Job summary
Salary:£37,336 - £39,186
Hours per week:37 hours
Interview date:Week commencing Monday 7 October 2024
Performance &Outcomes - Collaborating Community Engagement for Stronger Outcomes
Do you have a passion for supporting and developing high quality training? Adult Social Care are seeking a dedicated Workforce Development Specialist to join their Quality and Assurance team. This role is pivotal in ensuring our Adult Social Care staff are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and support needed to provide exceptional support for the residents of Wiltshire.
As a Workforce Development Coordinator, you will work closely with the Principal Social Worker (PSW) and Principal Occupational Therapist (POT) to source, implement, deliver, monitor and evaluate quality training and development interventions for Adult Care practitioners to maintain and develop good practice across the directorate. You will work closely with colleagues within the Learning and Development team to commission training from external providers and coordinate training activities organised by other services within the council or by partner agencies. You will also support and facilitate, where required, in the direct learning and development activities for the workforce.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for a candidate that has a thorough understanding of adult care, including current legislation, policy and best practices. Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to communicate clearly with individuals at all levels is required, along with a solid grasp of diverse roles within the adult care sector. Competency in IT, particularly with Microsoft Office and the ability to critically analyse research and workforce development needs and incorporate these findings into training modules is essential. Excellent written and report writing skills are also key.
The successful candidate will focus on promoting good practice and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) by identifying the training needs of the Adult Social Care workforce and supporting in the sourcing and delivery of these courses.
About us
Wiltshire Council is a friendly, welcoming place to work, with a 'One Council' ethos. Thats why we focus on getting the things that matter to our people right.
We are firmly committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and to the principles of inclusion and diversity in both employment and the delivery of services.
Job description
Job responsibilities
All professionals within our Adult Care services (, social workers, occupational therapists, approved mental health practitioners, support workers, etc) require training and development to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge, expertise and skills they need to do the best for our customers and in order to deliver our statutory duties effectively.
Working closely with the Adults Principal Social Worker, the Principal Occupational Therapist and our HR & OD colleagues, the postholder will specify, source, implement, deliver, monitor and evaluate, quality training and development interventions for adult care practitioners, in order to meet business need and ensure outcomes are appropriately met. This will be achieved through direct delivery of learning and development activities; commissioning training from other providers; and coordinating training activities organised by other services within the council or by partner agencies.
The development officer will take lead responsibility for the analysis of development needs of practitioners and contribute to delivering the training elements of the ASC Workforce Strategy. This will be done collaboratively with learning and development leads within teams, managers, service leads and relevant heads of service. Training and development needs will be identified from numerous sources, examples may include:
Audit, Voice (customers, practitioners and managers) and other Quality Assurance findings
Performance data and scrutiny including Supervision feedback/observations
Survey findings (, LGA Health Check Survey)
Local, regional and national practice developments and benchmarking
Legislative changes and direction of travel (via consultation activity)
New ways of working (ASC Transformation Programme)
ASC Workforce Strategy Action Plan
The postholder will assist with the design and delivery of statutory and bespoke training delivered in a variety of forms (, bitesize video tutorials, classroom delivery, virtual, e-learning, etc). The training will follow the principles and standards as defined in our ASC Quality Assurance Framework and our ASC Practice Standards as well as relevant statutory requirements - ensuring good practice is embedded across the directorate. The monitoring of attendance, compliance and effectiveness of the training provided is required.
Specific duties and responsibilities include:
Have lead responsibility for developing and delivering Adult Care training, ensuring that a programme of development is on offer which meets the requirements of the service but also engages staff at all levels and ensures good attendance and outcomes.
Keep up to date with all statutory and service requirements in relation to adult care, alongside best practice in terms of training delivery, using this knowledge to identify opportunities to improve and develop the programme of training and ways this is delivered.
Assist the Principal Social Worker, Principal Occupational Therapist in delivering elements of the ASC Workforce Strategy relating to staff training and development.
Take the initiative in recommending new training provision and requirements; evaluating best options, including value for money. Identify resources within budget or prepare business cases for additional resources.
Providing statistics, management information and analysis regarding training delivery and impact.
Ensure creative solutions are considered including:
o Times, venues and methods of learning which will support access;
o Appropriate content for staff with different levels of experience;
o Accessible content to cater for those with different learning styles.
o Managing group dynamicso Project management and leadership to ensure coordination of the complete training and development offer
Commission learning and development activities, sometimes at short notice, from both in house and external providers to meet identified needs and priorities within available resources. The post holder will work closely with internal and external providers on service specifications and learning objectives to ensure training is identified which is of high quality, meets the identified learning needs of carers, is good value. The post holder will be responsible for ensuring delivery of training is costed and is within available budget identifying any pressures on the available budget and presenting solutions for agreement by line manager.
Market and promote training within adult care services ensuring that information is provided within appropriate timescales to prospective learners and relevant staff. Work closely with corporate communications to ensure training is appropriately publicised.
Maintain the ASC About website containing key documents (policies, protocols, exemplars, case studies, practice updates, etc). Provide regular input into ASC newsletters and news flashes when required regarding training.
Develop feedback and evaluation forms alongside systems for collating and analysing evaluation feedback, taking decisions and implementing change where appropriate. Create and maintain a training and development event tracker and learning log to provide ongoing evidence of activities accessed and learning topics covered to assist with CQC inspections and annual activity reviews. Analyse data to identify need and effectiveness of training programme, identify issues and trends and provide reports and generate ideas to continuously improve the programme.
Specific requirements for this post:
On occasion, and in agreement with the line manager, the post holder may be required to work during evenings and weekends.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
1. Degree level qualification or equivalent in a relevant field ( social care, training and
2. development or similar)
3. Training qualification or significant relevant experience in learning and development
4. Experience of working in Social Care/and or Adult Care or similar environment
5. Up to date understanding and knowledge of adult care including legislation, policy and good
6. practice
7. Understanding and knowledge of the role and training needs of adult care practitioners and
8. including relevant national standards
9. Experience of developing, delivering, specifying, commissioning and evaluating training courses
10. and pathways
11. Excellent relationship building skills, with the ability to communicate simply and effectively both
12. verbally and in writing with a wide range of people at all levels of the organisation
13. A good level of understanding of the different professional roles of staff in all agencies engaged in
14. working within the adult care landscape
15. ICT competent, including the use of Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel,
16. PowerPoint, SharePoint)
17. Ability to keep up to date with local and national issues, best practice and changes in legislation
18. affecting adult care
19. Ability to identify and critically evaluate relevant research and integrate findings into training
20. course design
21. Proven organisational skills including the ability to work on own initiative, lead and manage
22. projects and set work priorities
23. Excellent written and report writing skills
24. Good level of numeracy
25. Fluent in English
Desirable
26. Understanding of training pathways and how to develop and implement these
27. Experience of delivering training to experienced social workers and occupational therapists
28. Database skills to support the management of information regarding training arrangements
29. Experience of working in a complex organisation
30. Experience of contributing to service development
31. Experience of joint planning of training events with colleagues, partners and training providers
32. Recent practice experience working with adults accessing adult social care
33. Experience of cost/benefit analysis plus the ability to manage a small delegated budget
34. management
35. Experience of work allocation, support and indirect leadership of staff or colleagues
Experience
Essential
36. Relevant professional experience post qualification in a similar work environment.
37. Expert knowledge of relevant policy, systems, work practices, professional guidelines, legislation in
38. the area of specialism.
39. Excellent ICT skills including use of Microsoft applications and specialist systems.
40. Proven ability to provide advice and make recommendations based on specialist knowledge of
41. specific area. Highlight and resolve potential risks.
42. Knowledge and experience of contributing to the development of policies, procedures and practices.
43. Familiar with wider sector / external influences.
44. Detailed operational knowledge of systems in terms of functionality, capability and availability.
45. Excellent interpersonal, persuasion, influencing and negotiating skills.
46. Excellent planning and organisational skills, with proven ability to prioritise and co-ordinate workloads,
47. monitor and evaluate work, to ensure deadlines are achieved
48. Proven ability to interpret and analyse statistical and numerical data, drawing conclusions from the
49. data to make informed decisions.
50. Proven ability to cope with conflicting and changing demands through good time management and the
51. ability to work under pressure.
52. Experience of co-ordinating projects with service / organisation impact
53. Proven ability to produce business focussed, user friendly reports, policy and project documents
54. where appropriate.