Senior Analyst - The Education Endowment Foundation | United Kingdom

The role
The post-holder will work to investigate ways to ensure that existing and future evidence achieves the maximum possible impact in the shortest possible time. The work will take as its starting point the view that “passive dissemination” of research results will very rarely be sufficient to change practitioner behavior, and investigate more effective ways to improve the impact and uptake of educational technology in the classroom. For example, the post-holder and academic placement holder would examine existing evidence-based technologies which have and have not been successfully scaled up, in order to identify the key levers for achieving impact at a national level. The work will directly inform the scale up and dissemination of projects from EEF’s dedicated digital technology funding round, which closed on April 19th 2013. Seehttp://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/apply-for-funding/digital-technology-round for further details of this initiative.

Working with the EEF team and drawing on the existing work on research impact and educational technology funded by the ESRC and EEF, the post offers an exceptional opportunity to be involved in an investigation into an understudied but critically important area, which will have wider relevance for practitioners, grant-makers and policy-makers in education and other areas of social policy.

Key areas of responsibility
You will work alongside the academic post-holder and members of the EEF team to investigate:

•  The role of mediators and markets in determining the influence of educational research;
•  The extent to which educational research is currently a determinant of decisions about technology made by schools;
•  The key levers which determine whether or not educational technology achieves impact at a national scale;
•  The forms of research communication which lead to maximum impact amongst education practitioners;
•  The roles of parents, pupils and communities as drivers of a research informed market.

Other responsibilities

•  Contribute to the operational and strategic development of the EEF;
•  Undertake other duties which may from time to time be requested by the Chief Executive.

Person specification

• The successful candidate will be joining a small and focused team and be driven by an ambition to deliver real improvements in educational attainment.
• The candidate will be highly articulate, imaginative and resourceful in their approach, able to work within a small team with varied skills and backgrounds, and have strong analytical skills. The candidate could come from a variety of backgrounds, including education, health or business.

To apply for this position you must be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
•  A strong track record of delivery and achievement;
•  An entrepreneurial approach and an ability to adapt to a small ambitious organisation;
•  Resourcefulness and high energy;
•  An ability to work well in a team and offer a hands-on approach.

Desirable skills and experience include:

•  Experience of statistics and quantitative analysis, including Microsoft Excel;
•  At least two years’ experience in a school or professional role;
•  Understanding of school management and decision making processes.

How to apply
Please send a CV and covering letter to info@eefoundation.org.uk. Your covering letter should be no more than two sides of A4 and should outline why you are interested in this position and how you meet the criteria above, drawing on specific examples. Please note that copies of your application will be shared with the ESRC and may be reviewed by external reviewers.
The deadline for receiving applications is 1pm on 26th April 2013.
Initial interviews will be held in the week beginning 13th May 2013.