Educational Adviser

Weekly Working Hours:  37

Fixed Term Contract: End Date:  31 July 2027

Welsh Language:  Desirable

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

This is a specialist guidance role within a team of professionally qualified Educational Advisers. Working across a range of contact channels, the core purpose of the role is to support students in Wales to achieve their educational goals.

The post holder will contribute to the design and delivery of training and development for university staff, focusing on the Student Recruitment and Support (SRS) teams. This will include supporting consistent, high-quality advice and guidance practice through the application of Matrix IAG principles and contributing to continuous quality improvement of services in Wales.

The role also involves developing and maintaining specialist knowledge of the Open University curriculum to support students effectively and to inform improvements to the digital student experience across OU platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• In line with University policies and requirements, provide impartial, equitable, confidential and student‑centred educational guidance and support, to enable informed decision‑making by students
• Act as an escalation point for complex or high-risk student cases requiring guidance, and exercise professional judgement to escalate safeguarding and welfare concerns to specialist services as appropriate.
• Act as a subject matter expert and role model in relation to student facing policies and processes, supporting the development of other staff, and acting as a point of referral when required.
• Accurately record and maintain student and enquirer interactions using University systems, in line with established best practice.
• Contribute to the development of Student Recruitment and Support operations within Wales, with a focus on student retention, progression and satisfaction.
• Design, develop and deliver training to student facing staff on advice and guidance practice, including IAG skills, student support processes, policies and procedures.
• Design, develop and refine online and written information, materials and systems to meet evolving educational and operational needs.
• Maintain and develop professional knowledge and skills, adopting evolving business practices and procedures to improve personal performance.
• The role holder may occasionally be required to attend meetings/ events at other Open University locations for business, training and evaluation purposes.

About You

• Essential criteria:
  • Significant experience providing advice and guidance to diverse groups of students within adult, further or higher education.
  • Understanding of the factors affecting student success in the context of part time and distance learning.
  • Demonstrable advice and guidance practice that supports student autonomy, informed decision‑making and ethical, impartial outcomes.
  • Highly developed written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to convey complex information clearly to a range of audiences.
  • High level interpersonal skills, including liaison, networking, negotiation and effective team working.
  • Experience of designing, delivering and evaluating training for a wide range of staff.
  • Competence in using digital systems and platforms to deliver guidance effectively.
  • Strong planning and organisational skills, with the ability to work autonomously and manage a varied and demanding workload.
  • Experience of supporting complex or sensitive student cases, including the ability to exercise professional judgement and escalate safeguarding or welfare concerns appropriately.

Desirable criteria:

• • NVQ Level 4 in Guidance, or a willingness to work towards a professional qualification where none is held.
  • A relevant professional qualification and/or evidence of training and continuing professional development in the IAG field.
  • Ability to communicate fluently and effectively through the medium of Welsh.
  • Awareness of the external policy environment and how government priorities may affect the University.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Working Location: It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Cardiff Office, it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be two days per week. Full-time working based from our Cardiff site is also supported if this is preferred by the candidate. Expenses associated with travel to our Cardiff site are not reimbursable.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

Interview dates are still to be confirmed.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications has been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit the following documents:

• CV
• Supporting statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the essential criteria for this role as detailed above. 

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength. We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.