Youth Worker

VISION WEST NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COLLEGE; Mansfield; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

Vision West Nottinghamshire College is seeking a proactive individual to support and engage young people, including those with SEND, across college programmes. The role focuses on enabling learners to settle, engage and progress, while working closely with staff and external partners to remove barriers.

You will champion a cohort of targeted students, liaising daily with heads of department, teachers and support teams.

Qualifications

• Experience of working with and engaging hard-to-reach young people on a one-to-one basis and in group settings.
• Broad range of formal and informal youth work skills to help young people set and achieve challenging personal and social goals.
• Ability to work confidently with colleagues across the college and with external organisations on behalf of young people.
• Advocacy, communication and interpersonal skills are essential for this role.

Responsibilities

• Advocate for targeted young people with curriculum area managers, teachers and staff to ensure they settle, stay and thrive.
• Work with students to help them understand and meet theoretical and practical expectations of their programmes.
• Set meaningful, challenging targets and monitor progress for success.
• Collaborate with learning support, attendance coaches and safeguarding leads as needed.

Skills

Youth work

Advocacy

Communication

Interpersonal skills

One-to-one support

Group work

Job description

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

Job details

Salary The salary will be VBSS Band 5, £27,998 pro rata, per annum. This is a spot salary

The successful candidate will be excellent at engaging with and motivating young people who may be vulnerable and often have had previously poor experiences of education and who may, at times, present challenging behaviour. Some young people may have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The post’s responsibilities will centre on ensuring young people who have enrolled on college programmes and courses across the college’s curriculum are able to settle as students and feel both fully supported and valued. That these new students fully engage in their learning, own their achievement and progress and stay in learning. That these learners thrive throughout the planned duration of their programmes. That any barriers and blocks to their full inclusion and swift progress are swiftly overcome to enable them to excel.

The successful post-holder will have experience of working with, supporting, and engaging ‘hard to reach’ young people on a one to one basis and in a group setting. Experience in deploying a broad range of formal and informal youth work skills to enable young people to accurately identify and strive to achieve challenging personal and social development goals is essential. The post demands individuals who are able to work confidently and effectively with a range of internal colleagues across the college and external organisations with, and on behalf of, young people. Effective and timely advocacy, communication and interpersonal skills are of paramount importance in this role.

This is an exciting and challenging role for a highly motivated, dynamic and creative individual who is passionate about enabling young people to make positive changes in their lives including fully engaging in learning. An individual who recognises the power of effective education in improving life chances for young people.

The post-holder will ‘champion’ and ‘shadow’ a cohort of targeted young people who have enrolled as students throughout each academic year. To ensure these students flourish during their time at college, the post-holder will liaise on a daily basis with a broad range of staff including heads of department, teachers, trainers, specialist support teams. The responsibilities include;

• Acting as an advocate with and on behalf of targeted young people with the relevant curriculum area’s managers, teachers, trainers and staff to ensure students settle, stay in and thrive through their learning.
• Working alongside targeted students to ensure they fully grasp, commit to and meet the theoretical and practical expectations of their programmes and courses.
• Ensuring targeted students agree meaningful, challenging and achievable targets that are frequently monitored and reviewed in order to ensure they can excel.
• Working effectively to resolution with both students and the college’s specialist support teams including learning support, attendance coaches, safeguarding leads if and when such needs arise.
• Liaising with students’ families and/or carers if and when required. To ensure that parents/carers are made fully aware of their responsibilities to students’ engagement and progress.
• Acting as an advocate with and on behalf of targeted students with relevant external organisations if and when the needs arise.

Good fluency in administrative and strong organisational skills including experience of effectively using databases, processing information and creating and presenting regular reports are essential.

The post-holder will be required to conduct outreach if and when required. This will be to liaise with students and their parents and/or carers as well as with external organisations. Any visit to targeted students’ residences will always be in the presence of another appropriate adult college employee. You will also be required to conduct specific targeted detached youth work as and when needed to promote the college’s provision during non-term time in the summer. All detached youth work activity will include a minimum of two adult college employees.

The role will require you to embed the college’s values, Respect, Integrity, Collaboration, Ambition and Compassion.