Job Holder:
Job Title: Education and Training Manager /
Reports to: Director of Qualifications and Standards
Grade: 7
Date: November 2017
2. JOB PURPOSEThe key purpose of this role is to manage the Partnership & Accreditation Team, and the delivery and development of the Society’s accreditation through partnership service both in the UK and internationally. This includes the development and implementation of standards for the accreditation of education providers’ programmes in line with Society membership requirements, and the enhancement of accreditation processes in line with feedback from staff, members and education providers. The post holder is responsible for representing the Society and its accreditation processes and standards to external audiences, ensuring that public perception of the standard of the profession is maintained and enhanced.
The post holder will also work in collaboration with colleagues from other departments, and external stakeholders, on a wide range of projects relating to the Society’s strategic objectives for Education and Training, under the direction of the Director of Qualifications and Standards.
3. DIMENSIONS
Staffing: The post holder will manage a team of 3 Partnership and Accreditation Officers, 1 Partnership and Accreditation Co-ordinator, 1 Administrative Assistant and 1 Education and Training Project Officer. The Partnership and Accreditation Manager also oversees our body of volunteer staff, comprising Society members serving on Society Training Committees via the Partnership and Accreditation Committee, and other current and potential review team members (c. 140)
Membership: in excess of 60,000 members and subscribers.
Accreditation: The Society accredits undergraduate and conversion programmes across 158 academic departments in 130 UK universities, and programmes in 8 international institutions. We currently accredit approximately 107 MSc programmes, 73 professional doctorates and 3 post-qualification programmes in psychology across the UK, as well as 16 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner training programmes in England and 2 training programmes for Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology in Scotland.
Budget: £588k income, £223k expenditure (non-staff)
4. ORGANISATION CHART
See the Society’s office management structure and governance structure.
5. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED· Educated to first degree or equivalent with post-qualification management experience
· Significant experience of quality assurance and enhancement work in an HE or a professional body/membership organisation context (with a specific focus on Education and Training)
· Experience of working within a complex governance system, including advising committees, developing policy and drafting clear and effective position papers, in an education or membership based organisation
· Good interpersonal and negotiation skills and the ability to manage ongoing communication with senior academics, practising professionals and other relevant stakeholder groups
· In-depth understanding of academic and professional quality assurance, enhancement and accreditation issues and developments in the UK and/or internationally
· In-depth knowledge of current issues facing the Education and Training sector, specifically (but not exclusively) the HE sector
· A knowledge of the professional training route to become a Practitioner Psychologist and/or member of the wider psychological workforce is preferred
· High attention to detail, ability to critically analyse information (written and oral), ability to produce formal written reports for a range of audiences
· Experience of developing/writing competency based frameworks and/or sets of education/training standards
· Well-developed management skills, including the management of people and their performance, as well as projects, systems and budgets
· A significant track record of developing electronic systems for workload monitoring and management; including excellent IT skills (excel)
· A demonstrated commitment to setting and achieving challenging standards of service, and demonstrable experience in monitoring achievement of agreed service levels.
6. KEY RESULT AREAS
· To provide a significant contribution to the development, articulation and promotion of the Society’s accreditation, education and training policies and practice, by:
· working with relevant Member groups and Society staff involved in strategic planning and development, and operational, work of relevance to accreditation, education and training;
· contributing to and disseminating policy to internal and external stakeholder groups;
· applying existing policy in new areas, as required;
· promoting and extending the Society’s partnership approach to accreditation, as required;
· acting as accreditation, education and training advisor to relevant Society Boards, Committees and accreditation visiting teams;
· eliciting feedback from stakeholders (education providers, reviewers, staff) on a regular basis and using this to inform policy and process development; and
· lead on the development of new work, specifically concerned with education and/or training, as directed by the Director of Qualifications and Standards.
· To implement, maintain, and develop protocols and procedures underpinning the accreditation of programmes of study by managing the Partnership & Accreditation Team in:
· Providing guidance and support to education providers offering accredited programmes, and to those who are developing programmes or considering applying for accreditation;
· Actively promoting the benefits of Society accreditation;
· Working with reviewers undertaking evaluations of new or existing programmes;
· Planning and participating in partnership visits to education providers across the UK and internationally, who offer or wish to offer accredited programmes (c. 70-80 visits per year across the team);
· Advising reviewers (individually, in relation to partnership visits, and through relevant committees) of the standards associated with accreditation through partnership ;
· Advising reviewers of the policies and procedures associated with accreditation through partnership and the Society’s education governance structure;
· Representing the Society at meetings of external stakeholder organisations as required, to provide information about accreditation through partnership and developments in relation to education and training;
· Liaising effectively with relevant Member Networks and Society colleagues to ensure timely dissemination of information relating to accreditation through partnership and developments in relation to education and training, both in relation to current arrangements and future plans or developments.
· To make a significant contribution to education and training governance by:
· Overseeing the work of our Training Committees and Undergraduate Education Committee;
· Establishing and maintaining good relationships with current and prospective reviewers;
· Co-ordinating the regular review of accreditation through partnership as directed by the Partnership and Accreditation Committee;
· Maintaining an in depth awareness of key issues of relevance to the HE and professional body sectors, and in particular external policy drivers that may have an impact on accreditation policies and practices and developments in relation to education and training;
· Leading partnership events, programme liaison days and other dissemination activities as required;
· Contributing to key communications activity as required, including producing annual trends analyses, and updating website content;
· Investigating any complaints made regarding individual accredited programmes or providers, in accordance with the agreed policy; and
· lead on the development of new work, as directed by the Director of Qualifications and Standards, to meet the strategic aims of the relevant Strategy Boards.
· To manage the Partnership & Accreditation budget, including:
· Setting annual subscription fees (with support from the Finance Director);
· Maintaining records of expenditure for individual visits, meetings and events.
· Overseeing financial processes pertaining to accreditation, ensuring that they operate within agreed protocols.
· To manage the deployment and performance of resources, including:
· Ensuring that staff are properly developed and their performance reviewed, in accordance with department, team, and individual aims and objectives;
· Ensuring that the behaviour of staff is aligned to core behaviours of the Society.
· Ensuring that members undertaking work on behalf of the Society on a voluntary basis operate in a way that is consistent with our partnership ethos, policies and practices.
6.6 Other responsibilities
To perform other duties as required.
7. COMMUNICATIONS AND WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
(Detail your working contacts within and outside the organisation, indicating the purpose of the contact.)
7.1 Policy Boards and the Policy Team
7.2 Member networks, Training Committees and members acting as reviewers
7.3 Individual academics and practitioners, and education providers offering or interested in offering accredited programmes
7.4 Students (Society members, potential future members)
7.5 Membership team
7.6 Qualifications team
7.7 Psychological Testing Centre
7.8 External stakeholder groups , including the Health and Care Professions Council, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and professional bodies in other cognate disciplines.
8. SCOPE FOR IMPACT
(Give some recent examples of your work that illustrate in more detail your key result areas, together with the complexities and other significant aspects of the job.)
Completion of a Society-accredited programme remains the main route to Society membership at both Graduate and Chartered Membership levels. The quality of the relationships that the Society has with education providers in relation to the accreditation of their programmes is also a significant factor influencing their perception of the Society as a whole, and its role as the professional and learned organisation for psychology and psychologists. Information collected through the accreditation process has the potential to inform a wide range of other areas of Society business. The Society works to influence policy in relation to Education and Training, the post holder will make a significant contribution to achieving this aim through collaborative working, most notably through the working relationships identified above.
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