Executive Class - Senior Education Improvement Leader - Brimbank Melton

The role of the Department of Education and Training is to support Victorians to build prosperous, socially engaged, happy and healthy lives. It does this by supporting lifelong learning and healthy development, strengthening families and helping to equip people with the skills and knowledge for a 21st century economy and society.

The Department's responsibilities cover three overlapping stages of life:

·       Early childhood development (birth to eight) - covering health, learning and development services

·       School education (five to eighteen) - covering primary, secondary and special school services for children and young people from Prep to Year 12

·       Higher education and skills (fifteen and over) - covering higher education, vocational education and training, apprenticeships and traineeships, and adult, community and further education.

The goal over the next decade is to place Victoria¿s education and development outcomes into the global top tier. Four areas of focus that will contribute to measurable improvements are:

·       Achievement: raise standards of learning and development achieved by Victorians using education, development and child health services

·       Engagement: Increase the number of Victorians actively participating in education, development and child health services

·       Wellbeing: Increase the contribution education, development and child health services make to good health and quality of life for all Victorians, particularly children and young people

·       Productivity: Increase the economic and social return on expenditure on the Department¿s services.

The Department currently comprises of the following structure:

·       Eight central business areas - Early Childhood Education; School Education Programs and Support; Higher Education and Skills; Policy, Strategy and Performance; Schools and Regional Services; Financial Policy and Information Services; Victorian School Building Authority; and People and Executive Services

·       Four Departmental regions - North-Eastern Region; North-Western Region; South-Eastern Region; and South-Western Region

·       Three independent statutory authorities: the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) and the Merit Protection Boards (MPB).

Staff work in a diverse range of roles across the Department. The Department recognises that its people are its greatest asset, and having the right people and culture are integral to fulfilling our goals. The Department strives to be an organisation that respects the skills and contribution of its people, and values innovation and collaboration.

The Department also works in conjunction with the following statutory bodies: Adult, Community and Further Education Board; Children's Services Coordination Board; Disciplinary Appeals Boards; Victorian Children's Council; and Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Further information about DET is available at www.education.vic.gov.au

Victorian Public Sector Values

DET employees commit to the public sector values as outlined in Section 7 of the Public Administration Act 2004, DET has adopted these values

For more information on the DET's values, visit:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/workm/Pages/Public-Sector-Values.aspx

·        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

Schools and Regional Services comprises 17 Areas within four regions across the state, as well as four central Divisions. The responsibilities of Schools and Regional Services include:

·       Service delivery including performance, contract management, funding delivery and acquittal

·       Program implementation including detailed implementation planning and delivery

·       Local area engagement, advice, support and partnerships

·       Workforce capability development, professional practice leadership and delivery

·       Emergency management including critical incident response.

The Area-based regional operating model is designed to:

·       Provide greater responsiveness, innovation and joined-up responses to local needs

·       Enable a focus on place as an organising structure for schools and other services

·       Enable regional staff to engage more effectively with our service providers, schools, students and learners, families and local communities, and to understand what they need

·       Facilitate better relationships and collaborative networks that more effectively support learners to move more seamlessly through our education system and beyond

·       Enable complex issues to be addressed through more targeted, integrated and coordinated responses.

Role Purpose and Key Accountabilities

Senior Education Improvement Leaders (SEILs) play a key leadership role for Schools and Regional Services (SRS) 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 Schools and Regional Services 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).

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.

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

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 *******@education.vic.gov.au

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