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Job title: National Challenge Adviser
Job Purpose
As a National Challenge Adviser (NCA) your role will be to provide support and challenge to secondary schools that are below, or at risk of falling below, the 2011 floor target of 30% of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C grades, including English and mathematics, at the end of Key Stage 4 so that these schools improve sufficiently so that they exceed and stay above the floor targets by 2011 at the latest.
National Challenge Advisers will be contracted to work with one or more local authorities and will be required for most local authorities except those in City Challenge areas (London, Greater Manchester and the Black Country), where schools will continue to be supported by City Challenge Advisers and SIPs.
The National Challenge Adviser will be the School Improvement Partner (SIP) for the school and for that reason applicants must be or become accredited SIPs, as well as having a strong and successful track record in working with schools with low levels of achievement to make rapid improvements. Opportunities will be available for suitably experienced individuals to become accredited as SIPs, if they are not accredited already.
You will provide the challenge and support that is crucial to keeping the school on a secure improvement path. As part of this you will play a key role in determining and brokering the appropriate support package for each of the schools you support, which will be available through the National Challenge.
As a National Challenge Adviser you will play a central role in the success of the schools you work with and of the whole National Challenge. You will be part of local, regional and national teams and will be able to provide advice and support to help shape the programme at all levels.
Accountabilities
National Challenge Advisers will be employed directly by, or contracted to, one or more LAs who will manage and direct their work (The DCSF will contract with National Challenge Advisers for Academies). You will therefore be accountable for your work to your employing or contracting LA. You will report on the progress of schools you are working with jointly to the LA and the DCSF, via the National Strategies Senior School Improvement Adviser (SSIA). You will also work as part of a national team, sharing experience with other NCAs, and working with the DCSF to shape the development of the National Challenge. You will be expected to maintain close liaison with the DCSF via the SSIA who will organise and chair the monthly regional network meetings of National Challenge Advisers.
Person Specification
We are looking for experienced school improvement professionals who can work effectively as part of a team. You will be willing to learn from everyone you work with, including schools, local authorities, the DCSF and other NCAs. You will have expertise in school improvement and a track record in raising attainment, whether from your experience of being a secondary head teacher or substantial experience as a senior manager in a school and within an LA school improvement service or similar organisation. You will have a strong track record of providing effective support to head teachers in relation to school improvement. You will be able to:
Diagnose the causes of pupils’ low attainment, assess the school’s performance and plans for improvement
Prescribe and then broker the support the school needs from the local authority, the National Challenge and other providers
Coach the school leaders to raise attainment, monitor how the school implements its improvement plans and account for the impact of your actions
Skills and capabilities required
Significant successful experience in supporting schools that have relatively low levels of pupil attainment and ensuring they make rapid and sustained improvements
Understanding of their assigned schools’ performance, self-evaluation, the causes of low attainment and capacity for improvement
Understanding of the range of school improvement support available through the National Challenge, the National Strategies and other providers and ability to broker effectively
Ability to help their attached schools to keep the school’s improvement plan on track and resolve problems quickly
Understanding of the resources and support available from the local authority and other members of the Children’s Trust
A good understanding of wider well-being issues and the crucial role parents play in their children’s learning, and how these factors contribute to improving learning
Ability to commit the time to provide intensive support to schools
Accredited as a School Improvement Partner
Ability to spread best practice by working with several floor target schools
Ability to work as part of a team with National Challenge Advisers from across the country, to share best practice, to learn what others are doing and inform the future development of the National Challenge
Specific responsibilities
The National Challenge Adviser will:
Provide up to twenty days support for between 3 and 6 floor target schools (up to fifteen extra days, in addition to the five SIP days already allocated to each school)
Conduct regular formal reviews with the local authority and the National Strategies about the progress of each school
Provide reports on their contacts/discussions with and visits to attached schools, in the prescribed format, to the LA and National Strategies within 48 hours of contact with the school, and in matters of urgency make immediate contact by phone or e-mail with the LA and the National Strategies’ SSIA
Attend meetings of the local National Challenge board as required
Carry out the roles and responsibilities of the School Improvement Partner as identified in the SIP Brief available at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=8508
For each school:
Provide support in generating an accurate evaluation of performance and produce a clear and accurate judgement on its capacity to improve
Assist it in ensuring it has an accurate and robust self evaluation that clearly identifies the areas that require improvement in order to address low attainment
Support it in developing a systematic approach to the data to identify particular groups of pupils who are underachieving
Challenge and strengthen the school’s improvement plan, assessing the strategy for improving teaching and learning and tackling barriers to learning including through the delivery of extended services and helping the school to focus on core priorities
Support it in identifying where it should engage with local partners through the Children’s Trust, including health and social care services, the third sector, as well as parents to help it address barriers to learning such as SEN, mental health issues, bullying, wider family or community factors
Help it to identify what support it needs from the local authority and providers of school improvement services and prescribe support from the packages available through the National Challenge
Support it in achieving coherence in implementing major reforms to curriculum and qualifications, workforce or extended services which can be particularly demanding for schools with insecure leadership
Support it in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the 14-19 reforms, helping it to ensure that more students stay on in learning post-16
Ensure that it is successfully implementing effective teaching practice in the core subjects of English and mathematics using the renewed secondary frameworks
Regularly evaluate and monitor the impact of improvement plans, through visits to the school and scrutiny of pupil tracking data and pro vide the school, LA and National Strategies with accurate and robust feedback on the school’s current performance
Formally assess its progress every term, reporting to the local authority and the National Strategies
Offer advice about adjustments to the support provided to the school and, where judged necessary, the need for a radical solution or formal intervention
National Challenge Advisers will receive substantial support in carrying out this challenging role and will have opportunities to shape the development of the National Challenge programme. They will:
Attend networking and CPD events as required by the LA and the National Strategies
Learn from and share experiences with National Challenge Adviser colleagues across a region
Provide advice to LAs, the National Strategies and the DCSF on the progress of the National Challenge and how improvements can be made and take part in planning the future of the National Challenge programme