Responsibilities:

• Manage and Coach Principals
• Work with and through Principals and school leadership teams to drive scholar achievement and productive, positive school cultures.
• Use a regular coaching cycle to build strong relationships with Principals that enable the leaders to meet their performance targets and model effective coaching to their own school leadership team.
• Use research-based coaching practices in coaching leaders and work with the Head of School Achievement to codify SPARK Schools coaching and management practices.
• Use leadership tools and surveys to assess leader strengths and areas of growth best.
• Use scholar achievement and stakeholder experience data to determine goals with each leader and monitor progress toward goals.
• Hold Principals to academic, professional, ethical, and other performance standards.

Implement network-wide professional development.

• Use scholar achievement data to identify network-wide and school-specific focus areas for professional development in partnership with instructional leaders and the School Achievement team.
• Scope and plan centralised agendas and objectives for pre-service professional development, weekly professional development, and termly Data Days.
• Provide training to instructional leaders and the School Achievement team on the “See It, Name It, Do It” (SINIDI) framework of professional development facilitation for consistency in training delivery.
• Monitor the effectiveness and impact of professional development programs and prepare reports and recommendations related to outcomes and proposed improvements or action steps.
• Where relevant, identify external suppliers or resources for professional development, evaluate their effectiveness, and initiate partnerships in line with SPARK’s business practices and budgets.
• Develop Assistant Principals as instructional coaches alongside Principals.
• Advise Principals as they coach and develop their school leadership team and Trailblazers (prospective school leaders) to ensure the strength of SPARK Schools’ internal leadership pipeline.

Operational support

• Assume Accountability for Scholar Achievement and Stakeholder Experience
• Maintain a regular schedule of school visits to monitor and evaluate instruction and  employees, parent, and scholar experience, as well as identify the highest leverage region-wide and school-specific action steps for implementation.
• Collaborate with fellow School Achievement Managers to develop and implement standards, assessment, and performance metrics for instruction and stakeholder experience.
• Ensure alignment of cultural and instructional practices across the network, in line with SPARK Schools practices, policies, and core values.
• Serve as a primary liaison between teams in SPARK Support and school leadership, to ensure clear and distinct lines of communication and accountability.
• Participate actively in staff development opportunities as a member of the SPARK Schools team.
• Conduct self in a professional manner at all SPARK Schools events and to all stakeholders.
• Enforce compliance with ethical standards guided by the company values and mission.
• Update job knowledge by participating in conferences and educational opportunities, reading professional publications, maintaining personal networks, and participating in professional organizations.

Qualifications and Criteria:

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications and criteria:

• B.Ed. or PGCE – Senior/FET Phase
• SACE accreditation
• At least 3-5 years of experience leading leaders and/or a team of leaders in school management and instruction with proven record of high achievement
• Experience and practice with labour law

Competencies:

• Critical thinking skills applied to strategic planning, data analysis, collaborative problem-solving, and confident decision-making.
• Professional, clear, and concise written and verbal communication, which can be tailored by the audience and brief.
• Ability and willingness to take initiative, in order to drive one’s own development and team leadership in a fast-paced environment;
• Calm and resilience to lead self and others through challenges;
• Strong organisational skills that allow a detail-oriented approach, while maintaining a “big picture” view.
• Ability to consolidate feedback in order to clearly communicate highest leverage action steps.