Director of Insight and Impact

JOB SPECIFICATION AND HOW TO APPLY

Terms and Conditions Summary

• Location: Home working with team days in London (roughly once a month in Roehampton or King’s Cross)
• Salary range: £70,000 to £80,000 per annum, non-negotiable
• 37.5 hours a week with flexible working options - compressed hours or flexitime
• Contract: Permanent
• Closing date: 13:00 hours GMT on Wed 29 January 2025[1]
• Stage 1 interview: Wed 12 February on Zoom
• Stage 2 interview: Wed 19 February at Froebel Trust office in London
• Start date: preferably not later than Monday 2 June 2025
• Probation period: 9 months
• Holiday entitlement: 28 days a year[2] + statutory public holidays (England)
• Employer’s pension contribution: 8% of salary

Our organisation

The Froebel Trust is an endowed charity that uses its funds to support teachers, educators, academics and students of early childhood education and care (ECEC). In the last four years, our engagement within the sector has grown exponentially and, although most of our work is UK-based, our reach is global. We are a trusted source of inspirational resources and training for Early Years professionals and a respected research funder.

The Froebel Trust is named after the inventor of kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel – a pioneering German educationalist (1782-1852). His philosophy and principles for education form the basis for our charity’s objective, which is to promote and advance Froebelian principles in education and learning. We believe that these principles underpin high-quality educational experiences for young children today.

We are a small organisation in terms of employees, but we work with a highly committed team of volunteers including trustees and committee members who govern, challenge and advise, and Endorsed Travelling Tutors who teach Froebel Trust courses. 

We work hard to create opportunities and resources that are inclusive and accessible to a wide range of professionals in ECEC. In the last five years, our average annual spend was £916,000 and most of our income is derived from the interest on capital invested in an ethical shares portfolio.

About the role

This is an exciting, new opportunity for an experienced ECEC professional with research and evaluation expertise to join the Froebel Trust’s Executive Team at a senior level. We are looking for a colleague with great analytical skills and strategic insight who can develop and manage a diverse portfolio, work to a consistently high standard and juggle multiple tasks and deadlines. The postholder will need to have the passion, commitment and vision to make a tangible difference to Early Years educators and the children in their care.

Reporting to (and on occasion deputising for) the Chief Executive, the Director of Insight and Impact will have a large degree of autonomy and will be expected to nurture and manage successful relationships with many different colleagues and partners.

The postholder will take responsibility for developing and leading the Trust’s strategy and creating the systems for:

• sharing the evidence and key learning from our funded research and practice development programmes and
• evaluating the benefits and maximising the potential for positive impact from our programmes of work to influence Early Years practice, research, policy and public debate.

Currently, our evaluation activities are relatively immature and we now need a more comprehensive and coherent approach to help us understand the benefits of our work.

We also believe that the learning from our funded projects could have greater reach and impact. A more targeted approach is needed to ensure that evidence from our funded projects is synthesised and shared in accessible ways for different audiences. The Director of Insight and Impact will be responsible for helping grant holders to share their learning and taking the initiative to generate and / or collect evidence from pathways to impact in research, practice and / or policy.

We also require a more systematic process that will help to ensure that insights from our data analytics are harnessed to positive effect. We collect these analytics for all our resources and events and we also gather feedback from our course participants.

We want to make sure that the data help us to direct our funding in the most equitable and valuable ways; that the learning from our funded projects is shared in ways that will achieve maximum benefit; and that we use reliable evidence and data strategically and influentially. 

Working with everyone in the Executive Team, the Director of Insight and Impact will also need to engage with external stakeholders (such as grant recipients, course participants and key figures in the sector), trustees, committee members and tutors to have a good understanding of all the Trust’s public-facing programmes and their relevance and usefulness in contemporary society. These programmes currently involve:

ENABLING: A competitive cycle of research and practice development grants every other year; annual bursaries for students who are studying the Trust’s endorsed courses; and commissioned research projects.

INFORMING: A wide range of information and resources; and a programme of courses that are designed to inspire and support everyone with an interest in young children’s learning and development.

CONNECTING: Support for communities of transformative practice to be established and to flourish locally, regionally, nationally and internationally; organising or contributing to events; and working with like-minded partners to support the ECEC sector.

Most of the work will be remote and desk-based with the majority of meetings held online. However, the Director of Insight and Impact should be available to attend monthly team meetings in London and trustee, committee or other meetings that take place in person from time to time. In addition, the post is likely to involve some travel to attend events (mainly but not exclusively in the UK) where the Director will represent the Froebel Trust. This responsibility may require overnight stays away from home. The Director will need to be self-motivated with the competence and confidence to manage their workload autonomously and good interpersonal skills for collaboration with colleagues.

The key aspects of this role will be:

• Developing a coherent and comprehensive system of evaluation and reporting
• Monitoring grants, projects and programmes from inception to completion
• Analysing data and identifying gaps and / or key messages
• Informing strategy development and strategic action plans
• Finding or making opportunities to communicate insights internally and externally
• Creating novel and innovative pathways to impact
• Administrative, technical, planning, analytical, writing, publishing & presenting tasks
• Preparing papers and attending committee / trustee / other meetings
• Working with a wide range of people
• Representing the Trust at relevant events (may involve travel & overnight stays)
• Other responsibilities as necessary including deputising for the CEO 

Selection Criteria

The criteria listed below will be applied in shortlisting. Applicants must describe clearly how they meet the expectations for the role with reference to the criteria.

Qualifications:

• A doctorate and / or evidence of advanced training in research / evaluation methods (qualitative, quantitative, mixed) and their application
• A qualification in Early Years, Early Childhood Studies or closely related subject or experience of working in this sector / field in a senior / analytical role

Experience:

• Leadership and / or management experience (people and projects)
• Demonstrable experience in a wide range of research and evaluation methods
• Designing and applying an impact framework
• Managing and monitoring funded research
• Gathering and understanding data analytics (e.g. Google Analytics or similar)
• Synthesising research findings to highlight key insights or gaps in knowledge
• Proven expertise in managing sensitive research data and the ethics of research and evaluation relationships, including research that involves children
• A clear track record in producing and reporting key evidence in appropriate and accessible forms for diverse audiences
• Charity governance and operations
• Developing pathways to extend or enhance impact and to improve inclusion and equality of opportunity
• Ideally, research or practice with direct relevance to Froebelian principles
• Presenting in public arenas such as meetings, webinars or seminars and conferences
• Translating research for practice, close-to-practice research or praxeological research
• Working to tight deadlines and managing multiple responsibilities

Knowledge:

• Proven awareness and interest in Froebelian principles in research and practice
• Contemporary issues in Early Years / ECEC especially in the UK
• Charity Commission requirements for reporting public benefits
• Approaches to evaluation and to using evidence for strategy development

Abilities:

• Self-motivated, proactive, flexible, creative and resourceful
• Excellent skills for analysis and interpretation
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with sensitivity and ability to support others to be and do their best
• Fluent spoken and written English 

How to apply for this role

We value and promote Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI). Our website provides information about EEDI at the Trust.

We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that applicants may need during our selection process. Please contact us by email or phone to let us know if there are options you would like to request. We also offer reasonable adjustments at work.

Your application must consist of two documents: a CV and a cover letter. The application should be sent by email to office@froebeltrust.org.uk, via the 'Apply' button above, before 1pm GMT on 29 January 2025.

Please make sure that one or both documents cover the criteria listed above. In your cover letter, please answer the following questions:

1. What attracts you to this role at the Froebel Trust?
2. What would make you an effective Director of Insight and Impact and senior member of the Froebel Trust team?
3. What current or past experiences would help you to develop the systems and processes, insights and impact we need at the Froebel Trust?
4. In your experience / opinion, what are the benefits and challenges of working remotely / from home?
5. Do you require any of the following reasonable adjustments for the interview process?

• Extra time
• Assistance such as closed captions
• Option to interview without your camera on
• An accessible car parking space at Clarence Lodge
• An interview at a specific time of day (please suggest)
• A British sign language interpreter
• Anything else – please describe

And include the following information:

1. Your email address and / or telephone number that you are happy for us to use to contact you about your application
2. Your home address
3. The names and contact details for two work-related referees that we can contact if you are offered the job subject to references
4. A statement confirming whether you have the right to work in the UK
5. A note to let us know if the scheduled interview dates are possible for you and whether you would prefer a particular time of day.

Want to know what the job would entail on a day-to-day basis or more about how we work at the Froebel Trust? Contact us for an informal conversation before applying. Please email office@froebeltrust.org.uk to arrange a time for a call.

Key dates and selection process

1pm GMT on Wed 29 January 2025 - Deadline for applications

By 5pm on Wed 5 February - Applicants notified of outcome

9am to 5pm on Wed 12 February - Zoom interviews (45 minutes each)

By 5pm on Fri 14 February - Interviewees notified of outcome

9am to 5pm on Wed 19 February - Interviews at Clarence Lodge (1 hour each)

By 5pm on Fri 21 February - Interviewees notified of outcome

WB 24 February - References requested for successful candidate 

All applications will be treated respectfully and confidentially. They will assessed using the criteria outlined in this job spec and the responses to the questions we have requested in the cover letter. A longlist will be created.

Longlisted applicants will be invited to attend a Zoom interview, which will last up to 45 minutes. Interview questions will be shared in advance to give applicants time to prepare. The interviews will result in a shortlist.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to come to Clarence Lodge for a second interview which will last one hour. It will include a ten-minute presentation, follow-up questions and time for informal conversations with members of the Froebel Trust team. The title for the presentation will be shared in advance.

The decision of the Froebel Trust will be final and non-negotiable. For capacity reasons, feedback will only be offered to applicants who have attended an interview.

If you have any questions about applying for this role, please contact us by email to office@froebeltrust.org.uk or telephone 020 8878 7546 

The Froebel Trust is a registered Charity No. 1145128. Registered as a Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No. 07862112. Registered Office: Clarence Lodge, Clarence Lane, Roehampton, London SW15 5JW

[1] We reserve the right to close the application portal before this deadline

[2] For standard contractual hours worked Monday to Friday inclusive.