Professional Standards Manager
Hours: Part Time - 21 hours per week with occasional evening work when required
Salary: (NJC Linked) £25270.57 per annum (44524.34 WTE) plus 8% pension contribution
Holidays: 25 days holidays per annum plus statutory (pro rata)
Location: Based from our Warrington office with home working flexibility
Job Description
The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice is the leading organisation for the promotion and development of family and systemic psychotherapy in the UK. We are responsible for the accreditation of training courses run by universities and other providers in developing family therapists at all levels. In addition, we register family therapists to enable them to become members of the regulatory body - the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, of which the AFT is the largest organisational member. We are also involved in the promotion and development of research within our modality to further our profession for the benefit of our communities.
We are looking for a colleague to join our small and flexible team, supporting the Accreditation and Registration Committees and ensuring that the voices of our members influence our work and our future strategy. You will be pivotal to the success of our work with training bodies to develop the profession, managing relationships with key stakeholders, including acting as project manager for the forthcoming review of our training standards.
You will have (or will develop through training) a detailed understanding of the practical and regulatory statutory and non-statutory environments in which family therapists work, in order to advise our staff, committees and other stakeholders about issues affecting the profession.
Key Tasks:
- To support the work of the Registration and Course Accreditation & Development (CRED) committees in delivering effective and professional management of processes and communications between the committees, members, AFT Board and organisational stakeholders.
- To build and maintain effective professional relationships between the Registration and Course Accreditation & Development (CRED) committees and the Universities and other training organisations.
- Act as Project Manager for the forthcoming review of our training standards, managing the involvement and communications between all stakeholders during the review and development processes.
- Respond to communications and queries from members and the public on training and registration issues, referring to AFT professional representatives (Chairs and committees) where appropriate.
- Work with professional representatives (Chairs and committees) and other staff members to keep policies updated and support with drafting new policies and procedures where required.
- Assist with the AFT's annual conference by using your professional networks and knowledge to support the delivery of a high quality programme for members.
- Work with professional representatives (Chairs and committees) and other staff members to apply the AFT complaints policy where a complaint is made against a member.
- Work with the office-based team in ensuring administrative functions are maintained in a timely and accurate manner. Other tasks as required, within the overall scope of the role.
Person Specification:
Essential:
- An ability to develop and maintain a professional knowledge base for the role including where the professional input from Chairs, Committee, AFT Board and executive staff is required.
- Excellent organisational and project management skills, methodical approach to planning and attention to detail.
- Excellent listening and communication (both written and oral) skills.
- Proven relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
- A good working knowledge of all Microsoft packages (Word, Excel, Teams).
- Creative and adaptable approach to problem solving and change management.
- Ability to use own initiative, prioritise workload and manage conflicting priorities while meeting deadlines.
The ideal Professional Standards Manager will be flexible and adaptable with respect to day-to-day duties, hours worked and to new systems. Some of our committee meetings are held in the evenings.
Desired:
- Experience of working in a regulatory environment, for example within the health sector.
- Experience of working within higher education, with an understanding of the delivery of courses.
- Experience of working in a membership organisation with voluntary committees.
- Understanding of mental health services and NHS/local authority structures and funding arrangements.
- Experience of developing and applying professional standards within a regulated profession.
- We understand that it is unlikely that a candidate will have all of these 'desired' characteristics, but this demonstrates the range of backgrounds from which we think a successful candidate could come.
The post will be line managed by the Operational Director and will work closely with the Communications & Policy Director.
What You Can Expect From AFT
- An opportunity to be at the heart of progressing family and systemic psychotherapy and systemic practice in the UK.
- A positive and solution-focused working environment that responds to the needs of the system, its members, and stakeholders such as key external partners.
- A minimum of a weekly staff meeting with the Operational Director and occasionally the CEO and Chair, to support you in your role and focus on current priorities.
- Training and supervision in relation to the post as agreed with the Operational Director.
- Flexible hybrid working opportunities and hours within a small but very friendly team.
Equal Opportunities statement
We actively encourage applications from a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and marginalised groups to apply for our positions. All our employees are valued and treated with dignity and respect as we want to encourage everyone in our association to reach their potential.
How to apply
Please send an up-to-date CV along with a covering letter showing how you meet the essential criteria and any of the desirable criteria to: Important note: We may close the advert early if we have a number of strong candidates
