Senior Policy Officer

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 257591**Salary**:

- £40,642 - £41,048- £40,642 per annum (pro rata). Rising to £41,048 per annum (pro-rata) on successful completion of probation.
- **(Part time minimum 30 hours)**.**Job grade**:

- Senior Executive Officer- B1 APT**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- OFSTED - Education**Type of role**:

- Policy
- Project Delivery
- Strategy
- Other**Working pattern**:

- Full-time, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 2Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- 2 Rivergate, Bristol or Piccadilly Gate, ManchesterAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. We inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

Every week, we carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits throughout England and publish the results online. We also report on standards across the country and are accountable directly to Parliament. Ofsted’s inspections are independent and impartial.

The Education Directorate is led by the National Director, Education. It is responsible for policy development in the early years, maintained schools and academies, independent schools and further education and skills remits. The Directorate is responsible for the continuous improvement and development of Ofsted’s education inspection policy and methodology, driving improvement through the education system with a clear focus on pupils.

The Flexible Policy Team sits within the Education Directorate and works closely with the core remit teams, providing high quality cross-cutting policy advice and challenge. We lead on any inspection policy development work that affects more than one education remit and provide high quality support to organisational priorities through time-limited pieces of work.

The team is at the forefront of shaping new inspection policy and recent projects have been high profile, such as the development of the new Education Inspection Framework, the development of the ITE framework and restarting education inspections after Covid-19. Current projects include the development of two new frameworks, one for area SEND inspections and the other for ECFs and NPQs.

**Job description**:
The key responsibilities of the role are outlined below. However, this is an overview of the role and is not exhaustive. Ofsted reserves the right to assign other duties appropriate to the **B1** grade as required.
- To manage the production and development of cross-remit policy and guidance relating to regulation and inspection.
- To manage the timely dissemination of policy, guidance and templates to inspectors and other internal and external stakeholders.
- To consult and work effectively with internal and external colleagues to ensure that development and implementation processes are efficient, effective, provide value for money, and support Ofsted in complying with its legislative duties.
- To liaise with internal and external stakeholders including other Government Departments about a range of issues.
- To provide prompt and high quality responses to requests for information, including internal and external queries and briefings to senior managers.
- Provide advice and recommendations to colleagues on the detail of frameworks and policy to support the development and delivery of Ofsted’s activity.
- To contribute to the management of the directorate’s broader programme of work.

**Person specification**:

- Please refer to the job specification for further information.**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace

**Technical skills**:
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

- Knowledge and experience of managing a programme of work.
- Track record of planning projects and delivering them to agreed timescales.
- Experience of building positive and effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders and team members.
- Understanding of the current political and professional issues in education and those relating specifically to Ofsted.

**Benefits**:

- Ofsted is committed to maintaining employee health and wellbeing, whether it is physically, emotionally, financially or socially, and offers a range of benefits to support employees in this. Such benefits include the option to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme, professional and personal development opportunities, 32.5 annual leave days per annum (plus eight days public holiday) and counselling and advisory services for you and your family.
- Ofsted operates a hybrid working approach, allowing colleagues to benefit from time in the office, with the flexibility also to work from home. Our expectation is