Learning and Development Manager (Children's Services)

Town Hall
160 Whitechapel Road
LONDON
E1 1BJ

Learning and Development Manager (Children's Services)

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.

About the Role

It’s an exciting time to join Tower Hamlets Children’s Learning Academy. As the Learning and Development Manager, you will lead an innovative and ambitious program of learning and workforce development across Early Help, Youth Services, Youth Justice, and Youth Services. We will expect you to promote and lead in line with Our Better Together Practice Framework, which is based on Restorative Practice and draws from other strength-based approaches, such as Systemic and Trauma Informed Practice.

You will be expected to be a relational leader who can engage all stakeholders to review and implement an innovative and effective workforce development plan. The role will require you to develop in-house experts at every level and procure experts externally when needed to promote learning, practice improvement drives, and staff development. You will be confident in designing and delivering training to enable us to further build on a culture of learning.

This is an exciting and fast-paced role to support the strategic aims of the Academy, namely, Embedding the Better Together Framework, Enabling Practice Excellence, Practice Evaluation to support effective learning, Making Tower Hamlets an employer of choice, and Creating a Culture of Innovation. If you have the drive and commitment to support this exciting journey, we look forward to your application.

About You

Substantial Social Work post-qualifying experience including the below; we shall consider other applicable experience:

• Knowledge of current best practice in learning and development.
• Knowledge of the full learning and development cycle and its application, design, delivery, and evaluation processes.
• Experience of delivering a range of learning methods such as group training, coaching, mentoring, and one-to-one support.
• Experience of working within a team to provide an excellent service.
• Up-to-date knowledge of social work training and practice.

Our Offer

We've been working hard to make Tower Hamlets a great place to practice social work. We are committed to developing excellent managers and practitioners and making Tower Hamlets an employer of choice.

If you choose to work with us, you will benefit from:

A competitive salary - £55,158 - £58,197 plus travel allowance/card

Up to 31 days annual leave rising to 32 days with 5 years of continual service and 8 bank holidays.

• Zone 2-3 travel card, season ticket loan.
• Opportunities to develop your practice, with a clear framework for career development/leadership program.
• Manageable caseloads for your team.
• Enhanced sick pay scheme, maternity/adoption leave pay, and maternity support leave.
• Opportunities for agile/flexible working.
• Cycle to work scheme/Rent deposit scheme/Access to free eye tests.
• Discounted gym/Costco membership & You at Work discounts and many others.

We have fantastic transport links – Tower Hamlets Town Hall is directly opposite Whitechapel Station, which is a minute away. Whitechapel is an interchange station which serves Hammersmith & City, District, Overground, with quick access to central line DLR and Jubilee lines. We also have the Crossrail Elizabeth line with links to Canary Wharf, Shenfield/Abbey Wood/Heathrow, and Stratford, which is the best-connected hub in London.

• Closing Date: 24th November 2024
• Interviews: 2nd December 2024 - Please hold the date.

All applications should be made via our online application system; no CVs or alternative forms of applications are accepted.

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.