Building our place-based team
It’s been just over two weeks since I joined the Fair Education Alliance as Director of Place-Based Collaboration – and forty-five days since we launched our Neighbourhood to National strategy. It’s been inspiring to see our vision start to take shape and to begin turning strategy into action.
One of the areas I’m most excited about is our new place-based collaboration work, a core part of our Collective Action strand, rooted in the belief that lasting change for children and young people starts locally. It’s not about individual organisations or sectors working in isolation, but about bringing partners together around shared outcomes – tackling the root causes of inequity, not just the symptoms.
There are two key elements to this work:
Combined Authority Network – open to all Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs).
A multi-year programme of learning, events, collaboration and retreats for two staff members from each MCA, with access to a £150,000 shared fund to accelerate joint action on shared challenges.
Collaboration Partnerships – three MCAs receiving deeper investment.
Each of the three partner regions will work closely with the FEA to test bold ideas to close education, skills and employment gaps. We’ll collaborate across sectors – connecting FEA members, schools, colleges, youth organisations, employers, local authorities and community partners – to align efforts around shared goals for children and young people. Each MCA will receive £300,000 in funding, access to Alliance-wide expertise, and a dedicated FEA lead embedded locally to support collaboration and systems change.
That’s where you come in.
We’re now recruiting three new Heads of Collaboration Partnership – one for each of the Collaboration Partner areas. These roles will sit at the heart of our place-based work: spending time embedded in their region each week, enabling deep cross-sector collaboration and driving system-wide change.
If you’re an experienced connector, strategist and systems thinker with a passion for collaboration and place-based change – or you know someone who is – find out more and apply here.
We’ll announce which MCAs will become collaboration partners at the Fair Education Summit on 8 December, so we don’t know which regions will be selected (although we do know it won’t be London). However, you can specify the areas you’re able to work in as part of the application process.
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to shape how collaboration happens on the ground and make a tangible difference for children and young people. It’s going to be a fascinating and impactful journey to be a part of.
Rachel Parkin
Director of Place-Based Collaboration