Calling all CEOs of the future

By Rebecca Boomer-Clark

Someone recently asked me to describe my dream candidate for our new Regional Education Director posts. My response? Bold, restless for improvement and ambitious for every child.

My first national role was as a Regional Education Director. It was a role that I absolutely loved, which tested me to the limits, and which really helped me discover and define what mattered to me as an educationalist.?

Regional Education Directors can play an instrumental role in transforming lives at scale – and when configured in a well-run network of schools, are the engine room that drives success. Rarely do roles allow you to stay close to the work of school improvement and contribute to policy and practice on a national scale.

At AET, we’re hiring a swat team of five new secondary Regional Education Directors as we supercharge our capacity over the coming years. We have a bold and ambitious 10-year strategy that will see us achieve educational results that no organisation has ever achieved in this country, or overseas. And we’re looking for bold and ambitious people to join us to be part of that story. This is an exceptional opportunity for the CEOs of the future to have an impact, work alongside some of the brightest minds in education and really get to understand scale and how the wider education operates.

When I joined AET, I was drawn to it because of its national footprint, and the challenge of proving that it is possible to deliver excellence at scale. There are some in the sector who simply don’t believe that is possible; I think they are wrong.

Sustainable educational excellence at scale is achievable, but we have to be realistic about the work that it involves. And, we have to be realistic about the people and talent that it draws on.?

The targets we have set ourselves – AET 490 (90% of pupils achieving the phonics test; Key stage 2; expected reading age; and Key Stage 4) – attract a certain type of person. The type of person who, to their very core, believes that our children have an entitlement to excellence – in every classroom, every day. The type of person who sweats the small stuff and looks for the marginal gains. And the type of person who can see the long game, and who knows there will be bumps in the road and weeks that are really, really tough.?

The type of person who knows that it’s simply too important for us not to succeed. And for us to do anything less means we are failing our children and letting their families down.

Over the past year, we have piloted a regional model, and we’re now ready to grow that into an unstoppable team that will work together, supporting our Principals and leaders to deliver sustainable excellence everywhere.

If this speaks to you, then we want to hear from you. These roles are not for everyone, but if you want to operate on a national scale and work together to achieve something that has never been done before, get in touch: [email protected]; Rebecca Boomer-Clark

Regional Education Directors

Salary: Highly competitive and Teachers pension scheme

Job Type: Full Time, Permanent

Start date: April 2023 or sooner if possible

Apply by: 2 Nov 2022

Apply on TES