Learning & Insights Lead

LEARNING & INSIGHTS LEAD

Reporting to:

Director of Practice & Learning Line managing:

Data & Insights Analyst Salary:

£42,000 FT (hybrid and flexible working but with an expectation of frequent travel to Practices across England and to SHiFT’s national offices in Central London) Start date:

Immediate. THE ROLE You are an experienced researcher, confident in both qualitative and quantitative analysis. You are comfortable working with frontline youth justice and social work staff and young people. You are deeply committed to improving experiences and outcomes for children and young people caught in, or at risk of, the destructive cycle of crime. Your role is key to ensuring SHiFT can meet our ambitious goals for systems change. Working within SHiFT’s national team, you will be responsible for collating and curating key messages and themes from across SHiFT’s Practices, building the evidence bases for our understanding of the problems we exist to solve and the impact of our approach, and translating our operational insights into realistic and relevant policy change recommendations. About SHiFT SHiFT exists to break the destructive cycle of children and young people caught up in, or at risk of, crime. We seek to transform both policy and practice in how young people in these circumstances are seen and supported. Our vision is for every child and young person to be kept safe, to be nurtured by people who see the potential in them, and to be supported and challenged to move to a place of strength and responsibility from which they can aspire, achieve, and contribute to society. Policy and practice should deliver on this aspiration for everyone. The SHiFT Programme: Despite the hard work and dedication of many professionals, the system isn't working. Thousands of children and young people across the country, with disproportionate numbers from Black, Asian & minority ethnic communities, are being exploited and coming into conflict with the law. This is often exacerbated by exclusion from education and the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Still more are leaving care or custody and trying to navigate complex systems of support at a time when they are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. SHiFT is determined to change things. At SHiFT, we do things differently. We are not limited by the jurisdiction of a place or local authority, which means we are able to reach the child and stay with them, wherever they are and wherever they go. We will be alongside them whether they are in or out of education or in or out of custody. We are not limited by service thresholds. We will help them navigate and manage their lives. At the heart of the SHiFT approach is the nurturing relationship developed between the practitioner, who we call the SHiFT Guide, and the child, with the time to do whatever it takes to support sustained change. The Guide and the child will work systemically together across all aspects of the child’s life, from relationships with family and friends, to their interaction with statutory professionals, education and employment, whilst shifting perceptions so that children and young people are seen as an asset to society with the potential to succeed, rather than one where they are viewed as a ‘problem’. SHiFT Guides work with no more than six young people at any one time and support them for a significant amount of time, approximately 18 months. SHiFT Guides provide an intense, consistent, and flexible programme of support, tailored to individual needs, enabling the child or young person to tackle destructive cycles of behaviour, develop new skills and avoid further trauma and offending. This is a radical departure from the current model, where practitioners often work with more children they have time to work well with and support is often only available for a matter of weeks, or only in relation to one particular ‘problem’, as children move in and out of the thresholds of different parts of the system. A SHiFT Practice consists of four SHiFT Guides, a Lead Guide, and a Practice Coordinator. SHiFT Guides come from a range of professional backgrounds, including social work, youth offending, education, the probation service, and healthcare. This dedicated team supports between 20 to 27 children. They work alongside and across the statutory system, ensuring duplication is avoided and scarce resources are directed and purposeful. From the outset and long after children finish the Programme, SHiFT will result in significant savings to public finances. Job Description: SHiFT’s Learning and Insights Lead will be responsible for ensuring that operational insight from SHiFT’s work is gathered and translated to inform impactful local, regional and national practice development and realistic and relevant policy change recommendations, to enable SHiFT to deliver its ambitions of being a systems change organisation. You will support frontline practitioners to move from seeing individual experiences to seeing patterns. Your research and analysis will support SHiFT to develop compelling narratives both about the problems we exist to solve and the impacts of our approach. The role is an opportunity to take on a systems influencing position to shake up existing dominant systems and approaches to working with children and young people caught up in, or at risk of, cycles of crime. Key Duties Working with support and direction from SHiFT’s Director of Practice & Learning, your principal responsibilities will be to: Collate and curate key messages and themes from across SHiFT’s Practices; Conduct qualitative research and qualitative and quantitative analysis, to develop SHiFT’s evidence-base for both our understanding of the problems we exist to solve and the impacts of our approach; Translate our evidence-base into impactful local, regional and national practice development and realistic and relevant policy change recommendations; Work with our Director of Practice & Learning and External Affairs & Partnerships Lead to identify audiences and opportunities to share our evidence and practice and policy change recommendations; Create content for both internal and external documentation and publications; and Support the development and delivery of SHiFT’s systems change work. Be able to present to a range of audiences and through a range of mediums research to amplify SHiFT’s research and evidence. Demonstrate the ability to work with a range of partners and collaborate to develop innovative research whilst gaining the voice of the child. Be able to present learning and insights to the board/ R&E Committee. Person specification: Beliefs and alignment: The belief that all people are capable of change and that a relationship with a skilled practitioner can be a powerful driver of this; The belief that young people who display behaviours linked to offending can be supported so that they cease offending and meaningfully contribute to society; The belief that, with the right support, practitioners can offer vulnerable children consistently excellent care even in the most challenging contexts; An alignment to a culture of freedom and responsibility where there are fewer rules, high levels of accountability and a need for excellent performance from the entire team; An optimistic outlook, with a problem solving, ‘sleeves rolled up’ approach to getting things done: you see potential in challenges and are ready to create more hopeful alternatives for everyone SHiFT works with; A demonstrable alignment to the Breaking Cycles ingredients in your work – see

https://shiftuk.org/breaking-cycles ; and A preparedness to challenge the status-quo and be positively disruptive in the pursuit of higher standards even when this is uncomfortable. Experience, knowledge and skills: Substantial expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods; Experience of translating evidence-bases into compelling narratives, ideas for practice development, and realistic and relevant policy change recommendations; An ability to write and speak credibly about complex or technical ideas, for both expert and non-expert audiences; A track record of working in a small team, contributing robustly to shape thinking but consistently being able to be a team player; and Knowledge of youth justice, children’s social care and/or law enforcement agencies, systems, and policies is desirable but not essential. Qualifications Research qualification Right to work in the UK This post is subject to a police check of previous criminal convictions with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)