Prog Director in Education Leadership

Press Tab to Move to Skip to Content Link

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Salary: £35,116 to £37,174 with progression to £45,413 per annum (pro rata)

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits . We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 10 July 2025

The Role

The Educational Leadership Centre in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) is seeking to appoint a Programme Director at Lecturer level (for a 2-year period) with expertise in National Professional Qualifications, assessment design, educational leadership and/or teacher development. The successful applicant will join a committed, flexible and innovative team located in ECLS. In the Educational Leadership Centre, we offer professional development programmes for UK teachers (including National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), Early Career Framework in partnership with national providers, and bespoke programmes) as well as for internationally based educational leaders. The Programme Director will lead on our NPQ programmes and work closely with the Co-Director of the centre on bespoke provision. The successful applicant will oversee the management, delivery and assessment of our NPQ programmes. They will contribute, as appropriate, to design, facilitation, quality assurance and assessment support within the wider suite of programmes offered within the Educational Leadership Centre. As the Programme Director, the successful candidate will also contribute to the leadership and management of the Educational Leadership Centre and will be directly involved in manging relationships with external partners and stakeholders.

Any informal enquiries should be directed to: Professor René Koglbauer, Dean of Lifelong Learning and Professional Practice and Director of the Educational Leadership Centre or Professor Julie Morris, Head of School

The University has developed anAcademic Job Summary Guidance document which summarises the range of activities that academic staff may be expected to perform.

This is a part time position (0.7 FTE), fixed term until December 2026.

Key Accountabilities

• To lead on our National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) delivery contract with the National Institute of Teaching
• To oversee delivery and Quality Assurance of our NPQ programmes
• To manage our facilitators and assessors as well as relationships with external partners and stakeholders
• To work closely with the centre's Co-Director in managing the NPQ assessment contract with the National Institute of Teaching
• To project manage the assessment scenarios and mark schemes from start to end (commissioning to approval). This will include commissioning of scenarios, managing of writing teams, oversight of scheduling, writing mark schemes, leading on scenario review with external partners, etc
• To undertake an NPQ lead assessment moderator role overseeing internal moderation processes, ensuring accuracy and consistency across assessors and lead assessors
• To liaise with the external quality assurance bodies as required and report appropriately and timely to internal and external stakeholders
• To work collaboratively and efficiently with our administrative manager and the ELC professional services team
• To work with the Co-Director in expanding our bespoke professional development offer regionally, nationally and internationally
• To evaluate all areas of own practice and undertake continuing professional development in line with identified personal professional needs and institutional priorities
• To support our engagement with the teaching profession and communities to promote partnership working and collaborations in both teaching and scholarship
• To undertake scholarly activities, associated with the role and to engage fully in the academic life of the school
• To undertake academic and administrative duties as required by the centre director and/or the Head of School

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Possesses sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in the areas of teacher and leadership development
• Professional knowledge gained from sustained employment in, or wider experience of education
• Knowledge of current priorities and changes in teacher and leader professional development
• Ability to inspire participants and fellow colleagues through the development and delivery of high-quality effective facilitation and leadership
• Knowledge and experience of middle or senior leadership in educational context
• Professional knowledge gained from experience of teaching and assessment in Higher Education
• Experience of project leadership and management, including budgeting
• Experience of undertaking educational scholarship research, including publishing in peer reviewed journals

Attributes and Behaviour

• Excellent oral and written communication skills for a wide range of audiences
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• High levels of organisational and administrative skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Ability to engage with and respond enthusiastically and positively to participants
• Proven ability to demonstrate initiative, working independently and as part of a team
• Proven ability to work collaboratively, constructively and flexibly with academic and school colleagues, students and support staff

Qualifications

• Good Honours Degree in a relevant subject area
• An appropriate professional teaching qualification, e.g. Qualified Teacher Status, PGCE, HE qualification
• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant subject area
• A professional qualification for leadership

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silverAthena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.