Work Type: Fixed-term - Full-time
Salary: Salary not specified
Grade: Grade not specified
Occupation: Leadership and management
Location: Melbourne - Southern suburbs
Reference: 1461679
KEY SELECTION CRITERIA
- Victorian Public Sector Values as detailed in Organisational Values section above
- Proven record of leading high-effect improvement strategies across school settings in order to lift performance and achievement levels.
- Extensive knowledge of and experience in education and training sectors including strategic acumen and an understanding of systems, institutions and stakeholder perspectives.
- Extensive strategy and change management experience, and experience in the leadership and management of policy implementation and service delivery in large complex organisations undergoing significant structural and cultural change.
- High effect interpersonal, communication, facilitation and people management capabilities, and a demonstrated capacity to build strong stakeholder relationships and to work effectively at the community level to gain commitment of others to agreed goals.
- Demonstrated financial acumen and highly effective budget management experience.
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, engage and 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 & KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Senior Education Improvement Leaders (SEILs) play a key leadership role for Regional Services Group (RSG) within the Department of Education and Training (DET). The role provides critical system leadership, supporting the Deputy Secretary to ensure that the regions operate efficiently, cohesively and in alignment with the Regional Services Group Strategy.
The role is primarily responsible for providing local leadership in the multi-disciplinary area teams, collaborating across and within area teams to identify and address support required, and drive coordinated action to ensure schools take the most effective and strongly evidenced based approaches to improvement.
Under the leadership of the Education Area Executive Director, and under the guidance of the region's Executive Director, School Improvement, the SEIL role drives a state-wide consistent, aligned and coherent approach to planning, implementation and delivery of service support to schools and other services for learners, children and families.
SEILs are responsible for the delivery of improved learning and development outcomes in their local area, by:
Working proactively with approximately 25 schools each, providing enhanced guidance and direction for school improvement, and supporting principals and their leadership teams to:
- Use available data to analyse and interpret school performance indicators in order to assist schools undertake a robust self-evaluation
- Assist schools to evaluate the impact of their school improvement strategies on student outcomes
- Develop a school strategic plan and annual implementation plan to implement the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO), in particular the use of high-impact strategies that focus on high-quality teaching, deliver instructional improvement, and the evaluation of the impact of these strategies to drive an unrelenting focus on improving student outcomes
- Actively support principals to manage their workforce, and in particular, helping them to regularly engage in meaningful performance conversations with teachers which use evidence to identify professional learning needs, recognise high performance and address persistent underperformance or unsatisfactory performance.
- Oversee sound financial practices and managing all resources strategically, including the Student Resource Package (SRP),
- Broker internal support as appropriate from the area multi-disciplinary team for individual schools, geographic networks or FISO initiative networks
- Participate in joint work on areas of common practice and facilitating the sharing of excellent practice across the system, particularly relating to the high impact strategies in FISO
- Broker links with organisations, early years and VET services and agencies that support the learning, development and wellbeing of their students
- Play a key role in school networks, building the collective school improvement capacity of network schools to implement FISO, facilitating a robust, Community of Practice approach and behaviours within networks, and collaborating closely with network chairs on network strategy.
- Ensure that principals establish an on-site professional learning program based on evidence that includes collaborative practice such as classroom observation and feedback, curriculum planning and assessment and student voice that drives collective responsibility for all learners.
SEILs, in conjunction with Education Area Executive Directors, support the integration of the local area learning and development system by:
- strengthening relationships, networks and partnerships between corporate DET, school leaders and other government and community organisations;
- facilitating the area's contribution to lifting learner achievement and outcomes for all schools and early childhood services; and improving pathways and transitions to higher education.
- Liaising with early childhood providers on provision challenges, drawing them into networks as appropriate to facilitate the joining up of services and the delivery of seamless transitions for children and young people, and identifying opportunities to improve early childhood outcomes.
- Supporting schools and early childhood services to meet their obligations in supporting vulnerable children and families, Koorie children and young people, learners with disabilities and special learning needs, refugee and asylum seeker children, and learners at serious risk of educational failure
- Identifying local issues that might require a system response and providing feedback to central Groups as appropriate through the Education Area Executive Director or Regional Director
- Ensure that principals create leadership structures and program build learner and teacher capacity in their schools and support state-wide programs for building capacity such as Local Leaders program and Professional Learning Communities.
Senior Education Improvement Leaders:
- are a trusted mentor and collaborator for principals, in regular contact, engaging in conversations about how to continually improve and sharing successful strategies to tackle specific challenges or take advantage of opportunities
- are the primary point of contact for Principals but able to refer on to the correct person or service in DET for more tailored support
- provide proactive support for new and acting principals, as well as principals operating in difficult and challenging circumstances
- play a key role in principal appointment, performance and development, and school review processes (as delegated by the Regional Director)
- demonstrate strong financial management skills, exemplify integrity and set a standard for others, support others to manage conflicts of interest, use resources responsibly, and model public sector values (integrity, accountability, impartiality, responsiveness, respect, leadership and commitment to human rights).
KEY ACCOUNTABILITES AND KEY ACTIVITIES
Regional leadership, strategy and service delivery development
- Contribute to the development of regional priorities and service delivery with a focus on lifting outcomes for all children and young people at the local level.
- Contribute to regional system and service redesign and improvement.
- Support schools to build their leadership and school improvement capacity, particularly in the implementation of FISO.
- Play a key role in the leadership of multi-disciplinary area teams.
- Take a leadership role for specific region and area-wide projects or committees as required by the Regional Director or Education Area Executive Director.
- Maintain a focus on high risk and/or high impact areas and take personal responsibility for managing issues and risks effectively at the regional and local level, including integrity and compliance risks
Facilitating and maintaining effective regional relationships
- Manage internal and external relationships to initiate and implement system change as related to the Education State.
- Build strong relationships with individual principals, as well as across school networks, and facilitate positive relationships between the multi-disciplinary area team, the region, the centre and schools, principals and networks.
- Contribute to cross-agency and sector collaboration, strengthening relationships, networks and partnerships between corporate DET, school leaders and other government and community organisations within the local area.
- Influence change in the area, including through the exchange of information, and through proactive advocacy for lifting child and learner outcomes.
System planning
- Play a key role in the implementation of Education State initiatives and provide implementation insights to inform ongoing policy design.
School and early childhood service monitoring and improvement strategies
- Play a key role in the implementation of the Regional Performance Framework through area-level assessment and monitoring of the quality and effectiveness of area-level service delivery, identification of risks to quality and effective service delivery and gaps in service provision.
- Support all schools to implement the FISO improvement cycle, including tailoring, amending and monitoring their School Strategic Plans, Annual Implementation Plans, and principal and teacher performance and development plans to reflect FISO initiatives.
- Lead improvement strategies at the local level.
- Participate as agreed in government school principal selection and contract renewal, and support principal performance and development processes.
This role is open to all classifications.
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
The Department of Education is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for all. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of family friendly, supportive, safe and harassment free workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work, diversity and safety across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
REQUIRED CAPABILITIES
- Executive Leadership
- Teamwork
- Organisational awareness
- Influence and negotiation
- Stakeholder management
- Relationship building
- Interpersonal skills
- Conceptual and Analytical ability
- Conceptual and Analytical ability
QUALIFICATIONS
- Essential: Tertiary qualifications in relevant discipline
- Desirable: Post Graduate Degree in relevant discipline
ORGANISATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
The Department of Education (DE) 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.
DE 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 DE corporate organisational structure underpin the 2016 DE 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 decisions
- 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, favouritism 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