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The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) is a charity that represents the voice of people living with dyslexia. We aim to influence government and other institutions to promote a dyslexia friendly society that enables dyslexic people of all ages to reach their full potential.
This is an exciting new role for the BDA, which has been created with the purpose of recruiting, managing and supporting regional volunteers, leading specific outreach to groups impacted and disadvantaged by dyslexia and resulting life circumstances. This is a varied hands-on role that would suit a skilled volunteering professional, who will use their knowledge of volunteering best practice and experience to help us create the future for outreach volunteering at the BDA.
Location
Home-based (UK), with travel to the BDA office in Bracknell (Berkshire) and around the UK as and when necessary. Additionally, travel to team days approximately 1-2 times a year is required.
Duties and Responsibilities (to include, but not limited to):
·Recruiting, training and supporting regional volunteers and working with a national voluntary panel.
· Develop and implement volunteer recruitment strategies to attract a diverse pool of volunteers.
· Provide supervision and guidance to volunteers to ensure a positive volunteer experience.
· Coordinate volunteer training and onboarding processes.
· Maintain accurate volunteer records, including role, contract information and achievements.
· Monitor and evaluate the provision of outreach services to measure effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
· Leading specific outreach to groups impacted and disadvantaged by dyslexia and resulting life circumstances.
· Promoting hubs, working closely with Marketing and Communications colleagues and creating referral routes to hub services.
· Coordinating with organisations and stakeholders at a national and local level, for joint working and support of the hubs.
· Creating resources and tools for hub volunteers to run services and for new hubs to establish in a consistent way.
· Evaluating services run by Local Hubs and contributing to knowledge and research on needs, provision and outcomes for people with dyslexia.
· Bringing together the network of Local Hubs, Local Dyslexia Associations and other member organisations - enabling them to share good practice, access training and peer support between volunteers.
· Create and maintain an internal engagement plan that supports the BDA to increase impact and reach through our work with communities, including best practice guidance and tools.
Person Specification
Skills & Experience:
· Experience of engaging and including diverse groups, ‘hard to reach’ and vulnerable beneficiaries.
· Demonstrable experience of volunteer management, including the recruiting, managing, supporting, training and retention of volunteers.
· Able to develop links and relationships with a variety of stakeholders.
· Project management skills, including development of regional services.
· Strong relationship management skills with the ability to influence.
· Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
Competencies & Personal Attributes:
· Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
· An ability to build effective networks that foster collaboration both internally and externally.
· Strong organisational and time management abilities, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities simultaneously.
· Commitment to the mission and values of the BDA.
This post may be subject to a satisfactory Criminal Records Check, from either the Disclosure and Barring Service (England & Wales), Disclosure Scotland Check (Scotland) or Access NI (Northern Ireland).
Equal Opportunities
We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at the BDA. We are committed to building a diverse organisation that represents the communities we serve and ensuring inclusion in everything we do.
To change society by removing barriers so that everyone with dyslexia can reach their full potential in education, in employment and in life.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We are excited to recruit a Community Organiser for our Bradford Parent Power project. This role offers a meaningful, paid professional development opportunity. The Brilliant Club will work in partnership with Queens’ College, Cambridge, Dixons Academies Trust and Go Higher West Yorkshire to engage with parents in Bradford. The parental engagement model used will be based on the successful Parent Power South London and Oldham Parent Power projects.
- Dixons are committed to making a difference where it matters most, working to improve the future for thousands of children in parts of the north of England where young lives are adversely affected by social and educational disadvantage. We believe that every child, regardless of their background, should be able to fulfil their academic potential and go on to thrive. Founded by Dixons City Academy, the trust has over 30 years’ experience in transforming education through their network of high-performing, non-faith academies, operating in Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester.
- Queens’ College supports world-leading teaching and research in a beautiful and welcoming environment, and has been in the heart of Cambridge for more than five centuries. At Queens’ we know that attracting the best students from a diverse range of backgrounds is essential if we are to continue to thrive as a vibrant and creative academic community in the twenty-first century. We are committed to enabling the widest possible participation and are proud to be partnered with schools across Bradford through the Cambridge University Area Links scheme. We work with communities across the city to break down some of the myths and misconceptions that have grown up around selective Higher Education, giving young people accurate and up-to-date information to enable them to make the decisions that are right for them.
- Go Higher West Yorkshire is a partnership of 13 Higher Education (HE) providers, working collaboratively to reduce long-standing inequalities in access to, success in and progression from HE. GHWY was formed in 2010 and is hosted by the University of Leeds. We are impartial, not promoting any HE provider or course. Working with groups underrepresented in HE, we strive to overcome all barriers, misinformation and uncertainty concerning HE and to ensure people make confident and informed HE choices. We support educators and influencers help people into Higher Education, and by improving young people’s employability skills, help inspire a more high-skilled workforce.
Parent Power supports parents and carers to develop skills in community organising and advice and guidance on accessing higher education, empowering them to make change to support their children’s future and ensure their they have a fair chance in education and their future careers.
Working with us, the Community Organiser will:
- Support local pupils from underrepresented backgrounds by empowering their parent/carers to become higher education experts
- Receive community organising training from Citizens UK and develop transferable skills
- Join a nationwide community of community organisers making a significant impact on university access
Person specification
Time and Resource Management:
Essential
- Able to plan sessions in an organised and efficient manner and adhere to agreed deadlines.
- Excellent timekeeper, ensuring prompt arrival to meetings and 1-1s; well organised within 1-1s and sessions.
- Capable of adapting quickly to new systems/ processes.
Desirable:
- Confident in using digital systems for delivery of online sessions in parent meetings
- Experience of creating resources
External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management:
Essential
- Ability to work in a way that promotes the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
- Professional approach to problem solving with a range of stakeholders involved in the project.
- Awareness of role as a visitor within a school and parent/carer community; understanding of the other commitments held by professionals within a school and by parent/carers
- Understanding of The Brilliant Club mission and the Widening Participation agenda nationally.
Desirable
- Prior experience of community-focused work or hold a qualification at Level 4 or above (as listed here)
- Understanding of the barriers young people face to university access and some of the ways these might be overcome.
- Understanding of the current climate in the UK school system and some of the challenges young people and parent/carers might be facing.
Communication:
Essential
- Awareness of how to engage parents and adapt university style learning for a school setting.
- Able to communicate in a timely and professional way with all project stakeholders
- Able to take a relational approach to communication with parent/carers, especially in 1-1s
- Able to explain research accessibly to non-expert audiences
Reflectiveness
Essential
- Able to identify strengths and areas of development, open to feedback.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
English for Action
Operations Lead
Salary: £23,595 (£39325 pro-rated) (likely increase from August 1st to keep up with inflation)
Hours: 22.5 (3 days) per week
Location: Work from home, with occasional meetings in London required (travel at employee’s expense).
Duration of contract: permanent
Closing date for Easy Apply applications: Tuesday May 7th, end of day
Closing date for further applications: Wednesday May 15th, end of day
Interviews to be held on: Friday May 17th in the afternoon
Reporting to: The trustee HR subgroup and a line manager on the Executive Team
The role at a glance: Leading on EFA’s operations, with particularly emphasis on financial management and HR support for our small team of (currently) 8 employees. You’ll develop and administer our People policies, practices and culture to support EFA as a happy, equitable place to work and an effective mission-focused organisation. Scope for both day-to-day care for our systems and creative improvement of how we do things. In addition, to oversee EFA finances; payments received and paid, budgeting, monitoring any financial risks and advising with records/reports to the board of trustees and staff team on a monthly basis. Read more about the role.
You at a glance: You’re passionate about the community organising and education work we do with migrants in London and the radical participatory ethos of EFA London. You bring strong experience of ‘People work’ and governance of groups or organisations (whether paid or unpaid), with an interest in how to bring the best of conventional operations practisce into a team interested in a more equal distribution of power. You’re a ‘people person’, combining strong communication skills with a strategic eye on moving towards solutions. You’re committed to anti-oppression and promoting healthy workplaces for staff. You have a fastidious approach to the administration which underpins all of this.
About EFA
English for Action provides free, participatory, and empowering English language classes (ESOL) for migrants in London. Our classes are spaces to build community and support students to organise collectively around issues like employment and housing rights. Our work currently supports around 500 adult migrants across London. We’ve become a national centre of good practice for a radical participatory approach to ESOL, informed by the work of Paulo Freire, and we share this approach through trainings, research and partnerships.
Organisation: We are a staff team of 8 people supported by a larger team of volunteers and 9 trustees. EFA promotes shared leadership and collaboration and we aim for our organisational structure to reflect this. In the last 4 years we’ve transitioned away from having a CEO to an executive team to oversee operations and decision-making - which you could be elected to join following your probation period. We’re still in transition and there is scope to make a real contribution to developing innovative practice within our workplace. As a charity, ultimate responsibility for, and control of, the organisation lies with the Board of Trustees.
EFA employee benefits include:
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Pension scheme with employer matched contribution, currently at 6%.
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Pay rises in line with inflation wherever possible (we have a flat pay structure)
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Tech and cycle scheme
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Flexible working possible based on your needs
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Continuous Personal Development actively encouraged and training opportunities explored.
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Enhanced annual leave: starts with 24 days per annum pro rata, rising to 32 days per annum pro rata plus Bank Holidays (pro-rata for part-time hours) after probation, with some restrictions on when holidays must be taken.
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Full entitlement to days off for sickness (including mental ill-health), compassionate leave, bereavement leave, and parental leave
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Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental leave pay
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Enhanced sick pay
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Collaborative decision making on organisational strategy and practice
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Working within an organisation that makes a huge difference in communities across London and the UK.
Recruitment process / how to apply
We know applying to jobs can be time consuming! And often candidates with lots of relevant experience can be put off if they don’t fit every part of the job description.
So, we’re using an ‘Easy Apply’ form, where you can attach a CV and fill out three questions to express interest in this role. Even if you are not sure you quite fit all the specifications - give it a go. It may take as little as 10 minutes.
We’ll then encourage you to apply at Stage 2 if we feel you have relevant skills and
experience. You’ll then have another week to complete a few further questions.
Get in touch if you’d like to chat informally about any aspect of this job description or the role:
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.