Education Improvement Leader position description POSITION TITLE GROUP REGION Education Improvement Leader Regional Services Group Various CLASSIFICATION VPS5 EMPLOYMENT STATUS Fixed term FTE 1.0 POSITION REPORTS TO LOCATION Senior Education Area Executive Director Various ORGANISATIONAL ENVIRONMENT The Department of Education and Training (DET) brings together a range of services for Victorian children, young people and adults. These services cover three overlapping life stages: early childhood development (birth - 8 years) - covering health, learning and development services school education (5-18 years) - covering primary, secondary and special school services for children and young people from Prep to Year 12 higher education and skills (15 years and over) - covering higher education, vocational education and training, apprenticeships and traineeships, and adult, community and further education. DET is responsible for: Providing policy advice to the three portfolio Ministers Implementing early childhood development, school education, and skills and higher education policy Designing, funding, regulating and delivering portfolio services Improving the effectiveness of the State s overall learning and development system The Victorian Government is establishing Victoria as the Education State. Becoming the Education State means excellence for all Victorians at all stages of learning; every Victorian has an equal right to the knowledge and skills to shape their lives, regardless of their background, their personal circumstances or where they live. Every child should have the best start in life, with access to safe, quality early childhood services, and support to learn, play and grow. Every family should have access to great schools for their kids, with great teaching in every classroom. And every Victorian should be able to access quality training to get the skills they need for the job they want, building employer confidence in the skills and expertise of our workforce. The vision for Victoria as the Education State is about educational excellence, equity and the opportunity to engage in lifelong learning. We want a stronger and more integrated system that works directly with learners and their families, communities, early childhood services, schools and training providers. We want to see greater accountability, transparency and integrity. A review of our Department s operating model found that in the future the Department needs to operate as a system architect, providing system leadership and frameworks for decision making to deliver on outcomes in achievement, engagement, wellbeing and productivity. Proposed changes to the DET corporate organisational structure underpin the 2016 DET Organisational Reform Program which has a broader focus that will help the department to: promote strong public sector leadership and the highest standards of governance, integrity and conduct build inclusive workplaces based on public sector values (integrity, accountability, impartiality, respect, responsiveness, leadership and human rights ensure use of resources provides value for money and meets community expectations establish shared responsibility and clear accountability for decision provide stronger, more direct and place-based support to schools, services and providers.
ORGANISATIONAL VALUES Victorian Public Sector Values DET employees commit to the public sector values as outlined in Section 7 of the Public Administration Act 2004: Responsiveness Providing frank, impartial and timely advice to the government Providing high quality services to the Victorian community Identifying and promoting best practice Integrity Being honest, open and transparent in their dealings Using powers responsibly Reporting improper conduct Avoiding real or apparent conflicts of interest Striving to earn and sustain public trust at the highest level Impartiality Making decisions and providing advice on merit without bias, caprice, favoritism or self-interest Acting fairly by objectively considering all relevant facts and applying fair criteria Implementing Government policies and programs equitably Accountability Working to clear objectives in a transparent manner Accepting responsibility for their decisions and actions Seeking to achieve best use of resources Submitting themselves to appropriate scrutiny Respect Treating others fairly and objectively Ensuring freedom from discrimination, harassment and bullying Using their views to improve outcomes on an ongoing basis. Leadership Actively implementing, promoting and supporting these values Human rights Making decisions and providing advice consistent with the human rights set out in the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 Actively implementing, promoting and supporting human rights
ROLE CONTEXT Regional Services Group Regional Services Group is responsible for delivering, monitoring, evaluating and improving DET services at the regional level. RSG s key functions under the proposed structure will be: Service delivery including contract management and performance, funding delivery and acquittal Program implementation including detailed implementation planning and delivery Local area engagement, advice, support and partnerships Workforce capability development design, professional practice leadership and delivery Leadership of Emergency Management including critical incident response Accountable for state-wide early years and schools service performance. This will be through the Regional Performance Framework, its new responsibility in contract management, and strengthened focus on priority reviews and interventions. Implementation planning and delivery to ensure greater alignment of services with the policy or program s original intent. It will work to ensure translation of policy intent to implementation criteria and delivery of outcomes. Play a critical role in feeding back on-the-ground experience in implementation to ECSEG and SRG in terms of policy and program design. Take a much stronger role in professional practice leadership and capability development. RSG will bring together the new Professional Practice Leadership Division with the Bastow Institute, Victorian Deaf Institute, Professional Practice Unit and Quality Workforce Unit to support performance and capability. Regional Services Group - Shift in focus RSG s role will be focused much more strongly on service performance and accountability. The new proposed structure brings together the Improvement and Accountability Branch from ECSEG with the Regional Performance Framework function and existing functions in priority reviews, intervention design and oversight of new, merging and closing schools. It is envisaged that the benefits of bringing these areas together with the Regional Performance Framework and contract management function will drive improved performance. RSG will also have an expanded role in implementation planning and project management support. The new function and focus on implementation planning will require improved capabilities in business process, business management, data analysis and reporting, implementation and project management. RSG will be required to be outward facing, to engage and to communicate strongly with internal and external stakeholders. It is envisaged that the Performance and Implementation Division and the Professional Practice Leadership Division will be led by Executive Directors. The two areas would complement each other in terms of having both educational and operational leadership.
ROLE PURPOSE Under the leadership of the area based Senior Education Improvement Leaders (SEILs) the Education Improvement Leaders (EILs) work closely and collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team to improve outcomes for all students regardless of background or circumstance. They will support the Senior Education Improvement Leader with the integration of the local area learning and development system and facilitate its contribution to lifting learner achievement and outcomes for all schools and early childhood services; the achievement of community aspirations; monitor learning and development system, school and early childhood service performance (in conjunction with central Groups) and support improvement strategies in the face of school and early childhood service failure where appropriate; and have a broad oversight role for government schools within that same area. Education Improvement Leaders are accountable for their local area s contribution to improved learning and development outcomes by: Working collaboratively and productively with area based Senior Education Improvement Leaders Working proactively with school networks, principals and their teams to build their leadership and school improvement capacity through the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes and create a high-performance learning culture Actively supporting principals to manage their workforce, and in particular, helping them to regularly engage in meaningful performance conversations with teachers which use analysis of student outcomes data and evidence to identify professional learning needs, recognise high performance and address persistent underperformance or unsatisfactory performance. Supporting area based Senior Education Improvement Leaders to: o Work as part of a multidisciplinary area team drive strong school improvement and student outcomes o Provide specialist curriculum and assessment expertise to Senior Education Improvement Leaders and schools o Broker and facilitate the supports and resources required by a school, network or community of practice, including professional learning to deliver an agreed course of action aimed at lifting learner achievement and outcomes o Assist schools to successfully implement curriculum (F-10, VCE, VCAL,VEYLDF) o Access, analyse and interpret data available on school performance indicators in order to assist with a robust selfevaluation and annual implementation planning and continuous improvement o Assist in the facilitation of school networks o Support the management of complex parent complaints o Foster links with organisations, services and agencies that support the learning, development and wellbeing of students o Participate in joint work on areas of common practice and share excellent practice across the system, particularly relating to the high impact strategies in the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes o Prepare departmental written communication as required, including briefings o Support the Senior Education Improvement Leaders as required on the implementation of school reviews o Show ability to be a strategic thinker, works collaboratively, co-creates, shows initiative, be responsible & selfmastering o Exemplify integrity and set a standard for others, support others to manage conflicts of interest, and use resources responsibly o model public sector values (integrity, accountability, impartiality, responsiveness, respect, leadership and commitment to human rights)
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Strategy and service delivery development Support schools, particularly in the implementation of high impact strategies in the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes. Support the contribution of the development of regional priorities and service delivery improvement with a focus on the integration of the learning and development system at the local level - in particular secure transitions between the stages of learning. Support the area based Senior Education Improvement Leaders with regional learning and development system and service redesign and improvement. Maintain a focus on high risk and/or high impact areas and take personal responsibility for managing and escalating issues and risks effectively at the regional and local level, including integrity and compliance risks. Support schools and early childhood services in the recovery phase following a major emergency as required (e.g. major bush fire). Facilitating and maintaining effective regional relationships Facilitate internal and external relationships to initiate and implement system change as related to the Education State and improve wider sector performance. Contribute to cross-agency and sector collaboration, providing the 'learning and development voice' in local relationships Support and foster change within the sector in that local area, including through the exchange of information, and through proactive advocacy for lifting learning and development outcomes and achievement
Specialisation - Planning for the learning and development system (Prioritise, plan and manage for results) Contribute to the implementation of the state wide initiatives under the Education State. Foster effective relationships with other government agencies, partnerships and education sector and community groups to improve integration of service delivery. Target and engage directly with regional communities of interest to gain input on strategy and implementation including from the sectors, agencies and other areas involved in implementation and delivery. This includes direct engagement with relevant Koorie communities. Broker partnerships and networks at the local level to improve child/learner outcomes. Place a strong focus on partnerships and networks which help address rural disadvantage. Facilitate integration across the sectors to ensure that children and young people make secure transitions from early childhood into primary school, primary into secondary school and from secondary school to further education or employment. Work with other government departments (including DHHS Area Managers), agencies, local government and community groups to establish structures and joint strategies that address the needs of vulnerable children and young people at the local level. REQUIRED CAPABILITIES Leadership Teamwork Influence and Negotiation Stakeholder Engagement Organisational Awareness Relationship Building QUALIFICATIONS Desirable : Relevant Qualification in curriculum & assessment specialist expertise KEY SELECTION CRITERIA Victorian Public Sector Values as detailed in Organisational Values section above Demonstrated ability to support/lead improvement strategies across school settings in order to lift performance and achievement levels Demonstrated highly effective collaboration and stakeholder engagement skills Demonstrated high level of written and verbal communication skills Demonstrated ability to work as part of a highly effective performing team and a range of other stakeholders to drive improvement and contribute to agreed organisational outcomes Demonstrated ability to provide high level, responsive and timely support and advice