Social Mobility and Widening Participation Manager
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About us
The King's community is dedicated to the service of society. King's Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.
Within the Social Mobility & Widening Participation Department we believe all young people should be able to have high expectations for their future. This means equal access to education and career opportunities. We run programmes that aim to empower young people from under-represented backgrounds to access and succeed at university
We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King's students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King's faculties to do so.
About the role
The Social Mobility & Widening Participation manager has responsibility for delivering and overseeing key widening participation programmes in line with King's Access & Participation Plan.
This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking for a management role and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise to develop high quality, impactful activities to address educational disadvantage.
Main responsibilities:
• Oversee a range of widening participation programmes and projects aligned with the King's Access & Participation Plan. This includes oversight of evaluation to monitor programme effectiveness and associated governance
• Line management of Widening Participation practitioners and directing the planning and implementation of their work objectives. This includes managing performance and undertaking relevant HR processes
• Be an active member of the Social Mobility & Widening Participation Department's management team, contributing to discussion and decision-making
• Responsible for a budget, including reporting and annual monitoring of expenditure in line with department financial procedures.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in running workshops, classroom management, resource development and safeguarding
There are two posts available. The initial anticipated priorities and responsibilities for each of these posts is outlined below. If you have a preference for one over the other, you are welcome to state this in your application.
SMWP Manager 1:
It is anticipated that this role will initially focus on overseeing and expanding our suite of pre-16 programmes (including Step Up Scholars, King's Scholars, and Scholars Plus), alongside developing a new Parent Network. The postholder will also manage our school partnerships. A key part of the role initially will be working closely with the What Works team to lead a randomised control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of King's Scholars, our KS3 programme. The postholder will drive a new, strategic partnership with a multi-academy trust, coordinating summer schools for teachers and activity days for sixth-form students. They will also develop a new programme to support Teaching Assistants.
SMWP Manager 2:
It is anticipated that this role will initially serve as the primary point of contact for King's colleagues - both professional and academic, as well as King's Maths School and KCLSU. The postholder will run the WP Champions network for King's staff who support our work or run their own WP interventions. A key focus will be developing and running the new King's Plus programme - a student support programme for all WP students at King's (c 25% of home, UG students). They will develop a comprehensive communications plan for SMWP featuring an open content hub and podcast series. They will oversee all the community organising work within the department - this includes Parent Power, Empoderando Familias and Empower ESOL. As part of their early priorities, they will lead on the articulation and dissemination of relevant educational policy and research and ensure King's provision is cutting edge and innovative.
These are hybrid roles which involve both remote and on-campus work, with a minimum of two office days per week (currently Tuesdays and Wednesdays) based at the Strand or Waterloo campuses. However, as these positions are delivery-focused, in addition to office days, the roles also require a substantial amount of time on-campus and in schools to run activities for young people. This can include regular evening and weekend commitments.
We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role
These are both full time posts and you will be offered an indefinite contract.
About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
1. Significant relevant work experience and/or education. This might include work in widening access or addressing social inequalities (education) in universities, civic organisations, schools or in the third sector
2. Experience in leading programmes and/or interventions for young people
3. Experience of supervising or line managing staff, interns and/or student ambassadors. This includes managing others' work priorities and performance
4. Experience of running multiple projects simultaneously
5. Ability to use experience and judgement to resolve complex problems with little supervision
6. Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to break complex information down for a range of audiences
7. A good understanding of the widening participation agenda and the role of higher education in social mobility
8. Experience in managing relationships with diverse stakeholders. This can include schools, community organisations, and academic staff
Desirable criteria
1. Experience of budget management, including financial projections, monitoring and reporting.
2. Excellent understanding of evaluation techniques used in Widening Participation and evidence of what works.
3. Experience in managing change, including creating and carrying out plans to ensure smooth transitions in workplace operations and systems.
Full details of the role and the skills and experience required can be found in the attached job description which is provided on the next page.
Further information
We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.
We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.
This role does not meet the requirements of the Home Office and therefore we are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who require the right to work in the UK.
This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service.