Scrutiny Research Officer - Glasgow, United Kingdom - Scottish Government

Scottish Government

Verified Company

Glasgow, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Overview:

Would you like to work for an organisation that wants to improve Scottish education better?
Education Scotland is the national improvement agency for Scottish education and an executive agency of the Scottish Government.

Our role is to promote improvement through inspection and review, innovation and change, from the early years to adult learning and to provide support and challenge to the education system.

We are committed to embedding our values of excellence, creativity, integrity and respect in everything we do.

The Scrutiny Directorate, currently within Education Scotland carries out inspection and review of education provision from early years to adult learning.

We carry out a broad range of inspection visits across different layers of the education system. We create reports following our visits and publish our findings on Education Scotland's website.

The reports by HM Inspectors of Education are independent and impartial and based on evidence from observing learning at first hand.

The Research Officer will play a key role in the scrutiny directorate, working closely with HM Inspectors. They will have responsibility for delivering individual pieces of work to support the priorities of the scrutiny directorate. The Research Officer will work across a range of projects and provide advice about research methods and design. They will work with HM Inspectors to support the integration of research principles throughout their work.

They will also work with others, including HM Inspectors to scope work, design research methods, reviewing analysis and review text and reports.

HM Inspectors have a relentless focus on excellence and equity in education. HM Inspectors evaluate practice to be shared with all education stakeholders. The Research Officer will work with HM Inspectors helping to ensure that appropriate information is shared to promote improvement.

Benefits:

Flexible working and currently within a hybrid model, providing excellent worklife balance
Competitive salary ranges
Minimum 5 weeks annual leave (pro rata) which increases with service in addition to 11.5 public and privilege holidays
Learning and development opportunities as well as career progression
Civil Service pension
Workplace adjustments as required to enable individuals to work safely and comfortably within their role
Range of health and wellbeing support available to all staff

Responsibilities:

Work with HM Inspectors to scope and design research questions and methods for gathering evidence and ensure accurate and comprehensive analysis of quantitative and qualitative evidence.
Work with others to present findings and analysis in an engaging and creative way.
Undertake specific pieces of research and analysis of qualitative and quantitative information to support the work of HM Inspectors, including literature reviews.
Develop a strong understanding of the role and functions of HM Inspectors and the approach to gathering evidence through inspection and other external evaluative activities.
Create briefings and reports based on robust analysis and synthesis of evidence, including presentations on key findings in different formats for different audiences.
Provide professional learning to members of the scrutiny directorate on best research and evaluation practice.
Work with HM Inspectors and other colleagues to identify evaluation and inspection projects.
Delivering the thematic survey briefing and training process for HMI, including gathering relevant background information and providing advice on project design, research methods and instruments.
Ensuring a researchinformed approach to survey design, analysis, and quality assurance to support thematic work and wider evidence base.
Lead research projects appropriate to the needs of the scrutiny directorate to support improvement in Scottish education.

Competencies
People Management

Communications and Engagement

Analysis and Use of Evidence

Improving Performance

Essential Criteria & Qualifications:

Technical knowledge of the methods of social and/or policy research and an understanding of how to effectively deploy a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer complex questions.
Experience of producing well-structured, readable reports with clear and compelling findings that have impact.
Experience of managing the collation and recording of quantitative and qualitative evidence from a range of different sources.
Experience of delivering research or evaluation projects from scoping through to publication.

Qualifications

Provisional Interview Dates
To be confirmed.

Additional Information

How To Apply
For further information on this vacancy please download and review the "Person Specification" which you will find below.

Person Specification Band B

Add to your CV your personal statement (no longer than 700 words) explaining why you consider your personal skills,