Student Support Manager

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About us

The Faculty of Arts & Humanities is seeking a Student Support Manager, based within the Education Team. This role sits within the Faculty Education Team and is dedicated to supporting students, and staff in their pastoral capacity. The Support Team focus on individual student wellbeing cases and managing the Faculty's input to formal student support processes such as Student of Concern, Support for Study, and disability inclusion.

The Student Support Manager will be responsible for managing complex student cases, acting as a liaison for central support services, and attending relevant case conference meetings. The role holder will provide expert advice and support to staff where students are experiencing difficulties, support signposting to specialist services and ensure staff awareness of these.

The role holder will work on developing processes and support within the Faculty for students in need, focusing on training and guidance for staff and students alongside the existing formal processes to ensure that wellbeing support is provided clearly and consistently for all Arts & Humanities students.

The post reports to the Senior Student Support Manager and will work closely with staff in Departments, such as senior tutors, as well as specialist support roles in the College's student support and Wellbeing services, in particular the Wellbeing Advisers, to coordinate proactive communication.

We are looking for someone with experience of supporting students through complex situations, who is resilient and can work with a team across organisational boundaries. The role holder will be adept at planning and problem-solving, and have significant experience of engaging a wide range of stakeholders effectively.

This is currently a hybrid role, and the role holder will spend part of their working week on campus and part of the week working remotely.

About the role

Key responsibilities

• Student support and casework
• To be the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer for the Faculty.
• To manage incoming student cases escalated within the Faculty and/or referred to Faculty by central support services.
• To support staff with the Student of Concern process, providing initial advice, and signposting.
• To be able to directly provide a student with tailored support and guidance, as and when necessary, to ensure effective safeguarding.
• To develop and maintain a comprehensive and secure data management solution for student cases.
• To be the Faculty point of contact for central support services.
• To work closely with the Faculty Wellbeing Adviser and Senior Student Support Manager on the escalation process for cases that are serious, complex, or multi- faceted.
• To work with the Student Support Officer in supporting the arrangement and facilitation of Support for Study meetings in Faculty.
• To chair a number of Stage 2 Support for Study Meetings in the Faculty, where there are emerging or more complex welfare considerations.
• To attend Stage 3 Support for Study meetings in the Faculty, completing relevant administrative tasks as part of this procedure.
• To support the implementation and functioning of the Attendance and Engagement Policy within the Faculty.

Supporting Disability

• To be the Faculty Disability Liaison, and act as the primary point of contact for Disability Support & Inclusion colleagues for operational issues.
• To support Programme Teams with the efficient process management of disability related documentation such as King's Inclusion Plans, and Personalised Assessment Arrangements.
• To provide Departments with support, advice, and signposting on issues relating to disability support and inclusion.
• To support Departments with complex case management where extensive reasonable adjustments are required.
• To support all staff in the Faculty in adhering to the most up to date and inclusive practices for teaching, events, and communication with students.
• To develop and maintain a comprehensive and secure data management solution for students with disability related needs.

Training, Development and Proactive Support

• To further the development and delivery of training for academic colleagues holding administrative roles with a pastoral care remit (e.g. Senior Tutors), and professional services staff in the Faculty.
• To further develop and maintain a suite of resources for academic and professional service colleagues in the Faculty who are involved with student casework.
• To support the Senior Student Support Manager and Faculty Senior Tutor with the running of a Senior Tutor forum.
• To work with the Faculty Wellbeing Adviser to support and facilitate proactive wellbeing initiatives for students.
• To support Departments with facilitating pro-active wellbeing initiatives and regularly reviewing to improve the effectiveness of these.
• To work with the Senior Student Support Manager to support the development and implementation of new processes and procedures.
• To show adaptability in a fast-paced environment: being able to respond to needs of students and Faculty staff in ensuring delivery of an effective safeguarding system.

About you:

To be successful in these roles, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Experience of supporting students through complex and serious issues. Excellent communication skills including the ability to draft documents, reports and correspondence, and to lead and contribute to meetings.
2. Experience of working within a procedural framework, applying relevant processes and procedures to casework. Excellent organisational and time management skills with the ability to prioritise effectively, responding with initiative to situations arriving at short notice.
3. Emotional resilience and the ability to work calmly under pressure.
4. Experience of working confidentially with a strong awareness of professional boundaries for the role.
5. Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to work with a broad range of stakeholders to influence and deliver outcomes successfully.
6. Knowledge of the issues facing students in Higher Education and developments in the sector around student wellbeing and support
7. Understanding of the important of equity and diversity in the workplace

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of working in a HE institution.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the General Data Protection Regulation.
3. Experience of chairing or leading multi-party meetings or committees.
4. Mental Health First Aid Trained or equivalent qualification in person-centred practices and skills.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click "Apply Now". This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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 will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.

Interviews are due to be held on w/c 17th February 2025.