The Head of Practice and Learning will lead on the development, implementation and review of a high-quality practice, learning and development offer for local charities across the UK which make up the Home-Start network. They will ensure that local trustees, leaders, staff and volunteers are empowered with knowledge, skills and confidence in their roles to deliver impactful services. This is a key role on Home-Start’s Leadership Team, shaping the organisation’s approach to evidence-informed practice, learning and development, and capacity building.
The role sits within the Network Impact Team, which supports and enables the quality, safety, sustainability and impact of the Home-Start federation, while nurturing strong relationships and trust across the network. The role holder will lead the Practice Team and the Learning and Development Team, and work closely with colleagues in Volunteering, Quality and Safeguarding, and Data and Impact, as well as in the wider Fundraising, Marketing, Communications, Policy and Infrastructure teams.
As a member of our leadership team, they will provide inspiring, strong and supportive leadership to colleagues, ensuring strong operational management of ongoing activities and planned projects. They will foster cohesion and alignment across Home-Start UK and the Home-Start network. They will work across the organisation and with partners to ensure practice and learning programmes evolve to meet emerging needs and to deliver meaningful, measurable change over time.
Key components of the role are to:
- Lead on an evidence-led and policy-informed portfolio of practice development to support the Network in their delivery, which is responsive to the needs of local Home-Starts and the children, families and communities they are supporting. This could include development of frameworks, tools and resources, piloting and scaling innovation, embedding evaluation etc.
- Establish a high-quality, federation-wide learning and development offer, embedding a culture where volunteers, staff and trustees can learn and grow.
- Lead on a range of network engagement opportunities throughout the year to support and enable local Home-Starts to learn from evidence, best practice and peer-to-peer learning.
- Contribute to a better understanding and demonstration of our impact for babies, children, young people and families and ensure our programme of network and practice development is informed by evidence, data and insights.
- Working closely with our Policy team, lead on the use of evidence, data and insight from across the network to inform and advocate for babies, children, young people and families.
- Enable strong leadership, governance and relationships across the network, so that we can make the most of the strengths and opportunities of our federated model.
- Build a culture of inclusion, strengthen diversity and representation across the Home-Start network, ensure accessibility and equity throughout our work, and grow our voice for equity, equality and anti-racism.
- Work closely with the Fundraising and Supporter Engagement teams to develop strong cases for support for our work, to support ongoing delivery as well as transformative change.
- Contribute to major programmes and initiatives to deliver our strategic ambitions for growth, voice, inclusion and impact.
The closing date for applications is 5th September 2025.
First interviews will take place virtually on Wednesday 1st October 2025.
Second interviews will take place in-person at our Leicester office on Thursday 9th October.
