The Department for Education is recruiting for a ‘best start in life champion’ to bring early years expertise into the heart of government.
The department said the champion will work with DfE to “relentlessly drive forward change across society” and will “facilitate dialogue and collaboration between government and the wider early years system”.
The government uses the phrase ‘the best start in life’ to desrcibe its strategy to “ensure all children have the chance to achieve and to thrive”.
DfE has described this as “the foundation stones of the government’s opportunity mission”, setting out the “first steps in a decade of renewal”, including:
- Beginning the job of building back crucial family services
- Making it easier and cheaper for children to access early education and care
- Improving the quality of education and care that children receive in early years settings, childminders and reception classes.
The job advert says the best start in life champion will gather and relay insights from the sector to inform policy development and implementation, provide strategic advice to ministers and officials, drawing on lived experience and sector expertise.
They will also act as a trusted intermediary between government and the early years community, helping to test assumptions, build trust, and support effective delivery of reforms.
The advert also seeks someone who can build and maintain strong relationships with early years stakeholders, including local authorities, health professionals, education providers, and voluntary sector organisations.
The champion will be asked to promote the government’s “Best Start in Life vision” and the role of the early education and care sector through participation in national and regional events, sector engagement and roadshows – and to present the vision “in a compelling and inclusive manner to diverse audiences, including families, professionals, and policymakers”.
A salary of £450 to £550 per day is on offer for the role, which is for 45 days per year.
The ad says the essential criteria for the public appointment are:
- Experience: a strong track record of successful delivery and leadership within the early years sector
- Knowledge: an understanding of the work, priorities and challenges of the early years sector and the context within which it operates and the ability to use that knowledge to be able to confidently promote, advise and challenge
- Judgment: to be able to demonstrate effective decision-making skills, highlighting an ability to critically analyse a range of information to make effective evidence-based interventions that support the delivery of the best start in life strategy
- Working with others: a confident communicator with strong influencing skills and the ability to work with ministers, civil servants and stakeholders from across the early years sector.
Applicants have until 10am on 13 October to apply.
Can government break the link between background and opportunity? For more insight on the opportunity mission, check out CSW's autumn issue. Mission head Tony Foot takes us behind the scenes and shares some of the work happening across government, while Skills England chair Phil Smith tells us how the new body is tackling skills shortages and a fragmented training system.
We also speak to experts about the Best Start family hubs programme, asking whether comparisons to New Labour's Sure Start are warranted; and speak to Paulette Hamilton, acting chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, aboout the MPs' inquiry into children's first 1,000 days of life