Workforce Development Manager; Practice Lead

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!

As a Practice Lead within Workforce Development Service, you will lead on the training and embedding of our Family Led (Signs of Safety) practice model and Family Led Decision Making (FLDM) within Lewisham. You will also work alongside senior leaders on the ongoing embedding and development of our FGC Champions model. This is an exciting role which will involve training delivery, 1-1 support for teams and practitioners, developing practice guidance and supporting social workers to embed Signs of Safety practice and our FLDM practice throughout their work with children and families.

Our social workers benefit from working in small, supportive teams. Our caseloads are on average between 15-20 children. Using Signs of Safety, we are committed to working in a relationship-based way with children and families, focussing on strengths in the family network to effect change. Promoting opportunities for reflection and relationship-based practice are important to us. We are committed to developing our practice using reflective practice spaces such as Thinking Spaces, case mapping, listening circles and group supervision.

We are also committed to embedding Family Led Decision Making (FLDM) across our services, providing staff with dedicated training and ongoing support to confidently facilitate family networks, empower families to develop their own plans, and achieve sustainable outcomes for children.

We have a senior management team who are visible and approachable. We have a dedicated principal social worker and workforce team supporting professional development across the service. You will be supported through our comprehensive learning and development offer, which includes subscription to Research in Practice. You will receive regular supervision and appraisal. We offer 1-1 practice development coaching to case holding staff and professional development coaching to team managers as part of an established leadership development programme.

Our staff have access to a variety of external leadership development opportunities.

We have a strong working relationship with Goldsmiths, University of London as part of the South East London Teaching Partnership. Our practitioners have the opportunity to teach on social work courses as teaching consultants. We host both Step Up and traditional route students and social workers have the opportunity to become practice educators.

This role is based in our Workforce Development Service providing learning and development to our children’s social care workforce. The service is responsible for the implementation of Signs of Safety and Family Led Decision Making, learning and development, leadership development, management of the ASYE and student and apprenticeship programmes and all other aspects of practice improvement work. We are looking for a leader with excellent children’s social work practice knowledge and experience of workforce development.

You will have experience of delivering learning and development to the workforce and a good understanding of the current context of social work practice. You may have previously managed a team or are looking for a development opportunity and to take the next step in your career. You will have an excellent knowledge of Signs of Safety practice and experience of working with families using this model.

A good level of knowledge and practice experience using Signs of Safety is necessary for this role. Being an experienced Practice Educator is also highly desirable for this role.

• Working closely with the Workforce Development Group Manager to deliver training to…