Job Description

_________________________________________________________________________DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Job title Project Manager

Division Social Sciences

Department Education

Location 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford OX2 6PY

Grade and salary Grade 7: £30,738 – £37,768 per annum with a discretionary range to £41,255 per annum

Hours Full time

Contract type Fixed-term contract from 1 September 2016 to 31 March 2018 on externally-funded grants, with the possibility of extension

Reporting to Professor Judy Sebba, Director Rees Centre (Research in Fostering & Education)

Vacancy reference 123871

Additional information Role will require occasional travel within England

Research topicFoster Care and Education

Principal Investigator / supervisor Professor Judy Sebba

Centre team Professor Judy Sebba, Dr Nikki Luke, Professor Ian Sinclair (consultant) and others

Project web site http://reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/

Funding partner The funds supporting this research centre are provided by Core Assets, DfE, local authorities and charities.

Recent publications Examples include: Luke, N., Sinclair, I., Woolgar, M. and Sebba, J. (2014)

What works in preventing and treating poor mental health in looked-after children? London: NSPCC/Oxford: Rees Centre.

Sebba, J., Berridge, D., Luke, N., Fletcher, J., Bell, K., Strand, S., Thomas, S., Sinclair, I., O’Higgins, A., (2015) The Educational Progress of Looked After Children in England, The Rees Centre and the University of Bristol.

O’Higgins, A., Sebba, J. & Luke, N. (2015) What is the re-lationship between being in care and the educational out-comes of children? An international systematic review. Oxford: Rees Centre

Technical skills Project management

The role

The Project Manager will be based at the Rees Centre, Department of Education in the University of Oxford and will provide project management for the DfE Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme Evaluation Coordination role and overall management of a number of other projects (number will vary across contract period according to timescales of projects).

General areas of responsibility include: project assessment and set up; resource and financial planning; planning and monitoring project implementation; milestone planning and tracking; budget monitoring and management; ensuring that projects are progressing according to contract; liaison with partners and individual Project Leaders/Evaluation teams in the DfE Programme; production of key progress reports; ensuring that communication between the project team, sponsors and administrative and financial support staff is planned and timely.

DfE Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme: Evaluation Coordinator ContractThe Project Manager will spend 50% of their time (for the first six months) on the DfE-funded Evaluation Coordinator contract for the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme. The Pro-gramme is investing in local efforts to transform services for the most vulnerable children by providing tailored funding and professional support to innovative projects. It is an ambitious pro-gramme, which seeks to inspire whole system change in order to achieve an increase in the quality of services, so that children who need help from the social care system have better life chances. The programme also aims to promote better value for money across children’s social care and stronger incentives and mechanisms for innovation, experimentation and replication of successful new approaches.

The programme supports 57 projects of varying sizes. 22 evaluation teams are evaluating the outcomes of the projects. The Rees Centre has been appointed as the evaluation coordinator in order to set quality standards, oversee evaluations, and draw together project-level data to in-form programme-level conclusions. The evaluation coordinator will define, coordinate the collec-tion of, and analyse intermediate outcome measures to evaluate impact towards the Innovation Programme objectives. The appointed Project Manager will directly support the evaluation coor-dinator activity.

Responsibilities

Specific duties will include:

a) Project coordination and management Lead the development of project plans, manage, and monitor their execution and

timelines for deliverables; Support the lead researcher/Project Director in the management of each project; Monitor and report on the timely recruitment of project participants; Coordinate with partners;

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Monitor the projects to ensure progress and to identify, evaluate and rectify problems;

Work with the Principal Investigators to ensure that the projects are meeting their targets, producing meaningful output, predicting and planning any changes in the tasks, funding or time and to ensure timely and effective completion;

Manage projects pro-actively, anticipating problems and providing resolutions in a timely manner;

Plan and support the meetings and work of the various groups and bodies associated with the project;

Liaise with the PIs and Departmental IT Manager to ensure efficient and effective data management;

Gather data from individual project leaders and evaluation teams on the DfE Innovation Programme to ensure timely feedback can be provided and appropriate action taken;

Assist project administrators to maintain proper financial records of all project expenses and monitor and report expenditure, in liaison with departmental finance and research staff;

Provide input into the creation of project budgets and monitor and manage project budgets;

Help to ensure that all projects are completed within budget, schedule and according to contract specifications;

Ensure all administrative closeout procedures are completed and that projects are archived.

b) Communications and networking Serve as primary contact for the Sponsor when dictated by the principal

investigator; Assist the Rees Centre Publicity and Communications Officer to manage and co-

ordinate all internal and external project communication; Co-ordinate the preparation and publication of data, reports and information,

ensuring that these meet legislative, contractual and ethical requirements; Liaise with the Departmental Research Facilitator, Head of Administration & Finance

Officers, University Press Office and others in order to ensure effective working relationships and procedures;

Be responsible for information sharing and communication within the team; Represent Project Management at meetings; Prepare project plans, project status and other administrative reports and submit to

Sponsors as required.

c) Supporting research team Support the Centre Director in identifying the research training needs of individual

key research staff, and support them in meeting these needs; Lead the evaluation of project activities, ensuring that lessons learned are

integrated into future plans; Assist with recruitment, training and supervision of project team members as

appropriate; Report to the Centre Director any anticipated need for additional resources and any

needs or concerns relating to projects.

Selection criteria

Educated to degree level (or equivalent); Experience of project management;

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Experience of creating, monitoring and evaluating budgets; Excellent IT skills; Evidence of highly effective organisational skills; Excellent communication skills, both written and oral with a wide range of different

audiences; Experience of writing reports and presenting complex information clearly; Ability to work accurately and pay attention to detail; Ability to demonstrate initiative and think creatively to resolve problems; Well-developed interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with collaborators,

funders, service providers and policy makers at all levels; Evidence of effective negotiation and facilitation skills; Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Desirable selection criteria Experience in a research environment; Experience in evaluation; Knowledge of children’s services; Experience of different techniques for using the internet as a means of communicating

research outcomes; Current working knowledge of Data Protection Act (1998), Research Governance and

other key research regulatory areas and ethical frameworks; Experience of working across the Higher Education / public services interface.

About the University of Oxford

Welcome to the University of Oxford. We aim to lead the world in research and education for the benefit of society both in the UK and globally. Oxford’s researchers engage with academic, commercial and cultural partners across the world to stimulate high-quality research and enable innovation through a broad range of social, policy and economic impacts.

We believe our strengths lie both in empowering individuals and teams to address fundamental questions of global significance, and in providing all of our staff with a welcoming and inclusive workplace that supports everyone to develop and do their best work. Recognising that diversity is a great strength, and vital for innovation and creativity, we aspire to build a truly diverse community which values and respects every individual’s unique contribution.

While we have long traditions of scholarship, we are also forward-looking, creative and cutting-edge. Oxford is one of Europe's most entrepreneurial universities. Income from external research contracts in 2014/15 exceeded £522.9m and ranked first in the UK for university spin-outs, with more than 130 spin-off companies created to date. We are also recognised as leaders in support for social enterprise.

Join us and you will find a unique, democratic and international community, a great range of staff benefits and access to a vibrant array of cultural activities in the beautiful city of Oxford.

For more information please visit www.ox.ac.uk/about/organisation

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Department of Education

The Department of Education has major strengths in both teaching and research through which it aims to contribute to the improvement of all phases of public education, both in the UK and internationally. It has about 60 full-time and part-time teaching and research staff, and around 350 full-time equivalent students.

The Department provides a secondary PGCE course which has an international reputation for the quality of its work; in the most recent Ofsted inspection it was awarded the highest grades in all categories for every subject and for management and quality assurance. The course is a one-year teacher training programme for around 190 graduates and is undertaken in close partnership with local secondary schools. The Department also has a higher degrees programme with a range of full and part-time Masters courses and a lively doctoral programme which is recognised as a Pathway within the Social Sciences Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) by the ESRC. There are two full-time Masters courses: MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition; and MSc Education (with five routes – Child Development and Education, Comparative and International Education, Higher Education, Learning and Technology, Research Design and Methodology). The MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition also takes a small number of part-time students. The two or three year part-time MSc in Learning and Teaching for serving teachers which began in 2009 is designed as a part-time course with web-based support. In 2010, the Department launched the part-time Masters/PgDip in Teaching English Language in University Settings for lecturers teaching English within higher education institutions internationally. It also intends to establish a part-time Masters in Teacher Education with both a national and international dimension. The Department is now one of the three largest centres in the UK for full-time postgraduate study in the field of education with, in 2011, 82 (plus part-time) postgraduate taught students and 95 (plus part-time) postgraduate research students in years 1-4, including 21 probationary research students; the part-time MSc programme for teachers (MLT) recruited 58 in its third year. Each year there is a new intake of about 90 students, many of them from overseas.

Oxford University Department of Education (OUDE) is a research-led Department, carrying out research which is of relevance not only to academics in the field of Education and related disciplines, but also to teachers, teacher educators, other education professionals, and policy makers. Its policy of developing both depth and breadth of research expertise remains central to successfully maintaining and enhancing our position as an internationally recognised centre of outstanding research. In the 2008 RAE it was ranked first equal in the UK for the quality of its research.

Research in the Department is organised around three broad Themes: (i) Language, Cognition and Development; (ii) Economy, Policy and Society; (iii) Knowledge, Pedagogy and Design. Each Theme consists of a number of Research Groups or Centres. All academic and research staff are attached to one or more research groups and research students are expected to be active in the groups. The research groups provide a forum in which members discuss research ideas and papers in progress, obtain critical commentary on current projects, and plan new studies with colleagues. They also host academic visitors and run their own seminar programmes. The Centres include OUCEA (The Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment), SKOPE (Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance) and The Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education.

The Department sponsors regular cross-cutting seminars and lectures which attract distinguished national and international speakers. The Department therefore offers a lively environment dedicated to advancing research in Education.

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Further information about the Department and its staff, courses and research activities can be found on its website at www.education.ox.ac.uk/

The Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and EducationThe Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education (http://www. http://reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/) directed by Professor Judy Sebba is funded by Core Assets (http://www.coreassets.com), a major independent provider of children’s services and a number of other external grants from government departments, charities and research councils. The purpose of the Rees Centre is to contribute to the improvement of the outcomes and life chances of looked after children and young people. It is doing this by developing a robust evidence base of ‘what works’ in the area of children in care. There is a strong focus on the foster carers and the wide range of organisations that provide for looked after children.

Current and previous areas of research include foster carer peer support, motivation to foster, the mental health needs of looked after children, the impact of siblings being placed apart in care, the impact of allegations against foster carers and the support for looked after children to improve educational outcomes. The Rees Centre’s relationship with education places it in a unique position to address issues of life chances for looked after children, such as better out-comes from schooling, school attitudes to looked after children and access to higher education.

The successful applicant will play a key role in ensuring the effective and timely delivery of a range of projects, with a particular focus (50% of the post for the first six months) on the Evaluation Coordination contract for the DfE’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme (see below). Other projects are likely to include research in our three strands of work – education of children in care, mental health and well-being of children in care and foster carers and fostering provision.

The Rees Centre uses a wide range of research methods including reviews, surveys, case studies and secondary analysis of data that are fit for purpose. There is a strong emphasis on engaging ‘stakeholders’ throughout the research process (for example by employing foster carers and those with care experience as co-researchers), in order to improve the quality of the research and to maximise impact. The Centre’s team is providing leadership on national and international issues related to foster care and education by bringing together the evidence, providing interpretations of it and drawing out implications for policy and practice. Extensive use is made of social media to seek research priorities, communicate findings and discuss implementation.

The Rees Centre has been set up from the outset with a different relationship between research, policy and practice through its sponsors who provide ready access (subject to the University ethical review) to a group of managers, service providers, carers and looked after children and young people both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, there is a range of research contracts at any one time sponsored by different funders such as the research council, government and charities. This post offers an exciting opportunity for a project manager to work with the research team and with administrative and financial support staff to ensure that the Centre’s research programme is effectively managed leading to timely outputs, effective use of resources and efficient teamwork.

Social Sciences Division

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Social Sciences is one of four academic Divisions in the University, each with considerable devolved budgetary and financial authority; and responsibility for providing a broad strategic focus across its constituent disciplines. Thirteen departments, one faculty, and three cross-divisional research units come under the aegis of the division which spans the full range of social science disciplines with links into the humanities and physical sciences (including Law, Management, Economics, Politics and International Relations, Sociology, Social Policy, Area Studies, Development Studies, Education, Anthropology, Archaeology, Geography, Public Policy). There are over 700 academic staff, 2,700 graduate students (postgraduate taught and postgraduate research), and 1900 undergraduates working and studying in the division.

The division is established as a world-leading centre for research in the social sciences and regularly sits at the highest levels of international league tables of one form or another. It is the largest grouping of social science disciplines in the UK and it is also home to several of Oxford’s most widely recognised teaching programmes, such as PPE, the BCL, the MPhils in International Relations, in Economics, and in Development Studies, and the nationally regarded PGCE. We believe that excellence in teaching and research is synergistic and remain committed to sustaining and developing the high quality of our activities in both these areas. Our departments are committed to research which develops a greater understanding of all aspects of society, from the impact of political, legal and economic systems on social and economic welfare to human rights and security. That research is disseminated through innovative graduate programmes and enhances undergraduate courses.

For more information please visit: http://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/

How to applyBefore submitting an application, you may find it helpful to read the ‘Tips on applying for a job at the University of Oxford’ document, at www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/supportandtechnical/.

If you would like to apply, click on the Apply Now button on the ‘Job Details’ page and follow the on-screen instructions to register as a new user or log-in if you have applied previously. Please provide details of two referees and indicate whether we can contact them now.

You will also be asked to upload a CV and a supporting statement. The supporting statement should explain how you meet the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience. This may include experience gained in employment, education, or during career breaks (such as time out to care for dependants).

Your application will be judged solely on the basis of how you demonstrate that you meet the selection criteria stated in the job description.

Please upload all documents as PDF files with your name and the document type in the filename. 

All applications must be received by midday on the closing date stated in the online advertisement.

Information for priority candidates

A priority candidate is a University employee who is seeking redeployment because they have been advised that they are at risk of redundancy, or on grounds of ill-health/disability. Priority candidates are issued with a redeployment letter by their employing departments.

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If you are a priority candidate, please ensure that you attach your redeployment letter to your application (or email it to the contact address on the advert if the application form used for the vacancy does not allow attachments)

Should you experience any difficulties using the online application system, please email recruitment.support@admin.ox.ac.uk. Further help and support is available from www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/support/. To return to the online application at any stage, please go to: www.recruit.ox.ac.uk.

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Important information for candidates

Pre-employment screeningPlease note that the appointment of the successful candidate will be subject to standard pre-employment screening, as applicable to the post. This will include right-to-work, proof of identity and references. We advise all applicants to read the candidate notes on the University’s pre-employment screening procedures, found at: www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/preemploymentscreening/.

The University’s policy on retirement

The University operates an employer justified retirement age for all academic and academic-related posts (grade 6 and above), for which the retirement date is the 30 September immediately preceding the 68th birthday. The justification for this is explained at: www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revaim/.

For existing employees any employment beyond the retirement age is subject to approval through the procedures: www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revproc/

There is no normal or fixed age at which support staff in posts at grades 1–5 have to retire. Support staff may retire once they reach the minimum pension age stipulated in the Rules of the pension scheme to which they belong.

Equality of Opportunity

Entry into employment with the University and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria which are related to the duties of each particular post and the relevant salary structure. In all cases, ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration. No applicant or member of staff shall be discriminated against because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

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Benefits of working at the UniversityTraining and DevelopmentA range of training and development opportunities are available at the University. Further details can be found at www.ox.ac.uk/staff/working_at_oxford/training_development/index.html.

For research staff only: Support for Research Staff There is a particularly wide range of support for career development for research staff. Please visit: www.ox.ac.uk/research/support-researchers to find out more.

PensionsThe University offers generous occupational pension schemes for eligible staff members. Further details can be found at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/finance/epp/pensions/pensionspolicy/.

Information for international staff (or those relocating from another part of the UK)A wealth of information is available on the University's International Staff website for staff who are relocating to Oxford from abroad, at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/staffinfo/international/.

The University of Oxford Newcomers' Club The Newcomers' Club is aimed at helping partners of newly-arrived visiting scholars, graduate students and academic members of the University to settle in and to meet people in Oxford.

Transport schemesThe University offers a range of travel schemes and public transport travel discounts to staff. Full details are available at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/estates/ourservices/travel/.

University Club and University Sports FacilitiesThe University Club provides social, sporting and hospitality facilities. It incorporates a Club bar, a cafe and sporting facilities, including a gym. See www.club.ox.ac.uk for all further details.

University staff can use the University Sports Centre at discounted rates, and have the chance to join sports clubs. Please visit www.sport.ox.ac.uk/oxford-university-sports-facilities .

Childcare and Childcare VouchersThe University offers quality childcare provision services at affordable prices to its employees. For full details about the services offered, please visit www.admin.ox.ac.uk/childcare/. NB: Due to the high demand for the University’s nursery places there is a long waiting list.

The University also offers nursery fee payment schemes to eligible staff as an opportunity to save tax and national insurance on childcare costs. Please visit www.admin.ox.ac.uk/childcare.

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BUPA - EduhealthBupa Eduhealth Essentials private medical insurance offers special rates for University of Oxford staff and their families www.eduhealth.co.uk/mini-site/.

All other benefitsFor other benefits, such as free entry to colleges, the Botanic Gardens and staff discounts offered by third party companies, please see www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/staffinfo/benefits/ .

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