DEPUTY DEAN AND DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMES

THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION 

The School of Education was established by Chris Woodhead (former Chief Inspector of schools) and Professor Anthony O’Hear based on two main ideas – that other university teacher training departments were often teaching completely false concepts, and that the most effective teacher training takes place in school classrooms.  Today much of our training happens by using trained tutors and mentors to guide teachers by observing them in the classroom.  Most of our students already have jobs in schools but they are untrained. 

The School of Education is based in the Whittlebury Hall, a hotel about 15 minutes from Buckingham, which offers the advantage of accommodation and multiple meeting rooms for residential courses.  We also use the new Vinson Building in the university for seminars and lectures as well as the new University of Buckingham buildings in Crewe and London. Students have use of the university library and online resources.

A typical PGCE course has three elements:

1. Residential teaching – the students come to Whittlebury Hall for three lots of three days where they are taught, in part by visiting lecturers.
2. In-school monitoring.  A teacher in the student’s own school is trained to be a mentor and he/she is supervised by a trained external tutor.
3. Written assignments which are marked and graded. 

The Role 
We are looking for a first-rate teacher and administrator with successful experience as a manager of teachers and expertise in developing the craft of the classroom. The Director of Programmes will help develop and administer all our courses and will be involved in the teaching and assessment of some of them.  The Director will have line management of all the course teachers.
 
It is likely that the current courses offered at Buckingham will be greatly expanded in years to come and the Director will, with the Dean, manage this expansion.  This is therefore a post which suits someone with entrepreneurial vision.  

The successful candidate will start as soon as possible.

The following gives a flavour of the job but is not an exhaustive list:

Strategy
Work closely with the Dean to assist in the development of the School including writing, delivering and marketing new courses, ensuring that we offer the most effective form of training and that which is most in demand.

Operational

• Assist the Dean in the smooth running of the School of Education
• Line manage the teacher training staff
• Plan, organise and oversee the programme for each course
• Develop online courses and film resources
• Tutor an agreed number of trainees
• Oversee the interview process for QTS trainees
• Run training for all tutors and mentors
• Work with the Director of Operations to recruit tutors 
• Assist with financial control and budgeting
• Manage any scholarship or bursary programme

Quality Assurance

• Manage the performance of all mentors, tutors and lecturers to ensure quality across each course
• Monitor the performance of trainees through moderation visits and regular scrutiny of trainee profiles
• Oversee the process for any trainee regarded as a cause for concern
• Manage and oversee the marking of assignments
• Ensure compliance with Ofsted regulations for all QTS courses and be responsible for all Ofsted-related issues and inspections
• Oversee external examinations
• Oversee training partnerships including SCITTs

Applications 
Applications should be made via our online application portal, which can be found at www.buckingham.ac.uk/about/hr.   

Informal enquiries may be made to: Nikki Mugford (nikki.mugford@buckingham.ac.uk)   

The closing date for applications is 4.30pm on Friday 1st March 2019.  

We expect that interviews will be held on 18th and 25th March 2019.

For further information about the University of Buckingham, please visit our Web site: www.buckingham.ac.uk