ensure that policy affecting the everyday lives of disabled people in Scotland is informed by and reflects their views, so that the full inclusion of disabled people into all aspects of Scottish society can be achieved’. We work to promote understanding of the physical, social, economic, cultural and attitudinal barriers that limit disabled people’s everyday lives and we advocate action for their removal. We do this by providing information, capacity-building and carrying out policy work. For further information about us see:

Local Public Life Internship Job Description

Payment:B1 (£23,617 pro rata)

Accountable to:Scottish Government Learning Directorate, Strategy and Performance Division

Contract:Up to 12 months, hours negotiable.

Location:Edinburgh, Victoria Quay

Organisation profile

We ensure success for Scotland's learners through an effective school system and wider learning environment.

We are responsible for:

promoting quality implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence
developing a teaching workforce with the right ambition, skills and motivation
leadership in schools, communities and nationally
ensuring infrastructure and access to digital technology is available
implementing a system that focuses on performance improvement, innovation and good practice

Website

Internship overview

The Scottish Government published the National Framework for Scottish Education on 6 January 2016. The Framework sets out the Scottish Government’s vision and priorities for Scotland’s children to enable all young people to achieve their full potential no matter their background and each child or young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor.

The Framework has been developed to support high-quality learning and teaching, the core principle of Curriculum for Excellence. Over time, the Framework will provide a level of robust, consistent and transparent data across Scotland to extend the understanding of what works and drives improvements across all parts of the system.

The work of the Framework is being delivered through the National Improvement Framework Programme. The post holder will be part of the assessment of children’s progress workstream which is responsible for delivering the tools identified in the Framework as key to driving improvement.

The post-holder will be responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the Gaelic Medium Education Scottish National Standardised Assessments project including taking ownership of the creation and up-keep of project documentation. This will involve identifying and highlighting areas for escalation within the Programme structure. The post holder will also have a key role in stakeholder liaison both internally and externally.

This is a dynamic and challenging role in an area of rapid policy evolution and offers excellent development opportunities around Project Management, Stakeholder Engagement and Policy Development.

Main duties and tasks

Key duties for the role include the following, however this may change alongside the latest developments in the Unit over time.

Project Management and development:

• working closely with the Project Manager you will have a key role in the coordinating appropriate planning, monitoring and reporting processes for the national standardised assessments project;

•you will provide support for project meetings, including managing papers, taking minutes and organising the logistics of the meetings;

•you will investigate, analyse and present findings on options relating to project deliverable and be responsible for the support of project work-streams as directed by the Project Manager;

•you will liaise with suppliers and be responsible for the upkeep of project management documentation, including the monitoring of a Trello board and Microsoft SharePoint website.

•you will have a key role in the implementation of the Gaelic medium education national standardised assessments.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• all of our work is done through co-production and collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders from outside our Unit. You will engage with a wide range of colleagues and partners, and build strong relationships across Division and with the wider SG and partners to push forward delivery.

•Communications and Briefing – ensuring that key messages are conveyed internally and externally about projects on which you are working through appropriate mechanisms and messaging.

Policy development:

•you will provide briefing on the national standardised assessments and dashboard projects as required to senior managers and Ministers;

•you will lead on MACCS, FOI and other corporate systems for your area;

•you will contribute and support the wider work of the Strategy and Performance Unit to develop and deliver policy to take forward the SG’s improvement agenda for Scottish education.

Person Specification:

Competencies and Experience you should demonstrate in the application as best you can, using relevant work, life, education and voluntary experience

Essential Criteria

Some experience in developing and implementing new approaches including co-production (working collaboratively with people who work for or use services).
Good organisational skills including the ability to lead discrete pieces of work as directed.
Good interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively with colleagues at all levels and in a team.
Able to engage creatively with a range of internal and external partners to convey information
You’ll be adaptable, flexible and enthusiastic about finding more effective new ways to do things
A willingness to contribute ideas and innovate, implementing and driving change.
Some experience of engaging with senior people in formal settings
You will be have the ability to organise, collate and analyse information from a variety of sources

Desirable Criteria

An understanding of education policy and priorities.
Experience of working in a project environment.
Understanding of project management methodology such as PRINCE 2.

Please note that for Scottish Government Internships the successful candidate would need to complete pre-employment security checks before a formal offer of employment is issued. This will include a Basic Disclosure Certificate which can be obtained from Disclosure Scotland.

Additional Information

For further information on the post please contact Pam Semple on 0131 244 0740

Completed applications to be forwarded by 10am onWednesday 11th April 2018to:

Michelle Fisher

Inclusion Scotland

Hayweight House

23 Lauriston Street

Edinburgh

EH3 9DQ