Assistant Director, SEN and Youth Directorate

JOB DESCRIPTION

Post: Assistant Director SEN and Youth Directorate

Reports to: Chief Transformation Officer SEN

Assistant Directors are responsible for providing strategic leadership for the effective and efficient delivery of all SEND statutory and support services and services provided to special schools and specialist provisions in mainstream schools.

Assistant Directors work flexibly and collaboratively with the Chief Executive and Chief Officers to provide corporate leadership to EA, particularly in regard to progressing EA's improvement journey and ensuring corporate alignment across the organisation.

These are challenging roles requiring proven skills in leading and working collaboratively with others to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people.

• Collectively as part of the Senior Leadership Team optimise business structures, harness strengths and make EA a great place to work.
• Lead a portfolio of services to enable the delivery of high‑quality services to schools and other stakeholders, and/or deliver projects and programmes in line with EA's priorities and business plan.
• Work collectively with other Assistant Directors to agree and progress corporate priorities.
• Support the Chief Officers in considering the resourcing profile and organisational changes required to deliver the optimum structure for EA.
• Focus on corporate leadership duties, offering leadership that empowers individuals managing services to focus on operational excellence.
• Support the Chief Officers in leading detailed reviews of EA's core functions and current challenges to inform a more balanced structure.
• Work towards EA's long‑term improvement ambitions, ensuring that the future structure is aligned with its vision, purpose and strategic goals.
• Provide support to the Chief Executive and Chief Officers in prioritising EA's activities to determine which are essential and which may need to be discontinued, paused or reconfigured.
• Ensure that EA lives within its annual budget allocation from the Department of Education.
• Work in partnership with staff and stakeholders, including partners across the education sector, governing bodies, school leaders, trade unions, elected representatives, other related agencies, the media and the public.
• Maximise opportunities for improvement while promoting innovation and ambition.
• Provide corporate leadership for all programmes and projects relating to improvements to service delivery models while ensuring that EA adheres to relevant legislation and standards.
• Ensure that service delivery is shaped by service user input.
• Advise the Department of Education on policy issues and contribute to policy reviews.

The above responsibilities apply to all Assistant Directors (ADs). Whilst ADs are initially appointed to a specific post there may be opportunities to move to another AD position in any directorate, providing personal development opportunities for a wide‑ranging and varied career.

The Assistant Director for SEND Statutory Services leads statutory special educational needs services for schools, overseeing the SEND Assessment and Review service and the Educational Psychology service.

Budget: £304 million |
Staff: 462

The Assistant Director for SEND Support Services leads and oversees pupil support services for children with special educational and medical needs.

Budget: £78 million |
Staff: 599

The Assistant Director for Special Schools and Specialist Provisions leads and oversees all services delivered to special schools and specialist provisions in mainstream schools.

Budget: £214 million |
Staff: 67

The vision for SEN Transformation is to ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs can reach the maximum outcomes throughout their educational journey. That means we will tailor services to meet the needs of the children and young people who need the services.

In practice this means:

• A system that identifies the specific intervention required for the child to have the best education…