Chief Executive of Education Scotland

at  Scottish Government

JOB SUMMARY

We are seeking an outstanding individual for the role of Chief Executive, Education Scotland.
This is an exciting time for Scottish education as we implement significant reform to secure better outcomes for children and young people across Scotland. The Chief Executive will play a pivotal role in working with leaders across the sector to refocus the work of Education Scotland and to help strengthen the education and skills system and how it works.
Education Scotland plays an important role in creating the conditions for children and young people to thrive. As part of our reform commitments, the work and approach of Education Scotland is to be transformed to strengthen national support for improvement in Scottish education, with a new primary focus on curriculum design, delivery and improvement, including the provision of resources to support high quality learning and teaching.
We are therefore looking for a transformational leader who, within the context of our education and skills reform commitments, can rapidly refocus the work and approach of Education Scotland. They must ensure that it is able to drive greater improvement in Scottish education, bringing a stronger focus on curriculum design, improvement and innovation, whilst building an increasingly confident, respected and influential public body.
As Chief Executive you will have responsibility for leading circa 380 employees until His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) exists in its own right. Following which, responsibility will be for circa 250/300 employees, across a range of professions (all employees are Civil Servants, some of whom have professional backgrounds in teaching, early learning and childcare, community learning and development and corporate services), working across buildings located in Livingston, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness, and Aberdeen. You will provide significant national leadership, delivering professional advice, information and evidence to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government officials, on all aspects of education policy.
Individuals on any working pattern can apply for any post. We welcome flexible working. If you are interested in applying on a job-share basis, please make clear in your application if you wish to be considered as a pre-existing job-share partnership or if you are interested in moving into a job-share arrangement. We will assess proposed working patterns against the business requirements for the post and discuss all options with candidates.

JOB DESCRIPTION

As Chief Executive of Education Scotland, you will have a range of duties and responsibilities. A short summary is below but more detail can be found in the Candidate Pack at the bottom of this page.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Education and Training
Senior leadership