Practice Leader - Learning Academy

Practice Leader - Learning Academy

Salary: Grade L - £56,733 - £59,772

Hours of work: 35 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

About the Role 

A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen due to staff progression for an experienced social worker to act as a permanent, full time Practice Leader based in the Learning Academy within the Supporting Families Division.  

This post will involve supporting the Steps to Success Program for Newly Qualified Social Workers and practice improvement on work with families impacted by harmful parental conflict and domestic abuse.  

As part of Steps to Success you will provide reflective supervision to social workers in the first three years of their practice and act as assessor during their ASYE. You will provide practice support including consultations to practitioners in relation to complex work and lead on the design, organisation and delivery of practice workshops and reflective conversations, induction and learning events in a variety of areas including harmful parental conflict and domestic abuse. 

The Learning Academy is a centre of learning working to support social workers and differently qualified staff across our integrated Supporting Families division. Our work seeks to influence and develop the organisational culture to achieve excellent outcomes for children and families.  

Key Responsibilities 

• To provide mentoring, training, consultation, professional support and reflective supervision to social workers on Tower Hamlets’ ASYE programme. 
• To offer practice support to social workers who require particular input with complex work. 
• To contribute to the quality assurance framework, delivering remedial practice learning where required. 
• To contribute to the workforce development strategy, raising practice standards. 
• To lead on a practice improvement area or other agreed practice priorities. 
• To act as a champion for Better Together- our practice model 
• To develop and maintain effective relationships with partner Universities to facilitate reciprocal training arrangements whereby practice learning is delivered as part of the university curriculum and universities contribute to local authority learning programmes. 

About You 

Substantial Social Work post qualifying experience including the below:  

• CQSW, DipSW or other SWE recognised social work qualification. A current SWE certificate will be a condition of appointment 
• Substantial experience in children and families work, having regularly undertaken complex assessments and interventions with children and families, including in respect of domestic abuse. 
• Extensive experience of working in partnership with a range of professionals and families in complex situations where culture, race, gender, sexuality and disability are key factors in provision. 
• Experience of practice education/ mentoring/ coaching staff or students, enabling learning 
• Practice Educator Stage 2 award (or equivalent) 

Please see JD for full details 

About Us 

Tower Hamlets is a progressive, ambitious and diverse place to work. We place children and families at the heart of everything that we do and are relentless in our pursuit of positive outcomes for all. 

The Tower Hamlets Learning Academy is an innovative approach within Children’s services to enable excellent practice for our residents and make Tower Hamlets an employer of choice. The Academy was set up in 2018 as an engine to drive organisational transformation to foster practice excellence as well as recruit and retain high calibre practitioners. 

Tower Hamlets adopted a unique approach to setting up its academy by bringing five key workstreams in the division together into a singular operational unit. The Academy has since had a significant impact in establishing a relational culture (C Change Approach/People First) within the division and securing a stable and skilled workforce who are aspirational for the children and families. The success of the Academy has been acknowledged by Ofsted and the Department of Education as a national innovation. 

How to Apply 

If you are interested in the position please apply by 12th January 2025 

Interviews will be held, in person on the 20th of January 2025. Please hold this date. 

If you would like any further information, please contact Monika Sukthankar onmonika.sukthankar@towerhamlets.gov.uk 

Additional Details

Tower Hamlets vision for our borough is that: people are aspirational, independent and have equal access to opportunities; we are a borough that our residents are proud of and love to live in; and we are a dynamic, outcomes-based council using digital innovation and partnership working to respond to the changing needs of our borough. We want people who aspire to our TOWER values: Together; Open; Willing; Excellent; Respect.

Tower Hamlets has a zero-tolerance approach to, and works to eradicate, all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, status as a civil partner, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and maternity and looks to employ a diverse workforce representative of those groups. We recognise that people can also be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. 

We are a Disability Confident Employer, which means applicants who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the post are guaranteed an interview. Care experience has also been adopted by the Council as an additional protected characteristic.

We welcome applicants interested in flexible working arrangements and also applicants who live in the borough. 

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This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

Tower Hamlets Councils are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.