Student Disability Officer

Full Time or Part-time (Pro-rata)

Responsible to: The Principal,   

Liaising with: The Vice-Principal (Academic)

Accessible to: The Managing Director and Vice Principal (External Affairs)

Founded in 2003, ICON College of Technology and Management is a private higher and further education institution based in the East End of London and has in excess of 1,500 students. The College seeks to improve its student offerings year on year and develop a student-centred learning experience based on current teaching and learning pedagogies and systems of assessment.  The College also seeks to satisfy the ever-increasing demands on higher education required by the Office for Students (OfS) and the Department for Education (DfE) in terms of widening participation. In the past eighteen months the College has established a partnership with Bishop Grosseteste University. This means that in addition to offering its Higher National Diploma (HND) qualifications awarded by Pearson, the College can now also provide a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree level courses. Please see the College website (www.iconcollege.ac.uk) for further details of the full range of courses and subjects offered.

Increasingly, the College is seeking to provide educational skills development for those people who are under-represented in higher education, especially people who would describe themselves as ‘disabled’-widely defined and whether the disability is visible or hidden.

To support the College’s efforts to meet the needs of disabled students, a DISABILITIES OFFICER is now sought to take on a key role in the day-to-day delivery and management of the needs of disabled students, the majority of whom at present are classed as ‘mature students’.

Main Responsibility

• To act as first point of contact for disabled students and those who have specific learning difficulties.
• To assess students’ disability conditions and their special needs
• To work with students and applicants with a disability to ensure that they can participate fully in their studies. This will include advising them about reasonable adjustments and supporting them throughout the Disabled Students’ Allowance application process.
• To work with staff and external agencies to ensure that students with a disability are well supported to participate fully in their studies.

Key areas of Responsibility

• To ensure that students are given adequate opportunities to disclose a disability.
• To ensure that those students who do disclose a disability have their first consultation within 2 weeks of enrolment.
• To provide high quality and accurate information, advice, and guidance to students with a disability and staff on disability issues including applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance.
• To provide guidance and when required, training to students and staff on disability issues.
• To make recommendations about reasonable adjustments, inclusion plans and examination arrangements.
• To produce reports about specific student needs.
• To work in a sensitive manner with students with physical disabilities, mental health conditions and specific learning differences.
• To interact with stakeholders, including the Academic Board, the Management Board, Academic staff, and Admin staff to resolve student issues and ensure consistency of support for students.
• To collate, develop and make available Disability Support materials.
• To keep up-to-date with developments in supporting students with disabilities and to disseminate to colleagues as appropriate.
• To keep in regular contact with, and ensure appropriate action within, academic Programmes.
• To liaise on a regular basis with external partners.

Qualifications/Experience

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent) and preferably with professional qualifications in Disability Studies and/or Social Work and/or Counselling and/or Psychology and/or Special Educational Needs, or a related area.
• Professional practitioner with proven experience and competence of developing and managing disability support services within a further/higher education organization or comparable institution.
• To be able to identify appropriate sources of information and guidance to deal with new or unusual student issues
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and to deal with students and colleagues with diplomacy
• Expert knowledge and understanding of a wide range of disabilities and their impact on student life and learning.
• Experience of using (or familiarity) with a range of assistive technologies.
• Ability to work both as part of a team but also to manage own workload and meet targets and deadlines.
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills
• Excellent communication (verbal and written), interpersonal and presentation skills
• Ability to produce accurate case notes in a demanding environment
• Confidence in dealing with external stakeholders

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Your CV and covering letter should be sent (preferably) by email to: zahir@iconcollege.ac.uk (via the ‘Apply’ button above). In application and your letter, please detail how your qualifications and prior and current experience satisfy the ‘Person Specification’. 

In addition, please provide the names, job titles and contact details (including email and telephone numbers) of two referees, one of which should be your current or last employer. References will be taken up for all applicants invited for interview.

Applications will only be considered from applicants who are already entitled to work in the United Kingdom. The College cannot act, nor make an appointment, where it would be necessary for it to sponsor someone currently not eligible to work/reside in the United Kingdom.

The College will immediately begin to review and interview suitably qualified applicants as soon as applications are received because this post needs to be filled as soon as possible. The post will remain open until a suitable candidate is appointed but with a notional closing date for the receipt of applications being on Friday 18 October 2024. If you have not been invited for an interview within four weeks of submitting your application, please assume on this occasion that your application has not been successful.

BENEFITS:

The College will offer a competitive salary within the range £36K-38K depending on qualifications and experience (pro-rata for a part-time post holder). In addition, there will be 33 days holiday per annum for a full-time candidate, including 8 statutory Bank Holidays. For a full-time member of staff there is a 5-8% pension contribution.

At ICON College we seek to positively encourage applications from suitably qualified candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity status.