Here in Surrey, we are working hard to make our county a uniquely special place where everyone has a great start in life and can benefit from education, skills and employment opportunities that support them to succeed and thrive.
It is our ambition to build an economy that is strong, vibrant and successful so that Surrey is a great place to live, work, and learn, where communities feel supported, and people are enabled to support each other.
We are seeking to appoint a permanent Director of Education and Lifelong Learning who will help us to deliver against our ambitions. Reporting directly to Rachael Wardell – Executive Director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, this is a key leadership role in the directorate. We are looking for an inclusive and compassionate leader, focused on great outcomes for children and adult learners; someone that can create and enable a collaborative, open, and trusting environment in which collaboration with schools and other educational… settings is a given and where innovation and creativity can flourish.
The Role
As our Director of Education and Lifelong Learning, you’ll shape strategic initiatives that enhance educational and broader outcomes for children, young people, and adult learners across Surrey. Your collaborative leadership will drive innovation and efficiency in a challenging financial landscape and will support key activity across the whole directorate and with external partners meaning you will work closely with other senior leaders across children’s services to improve outcomes.
This role will:
Champion Inclusive Education – helping to shape and deliver strategic initiatives for children with additional educational needs.
Focus on Lifelong Learning – developing and implementing a comprehensive lifelong learning strategy to facilitate skills advancement and educational opportunities.
Promote Excellence – fostering collaboration with educational stakeholders to define and uphold education excellence in response to evolving policies.
Ensure Statutory Compliance and Collaboration – working closely with the Executive Director of Children, Families and Lifelong Learning to ensure statutory obligations are met and collaborating on educational initiatives.
Focus on School Improvement activity- leading efforts to enhance school systems, empowering them to deliver high-quality, inclusive learning experiences and outcomes.
Provide Professional Leadership – engaging locally, regionally, and nationally to cultivate partnerships and innovative approaches for improved educational and broader outcomes for all learners and their families.
Champion Community Wellbeing – providing leadership across adult and community learning provisions to promote essential skills development, community wellbeing and cost-effective service provision.
Build organisational capacity – responding to inspections, legislative changes, and national policy shifts, fostering continuous improvement.This role is integral to the Council responding to ongoing challenges as we seek to reduce inequalities for our learners and improve outcomes right across the County so that no one is left behind. You will draw on all available resources, plus the capacity and capabilities of our partners, communities, and residents to bring about positive change and achieve lasting impact.
A key area of focus for our new Director will be the transformation of services for children with additional needs and disabilities. This will mean a clear focus on early intervention and support for these children which will involve a large partnership component with schools and health colleagues.
In addition to this, we are also very committed to all age learning and skills and have already established a partnership with schools and other educational establishments to deliver our all-age learning strategy. This partnership will be essential to our ambitions to close the gap in educational outcomes for individuals, particularly those families facing disadvantage.
Who we are looking for
We are looking for an experienced senior leader with real management grip and leadership drive and a boundless enthusiasm for achieving better outcomes. You will have substantial experience of having led educational services and improvement work on a quest for genuine inclusion for all learners; this could be from a local authority environment or more broadly across the education sector.
Your experience of working in large and complex environments will support your transition into this busy and significant position, where you will showcase your ability to build and maintain excellent working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders across the county. This role does not have all the levers of change at its disposal so systems leadership will be key, as will a strong knowledge of relational practice – with parents, children and young people.
Because of the well documented challenges in this area, you will need to bring a strong understanding of SEND as well as a good grasp of finances and funding.
Leaders in Surrey are open, honest and transparent. We work together in a spirit of high support and high challenge to achieve our aims. We’d love to hear from you if your ambition to improve educational outcomes and enhance opportunities for learners of all abilities and at every age and stage matches ours.
Rewards and Benefits
26 days’ holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years’ service and 30 days after 5 years’ service
Annual leave allowance (for bank) or remove for term time
Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
Up to 5 days of carer’s leave per year
Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
A generous local government salary related pension
Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resourcesHow To Apply
Please check our website to find more information on how to apply.
Key dates:
The job advert closes on Friday the 11th of October.
Longlisting for this role is planned for Friday the 25th of October.
Technical interviews are planned for W/C 28th of October and will be undertaken virtually.
Shortlisting is planned for 4th November.
Final Assessment is planned for Wednesday the 13th of November and will be held face to face at our Woodhatch office based in Reigate.Should you be successful at final assessment on the 13th of November there will be an opportunity to have an informal chat with our new Chief Executive Terence Herbert via Teams prior to a final interview with members.
An enhanced DBS ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children’s and Adults’ Barred List checks will be required for this role.
Please note that this role will involve the need, at times, for you to travel around the county to meet with your colleagues, services, school leaders and other partners across the education system. Our hybrid working arrangements mean that outside of the times you’re required to physically attend a Surrey location, you can work however, whenever, and wherever suits you.
This post has been designated as a politically restricted post in accordance with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
Our Commitment
Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:
The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application.
The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form. Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.
We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups
Apply Job!