Newcastle CC – Assistant Director Education + Skills

Salary: up to £87k

Our future is exciting.  The new devolution deal gives us the chance to create a more aligned and effective system across the North of Tyne.  Our focus on Inclusive Growth will underpin our long-term approach to getting all our education provision, support and services right for stronger future.  A key element of this is shaping our North of Tyne ‘Education Improvement Challenge’, alongside aligning our post-16 agenda to support a more effective, fairer and robust economy.  This role is really about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

Understanding how to marshall all our partners, services and support to deliver on this inter-generational promise will take leadership, real influence, political nous and excellent relationship building skills, all grounded in a deep understanding of the whole education system.

We have good foundations on which to build a better future for our children and young people, but we know where we need to get better.

Our post-16 agenda is exciting. Devolution offers a unique opportunity to refocus and re-align an entire system around delivering higher-level skills to succeed in a post-Brexit world.  We need to get this right, ensuring our Education Improvement Challenge becomes the innovative strategic intervention that accelerates our progress.  This will be a key priority.

SEND and inclusion is a real challenge.  We know there’s a long way to go. We now have the leadership to deliver the required changes.  You’ll need to support the development of our new approach and culture, so that all our children and young people can maximise their achievements in the best and most appropriate education environment.

School support and achievement remains a key role.  Our approach to sector-led support is captured in our ‘Promise Board’.  Schools have come together to bring challenge, learn from each other and jointly address key issues across the system.  We play an active role in supporting them, with careful oversight and intervention as required.  Together we can keep improving outcomes across the city.

Leading across these three key areas, our new Assistant Director will use their excellent judgement to drive up our performance and create an integrated service.  Coming from any relevant education background, your success will be less about your technical background and more about how you lead, shape and deliver our future agenda regardless of which stream of education leadership you come from.  You’ll bring determination, strong personal values, a real commitment to education and flexible, robust, strategic leadership to shape a whole system that really delivers lifelong learning.

Open AD Education and Skills Info Pack for more detail on the the education context in Newcastle, our schools, budgets and departmental management structures.

To download the JD and Person Specification for this role, please fill out the form below, click “Send” and you will be taken to another webpage where you can view and save a PDF of the JD/PS.