Chair of Pathways for All Strategic Board

Role Responsibility

Chair of Pathways for All Strategic Board

Are you passionate about getting 16 to 19 provision right, enjoy a challenge and able to influence across a diverse stakeholder group?  We wish to recruit a new voluntary chair (co-chairs would be considered) to head up the Pathways for All (PfA) Strategic Board in Kent.  The role of this Board is to foster collaboration across the sector and drive improvements in Kent’s 16 to 19 system.  Our current chair has been in post for nearly two years, but their term is coming to an end.  The Board is seeking a senior leader, or leaders, from within the Kent 16 to 19 sector to take this work forward.

Two years ago, Kent County Council (KCC) completed a highly collaborative review of the 16 to 19 system in Kent (www.kelsi.org.uk/kent-16-to-19-review ).  The focus of the review was to:

• be an advocate for young people;
• develop a clear understanding of the 16 to 19 system in Kent;
• identify and encourage good practice;
• identify gaps and issues that need attention;
• seek to improve the quality, standards, appropriateness of provision and of student outcomes;
• develop recommendations for a sector-led approach to driving improvement in the 16 to 19 system;
• inform KCC’s strategic direction.

The review provided evidence of the fragmented nature of the post-16 system in Kent and the need for visionary leadership to bring it together.  In response to the review, a new Strategic Board was established to lead the implementation of the cross-sector recommendations.

The review was a collaborative piece of work with partners from education, employers and other key agencies.  As no one group has the authority or resources to make system-wide change, the Board needed to facilitate ongoing collaboration to enable the recommended changes to be made. 

Groups have been established focused on the implementation of the recommendations and Local Collaborative Partnership Area groups have been set up to begin planning a curriculum and support offer in travel to learn patterns.  The Chair will work with these groups to ensure they deliver the recommendations of the review and any future priorities that emerge from the Board.  The role is supported by officers from KCC and other partners.

The Board is currently working on a strategy to ensure that the Board and its various working groups remain focused and continue to deliver the review.  The Chair will be:

• passionate about transformation of 16 to 19 provision;
• someone who understands the next phase of the Pathways for All work and can inspire the Board and sector members to achieve this;
• impartial;
• collaborative;
• credible to the sector and beyond;
• able to advance the work of the Board and broker influence to achieve its aims;
• part of the Kent post-16 sector and committed to delivering improvements for the county’s young people.

The next Board meeting will be on 2 May at 2pm.  If possible, the Chair should be available on that date.

Closing Date:  Midnight 19 April.

Interviews:  29 or 30 April.

Note this is a voluntary post.  No remuneration is available.

To apply, please send a CV and an expression of interest (maximum 1000 words) stating how you meet the criteria in the person specification below and how you will drive forward the work of Pathways for All, to pathwaysforall@kent.gov.uk

Contact Details

If you have any questions, please contact pathwaysforall@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.