Name of Organisation (Employer): Shine Sports Coaching Ltd
Position being advertised (Job title): Forest Schools Programme Coordinator
Salary (per week, month, year OR negotiable, not applicable): Negotiable
Location (where is this job based?): Bristol and North Somerset
Job description: Shine is one of the region’s largest after school club providers and has expanded rapidly over the past three years thanks to its strong emphasis on the delivery of high quality creative and sporting activities in primary schools. Its sister company is Shine Sports Coaching Limited which boasts the South West’s largest holiday club provision. Shine plan to introduce a Forest School themed after school programme in its current school settings from Spring 2015 and also offer a similar provision during the school holidays from Easter 2015. The successful candidate will deliver a range of activities in Shine’s current settings and work with the senior management to expand this aspect of the operation in the future. As this is a position that will cover both term-time and holiday periods the post holder will have an opportunity to work a significant number of hours per week ranging from an initial 15-20 hours during term time increasing to 30-35 during school holidays.
Person specification : To deliver and manage this programme Shine is seeking a Level 3 qualified Forest School Leader or someone who is working towards completion of this qualification. The ideal candidate will be self-motivated and innovative with a drive to be part of Shine’s dynamic team.
Any other information: Shine will fund all resources, training and other aspects needed to deliver this project effectively. Therefore we are ideally looking for an individual to join our team on a permanent contracted basis and develop a successful career at Shine. Third party providers will not be considered.
Explain how applicants should contact you / apply: Send CV to info@shinesportscoaching.com together with any other relevant information
Closing date for applications : 05/12/14
Part of this job description states that the oganisation “plan to introduce a Forest School themed after school programme”. Is this ‘themed’ Forest school in line with the Quality Forest school the FSA are devoted to promoting? Just looking for some clarity.
Hello Simon Turk This is a valid question that an FSA member could ask of the FSA – as a general principle. However, I think that it would be better to hold that conversation within the members’ only area of the FSA website. Having it here could be seen as unfair, singling out this organisation when in fact the question could be asked of any advertiser. I don’t see anything in the advert that would suggest that they plan to do anything that is counter to the principles of FS. Of course the FSA is not in a position to Quality Assure anyone, but we do reserve the right not to post an advert if it is deemed incompatible with the principles of FS. Our terms say, ‘Advertised jobs must, at least in part, relate to Forest School. We reserve the right to reject adverts for positions that we deem incompatible with the principles of Forest School.’ In my view, it is the term ‘incompatible’ that is debatable. Happy to continue this on the forum but please do not respond to this point here. Thanks, Gareth
Hej Gareth. I am unable to reply on the forum because my membership expired last week.
I’m not trying to make mischief or denounce any organisation, I’m looking for possible reasons to re-join. In order to make an informed decision I have to see if the FSA’s vision of FS, that they are ‘promoting’ is compatible with my interpretation? There seems to be a lot of ambiguity and compromise in the perception, principles and values of Forest School. I’ve worked hard with my colleagues, over several years to ensure that organisations in my locality understand the long term nature of Forest school, the importance of small groups and a wild wooded environment.
The FSA website states clearly that it will ‘Communicate a strong, clear vision of what Forest School is’ which is why I asked if a ‘Forest school themed programme’ is the type of provision endorsed by the FSA?
Thanks.
Hello Simon Turk, Fair enough. With specific reference to which job adverts get posted, beyond what I have already said, that conversation has not been had within the FSA. As an FSA member you can be part of that conversation or else you can wait and hope that it goes in the direction that you would like to see.
I think that the vision for quality FS that the FSA promotes is pretty clear. What is also clear is the actual situation in this county, where the FS tag gets put on lots of things that may not actually be FS in its ‘purest’ form. There seem to be two schools of thought about how to deal with this (and this is reflected in the FSAs strategy). The first I call ‘the purists’. This camp is, and I must stress that this is only my personal view, highly elitist. They would only recognise people and organisations who are involved in the very best FS practise. They would set benchmarks at a gold standard, thereby pushing everyone to try and get to this level. Now there are some very strong arguments for why this is a good approach to take. However, the biggest problem that I see with it is that the vast majority of people in the FS community would not meet these standards.
The FSA has adopted a more inclusive strategy that encourages people and organisations to improve and develop their FS practice from within a supportive community. This is one reason why we have an open membership policy, but equally it is why FSA membership cannot translate as FSA endorsement of a member’s practice. Essentially, the FSA is looking at benchmarking ‘minimum’ essential criteria while encouraging and supporting members to move towards the ‘gold standards’. We will be doing this in part through supportive local groups, networking opportunities, CPD provision, skill sharing etc.
We can only tackle one thing at a time. The verified qualified practitioner scheme, for example, helps to tackle principle 5, that FS Leaders should have a level 3 FS qualification. Essentially, it is a work in progress and we are steadily working towards our vision.
Clearly, there are much wider and interconnected issues here that relate to which job adverts get posted. The FSA will work out an answer. It may not be in a time frame that suits everyone. Unfortunately, some people will make the decision to join the FSA, and sometimes to leave, on the basis of single issues. However, the complexity that we are dealing with, to arrive at our vision of ‘quality FS for All’, is fairly overwhelming. The only way I can see us, as a community, finding a way through is by supporting the FSA and contributing to the process. There will always be localised good practice and I don’t imagine that we will ever achieve universal best practice. However, to help shift FS practice in the right direction I would ask the question, if not the FSA then what?
Hej Gareth, thanks for replying and being so candid in your responses. This makes things much clearer and has answered many of my queries. Thanks again. 🙂