Head of Education Skills and Work – 63374

HMPPS is recruiting a senior education specialists to take the post of Head of Education, Skills and Work.

Candidates must have a PGCE or Level 5 education qualification and leadership experience in the education sector.

This is a functional management job within an establishment.

The Reducing Reoffending Directorate in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service are seeking to trial a new prison-based role focused on supporting efforts to reduce reoffending by introducing a Head of Education, Skills and Work.

This is either an operational or non-operational job with line management responsibilities. If operational, please see technical requirements.

This specialist senior leadership role will support the prison to become a place of meaningful work with a key focus on leading education, skills and work within the prison.

This will require the job holder to work with prison industries and local private enterprise to make the most appropriate use of workshops to provide prisoners with the learning and skills required to compete for and achieve employment within the local labour market.

The job holder will provide a strategic focus on learning, skills and qualifications in all areas of “Education, Skills and Work”, ensuring that sequencing of activities is purposeful and directed towards maximising prisoners’ opportunities to access employment, education and training on release.

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), the job holder will contribute and implement their Function’s objectives as defined in the establishment’s Business Plan.

The reoffending rate has remained broadly static at around 29% since 2010. Reoffending is costing society approximately £18bn per year and almost half of all prisoners reoffend within 12 months of release. 

The Accelerator project will play a key role in meeting this commitment. The project seeks to work with seventeen prisons to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for prisoners and prison leavers. 

As part of this we are seeking to introduce, test and refine the new role, Head of Education, Skills and Work, within all seventeen Accelerator prisons. 

This is an exciting opportunity for a qualified and experienced leader in teaching/education to work within a prison and be responsible for the whole of education, skills and work, whilst also having a direct feedback loop into the central HMPPS Head Quarters team to influence the future design of the role.  

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

To lead and set strategic direction for all of education, skills and work within the prison. This to include:

• creating effective approaches to learning and teaching in line with HMPPS’ education vision and values, as well as regional and national directives;
• embedding a culture which creates a golden thread between all education, skills and work provision within the prison;
• ensuring delivery of services engage students and those undertaking prison work effectively in their own learning to achieve success; and,
• accountable for performance, using data and monitoring to improve delivery in the full range of education, skills and work provision.

Accountable for managing the quality of education, skills and work (ESW) provision using Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework criteria (evaluation of the curriculum, intent, implementation and impact):

• Intent: Extent to which the current education, skills and work curriculum is sufficiently ambitious and appropriate to meet the needs of prisoners and the local labour market;
• Implementation: How assessment of prisoners’ needs, and the curriculum offer are delivered, including the support available for prisoners with neurodiverse needs.
• Impact: Outcomes of curriculum offer, including but not limited to accredited qualifications, any known post release job outcomes and impact of careers information, advice and guidance services