Quality Development Advisor

Surrey County Council; England; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dynamic Quality Development Advisor to join their Early Years Educational Effectiveness Team. This full-time role offers a competitive salary and the flexibility of hybrid working, allowing you to support early years providers throughout the region. You will play a crucial role in promoting quality improvements and maintaining high standards across various educational settings. If you are passionate about early childhood education and have the skills to lead and inspire, this is an exciting opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the community.

Benefits

26 days' holiday, rising to 30 days

Option to buy additional annual leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Carer's leave

Local government pension

Lifestyle discounts

Paid volunteering days

Access to learning and development resources

Qualifications

• Degree qualified or significant vocational experience in relevant roles.
• Working knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and Ofsted framework.

Responsibilities

• Support and challenge early years providers across the county.
• Lead on quality improvement activity and design training programs.

Skills

Knowledge of Early Years Foundation Stage

Experience in Early Years Sector

Ability to analyze and evaluate data

Experience in writing and delivering training

Understanding of quality improvement systems

Education

Degree or significant vocational experience

Job description

• Location: Any Surrey Office

Description

This role has a starting salary of £40,296 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week. The position is offered as a permanent full time opportunity.

We are excited to be hiring a new Quality Development Advisor to join our fantastic Early Years Educational Effectiveness Team. The role involves hybrid working, supporting early years providers across the county, working remotely (sometimes from home) and combining this with working from any of the Council's offices.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the Team

The Early Years Educational Effectiveness Team sits within our Children, Families and Lifelong Learning Directorate.

The Early Years Education Effectiveness Team provide support and challenge to a range of early years providers including full daycare, pre-schools, maintained nurseries, childminders and out of school provision to promote quality improvements and maintain high quality provision. The team will provide advice and guidance on quality of provision and the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage as well as supporting settings to meet the requirements set out by Ofsted and other relevant legislation.

About the Role

We are looking for a dynamic, resilient and innovative individual to join our highly motivated and effective team, who travel around the county to provide support and challenge to a range of early years providers including full daycare, pre-schools, nursery classes, maintained nursery schools, and childminders to promote quality improvements and maintain high quality provision.

You will work alongside our other Quality Development Advisors, Senior Early Years Advisors and Early Years Advisors to ensure that there is a consistent approach to supporting early years settings within Surrey.

You will be instrumental in the design and delivery of the support that providers are offered to develop new and existing provision and will work closely with a range of professionals across the early years services in Surrey. While you will not hold any line management responsibility at present, you will need to be able to evidence experience of leading others.

You will lead on quality improvement activity and will be key to the design and implementation of the new Quality Improvement Award and hold responsibility for ensuring that there is a consistent approach to Quality Improvement Programmes across the county. You will be required to write and deliver specific training programmes in support of improvement activity.

Shortlisting Criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• Degree qualified or significant vocational experience demonstrating development through involvement in a series of progressively more demanding relevant work/roles.
• Working knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and Ofsted inspection framework.
• Knowledge of quality improvement systems, guidance and legislative knowledge pertinent to area of specialism.
• Significant experience of working in the early years sector.
• Proven ability to analyse and evaluate data.
• Thorough understanding of the Surrey Best Start Strategy and the Quality Improvement Principles.
• Experience of writing, facilitating and delivering training.
• Experience of developing others.

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 30/05/25 with interviews planned for 9/6/25 and 13/6/25.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and you will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our Values

Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values .

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbook provides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.