News
Messages from the Chief Executive (Designate) - June 2007
I am delighted to launch this interim website for the Education and Skills Authority Implementation Team (ESAIT). It represents a modest, but in my view important, step in developing and improving our communication with all those who work in education - particularly those of you directly affected by the Review of Public Administration - and the wider public. You have been telling us that we need to do more to communicate – I hope this shows that we have been listening! Over the coming months we intend to develop the site further to ensure it is a genuinely valuable channel of communication for all those interested in our plans for ESA, progress to date and the way forward on this massive change programme.
Since my appointment as Chief Executive (Designate) in February, I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with almost 2,000 colleagues in the education sector. I have visited a number of schools and the headquarters of each of the Education and Library Boards, CCMS, CCEA and the Youth Council. I have met with the Chief Executives of all the education bodies and most of their senior management teams.
Throughout this programme of visits and speaking engagements I have set out the vision and strategic objectives for ESA – in other words, the reasons for doing all of this. I believe that the establishment of ESA is a real opportunity for us to improve educational outcomes for children and young people, to provide increased support to those educating our young people and to deliver increased benefits to our society and economy in Northern Ireland .
I have been greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm of those I have met to make a positive contribution. The input of staff in the legacy organisations which will come together to form ESA will be a vital ingredient for success. You have the knowledge, experience and skills developed in administering the education system. I want to work with you to create a new organisation.
We will build excellence into the design of the organisation. We will focus on the processes needed to be effective, benchmark these against the best, and be clear about the outcomes expected. We will listen to our customers and be professional in our approach, with high skilled professional staff. We will be strong on leadership and line management, supporting, challenging and motivating staff. My aspiration is for ESA to be, and to be recognised as, an excellent organisation with a strong, positive working environment where staff are proud to work.
Of course there is a lot of work needed to make this happen. Over the past few months I have been working on the management structures for the new organisation, taking account of the views of the Chief Executives of the legacy organisations and the Trade Unions. We have now produced a draft 2nd Tier Structures Paper which you can access on this site. We have invited comments on the draft proposals and over the next few weeks we will be finalising this paper, in light of comments received, and submitting it to the Department of Education for approval.
As we build the new organisation, we want to draw upon the knowledge and expertise within the education sector. We recently issued secondment notices for 4 Project manager posts in the areas of Human Resources, Communications, Finance and Accounting and Financial Planning, and 2 Personal Assistant posts. We have also issued secondment notices for 3 posts in a Recruitment Unit. You will find more details of these opportunities in the Vacancies section of this site. Over the next few months we will also be seeking a number of project team members for HR, Finance and other projects. Secondment notices for these posts will also appear in the Vacancies section of the website. This is an opportunity to help shape the future and I very much hope that those of you with the relevant skills and experience will apply.
I hope you find this website a useful source of information. Together with the ESA Implementation Team, I will endeavour to ensure that everyone is kept up to date with developments on an ongoing basis as we move forward.
GAVIN BOYD
5 June 2007