The General Optical Council Hiring for Education Officer – Operations Job at London, England , UK Full Time

Please see job description for more information

Job Purpose:

To contribute to the daily delivery and monitoring of the General Optical Council’s (GOC) education activities. This role predominantly consists of the review, management and successful delivery of approval and quality assurance activities and all related processes under the direction of the Education Manager – Operations. The role will ensure that quality assurance activities are conducted in accordance with our policies, processes, standards and requirements and against agreed KPIs. Quality assurance visits form a major part of the role and will involve attendance (physically or remotely) at education providers across the UK and may require weekend working/travelling on occasion. Outside of visit activities, the role holder will also be responsible for drafting reports, conducting risk reviews and analysing information. As part of the visit process, the role holder will attend meetings and provide support to the professional visit team, advise on relevant process and standards, act as secretariat to the visit team and complete follow up reports of the visit within agreed timescales. The role will involve regular stakeholder engagement including dealing with and responding to queries to supporting education providers, outcomes and quality assurance and enhancement methodology.

The role holder will work collaboratively with the Education Development team to contribute to the development of policies, processes, documentation, templates and guidance for staff, education visitors and providers to ensure that current legislation and good practice is continually reflected.

Key Accountabilities:

• Conduct new and ongoing quality assurance activities (remotely/physically) for providers who offer, or intend to offer, GOC approved qualifications
• Analyse data to identify and escalate any operational and/or regulatory risks and produce ad-hoc reports and information, including recommendations on the findings, to a range of stakeholders including internal colleagues, senior management, education providers, education visitors and GOC Committees;
• Ensure that queries and issues raised, both internally and externally, on matters relating to education outcomes or process are quickly and effectively resolved;
• Contribute to the coordination and delivery of stakeholder events such as EVP and provider workshops. This will include supporting the creation of agendas, content and follow-up work as well as delivering content when necessary;
• Ensure that statistical and KPI data is accurately maintained for reporting purposes and that education visitor panel (EVP) work logs are up-to-date to ensure they are paid correctly and on time;
• Maintain an environment of continuous improvement by collecting and feeding back views from stakeholders and working collaboratively with the Education Development team to design and implement policies, processes and department projects;
• Other duties as required.

Essential Skills/Experience/Qualifications:

• Relevant degree and/or education quality assurance knowledge and experience;
• Well-developed understanding of higher and further education, assessment/awarding bodies, (degree) apprenticeships and career frameworks and interface with professional / statutory body programme accreditation and qualification approval processes;

• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders with excellent presentation / verbal communications skills;
• Ability to analyse and assimilate complex information, and produce evidence-based arguments;
• Excellent written communication skills, with an ability to write clearly, precisely, and accessibly on complex issues, with attention to detail and accuracy;
• Experience of managing multiple workflows and project outputs simultaneously;
• Embraces team-working, collaboration and negotiating with colleagues to deliver communications objectives.
• Excellent IT skills, including Word and Excel.

Please note your application will not be accepted without a covering letter exampling how you meet the essential criteria, no more than 2 A4 pages.

Closing date for applying is 9 January 2023, please note we reserve the right to close this role early dependent on number of applications.