Policy Analyst - Education

About Public First, an SHGH Company

Public First is a specialist consultancy that helps charities, philanthropists, public sector bodies and global brands to improve public policy. Based in London, we have worked in more than thirty international markets.

We are part think tank, part strategic consultancy, part research company, and part communications agency. In practice, we bring together the disciplines that make policy change happen: research and analysis, political insight, strategy and communications.

Our team includes former senior civil servants, political advisers, campaigners, researchers and journalists. Many of us have worked at the most senior levels of government, Parliament and political campaigns, and we continue to be active across the political spectrum.

Public First is part of SHGH, a Group of cross-border advisory firms, guiding clients through an unprecedented period of change in policy, politics, regulation, and sustainable growth.

Education is one of Public First’s core areas of specialism. Many of our senior team have spent the past two decades working in and around education policy in government and opposition. Between us, we have advised Prime Ministers, Leaders of the Opposition, Education Secretaries and their Shadow teams, as well as numerous ministers across the Department for Education.

We work across the full education lifecycle and with a wide range of clients, including schools and multi-academy trusts, universities, charities and foundations, local and national government, trade associations, and education-facing businesses.

Our education work is organised into three broad areas:

• Schools: Working with schools, multi-academy trusts, charities and foundations on issues across the schools policy landscape. Recent projects include the Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools, the Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, the Parent Voice Project, research into attitudes to the attendance crisis, exclusions and our work on the National Tutoring Programme.

• Higher education: Working with universities and mission groups on post‑18 education, research and innovation policy. Recent work includes public attitudes to tuition fees, public understanding of R&D, polling on international students and evaluation of the Office for Students Uni‑Connect programme.

• Skills: Working across the skills system with large corporates, regional bodies and national organisations.

This role will sit initially in the higher education team, with scope to work across a variety of projects as the candidate develops.

We are looking for someone with an interest in education to join our team as an analyst, helping us to grow and develop our projects and keep us up to date with the sector.

You will have a keen interest in education as a public policy area, and an enthusiasm to learn more - this is the most important thing we are looking for.

While this role will cover education and skills more broadly, our preference is for someone that wants to learn more about how universities work, and how policy decisions impact them; including across some broader topics, such as devolution; research and development; widening participation; and science, innovation and growth.

Ideally, you are someone who has spent a bit of time working with universities as institutions - as a sabbatical officer, course rep, or similar role, either after university or alongside your studies. That said, please do not overly worry about if you have the ‘right’ level of experience or background. We recruit for skill and fit within the organisation – and will work with the people we make offers to, to ensure that they are supported within the company in a way that suits everyone.

In this role you would:

• Keep up to date on emerging education policies and trends.

• Conduct rapid desk research on specific policies, programmes and projects.

• Support the education team to deliver across our higher education retained accounts, and ongoing projects.

• Convey thoughtful analysis of your findings in clear, compelling prose.

• Liaise with clients in a professional and organised manner, and begin to…