Appendix 2
Curriculum Vitae: Dr Margaret Elizabeth (Maggie)
Atkinson
Personal Summary
I am a highly qualified professional, deeply committed
to and inspired by my work over a 30-year career. I have a 20
year history of leadership, including at Chief Officer level in
Local Authority and partnership settings. I have been involved
in work in national settings at increasingly senior levels for
over twenty years. The common features of my career have been
my leadership and management of creative, dynamic and sustainable
change; my ability to bring others, including the reluctant and
the sceptical, on board to share and deliver on the promises we
make; and the open public scrutiny of both my own work, and the
work of those I lead and manage.
I have an infectious passion for high quality public
services for children, young people and their families; in every
setting and for all communities, and for their leadership by services,
whether local or national, whose ambition and excellence can be
proven by both internal performance management, and external inspection
and regulation. I am valued for my ability to bring people from
a wide range of backgrounds and interest groups into a shared
vision, persuading them to own and deliver it both in their practice,
and in lasting partnerships.
Principal Strengths
- Speed of thought and three
dimensional consideration of all factors in a situation;
- Ability to think on my feet: in depth, in breadth
and in full colour;
- Ability to persuade, understand, lead and inspire
others;
- A gift for hard, productive work and a strong
personal work ethic, coupled with a strong sense of justice and
fair play
- Generosity of spirit, a gift for humour, and
a tendency to see the glass, including that of other people's
worth, as at least half full
Key Skills
- A keen and able user of three-dimensional
thinking and problem-solving skills
- An able and fluent communicator, in speech and
writing
- Long track record and lifelong commitment to
personal and academic development, and the maintenance and development
of my professional skills
- Well-developed ICT skills
- Numeracy skills, especially around the issues
connected to budgets in local government
- Literacy, especially that linked to the nature
and flow of information, statistics, trends and analysis
Current Employment
Job title: Group Director
Learning and Children, and statutory Director of Children's Services
(DCS)
Employer: Gateshead Council,
Civic Centre, Regent St, Gateshead, NE8 1HH
Leading the following for Gateshead:
- Staff in direct employment
across many professions and disciplines. Additionally, staff
in 88 partner schools. School governors, management committees
for Children's Centres and community settings.
- Partnership leadership across all statutory partners
in our Children's Trust arrangements (a themed strand in our Local
Strategic Partnership.)
- Volunteers, including all those involved in providing
and leading services and leisure time activities for children
and young people.
- Capital budget including PFI, BSF, MyPlace, Youth
Capital and Youth Opportunities Funds, Children's Centres and
Primary Capital Programmes, DCSF co-location funding.
- Revenue budgets for all Council services for
children and young people, and aligned spending with partners
of their equivalent funds.
- Council's children and young people commissioning
function for services contracted to deliver for the LA. Joint
commissioning across Council and PCT for a range of targeted and
specialist services.
Responsibilities:
- Chief Officer, Area Management,
West Gateshead, covering 6 of the 22 Wards in the borough. Support
to the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Communities (West) and the
inter-agency West Area Forum. The latter mirrors the LSP and
covers regeneration, economy, children young people and family
issues, adult social, community and cultural services, housing,
transport, citizen engagement, and communities' safety, wellbeing,
health, empowerment and cohesion.
- Member of the Children's Services Board of the
North East Regional Improvement and Efficiencies Partnership (RIEP.)
DCS sponsor, first round of regional projects seeking efficiencies
in children's services commissioning, especially social care and
health.
- Chair of the inter-agency group (Council, HEFCE,
schools, businesses, regional universities) to establish a university
college in Gateshead as part of our sustainable community strategy,
"Vision 2030."
- Statutory responsibility to assure inter-agency
governance and partnership through creating a Children and Young
People's Trust with police, justice, Health, Learning and Skills
Council, FE College, community organisations, schools, parents
and carers.
- Relationships with 88 schools, early years provision
across several hundred providers, adult and community learning
(commissioning, delivery, quality assurance,) relationships with
work-based learning providers, the LEP for our BSF and other capital
programmes, Further and Higher Education providers, the LSC, RDA,
Government Office, and other North East Local Authorities, in
preparation for the transfer of some LSC functions in 2010.
- Beacon school improvement service, statutory
challenge and support to schools and other providers, plus a trading
function earning its way in a competitive open market. Includes
commissioning and QA of adult and community learning, and a successful
Education Business Links Service.
- Services for Additional and Special Educational
Needs (AEN and SEN) and for children from minority ethnic, bi-and-multi-lingual
and Traveller backgrounds.
- Integrated Youth Offer: Youth and Community
Learning service, Connexions, teams tackling Health Inequalities,
Teenage Pregnancy, alternative education, locality teams around
vulnerable families, young people's outreach and positive engagement.
Directly employed and sessional staff combined.
- Children and families' social care and Youth
Offending Teams (preventative and statutory arms.) Children and
Families' Social Services cover statutory functions, supporting
the Local Safeguarding Children board (LSCB) and our modernising
Children With Disabilities service. The YOT is area based for
preventative and centralised for statutory functions, and is highly
regarded. Relationships extend across a large number of external
providers, with the LA as strategic commissioner.
- Direct relationships with, and ensuring the locality
heeds the wishes of, children, young people and families as part
of its duties concerning community cohesion.
I was appointed initially, from 1 September 2003,
as Group Director Learning and Culture (education, arts, libraries,
leisure, catering, events, conferences, heritage and tourism)
and Director of Education. Gateshead's response to the Children
Act 2004 created my current post. I was appointed to it from 1
April 2005. Change has therefore been a constant feature of my
career.
Professional Associations
- Fellow of the Royal Society
of Arts and Manufacture (FRSA) since election in July 2008
- Fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management
(FInstAM) since election in 2006
- Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management
(FILM) since election in 2006
- Member of the Society Of Local Authority Chief
Executives (SOLACE)
- Member, International Federation of Professional
Aromatherapists (MIFPA) since 1997
Activities beyond Gateshead, National Stage:
2007-10:
- First Vice President, Association
of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) 1 April 2007 to 31
March 2008.
- First sole post holder, ADCS Presidency, 1 April
2008 to 31 March 2009.
- ADCS Immediate Past President, 1 April 2009 to
31 March 2010.
- 2008: Secretary of
State-appointed External Chair of the National Expert Group on
the Children's Workforce, with two Ministers of State and representatives
from all sectors, due to report November 2008.
- 2008: Appointed national
chair of the multi-agency steering and reference board for the
new Centre for Excellence in Outcomes (C4EO)
- 2009: Appointed by
the Secretary of State to chair the new national Children and
Young People's Workforce National Partnership: sector skills councils,
unions, regulatory and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Third sector
stakeholders, government officials.
Previous employment, most recent first:
16 August 1999 to 31 August 2003: Cheshire County
Council
1. County Manager (Education Standards, chiefly Inspection
and Advisory services.)
2. Acting County Manager (Access and Inclusion) 1
March 2002, substantive 1 August 2002, alongside (1) above, becoming
responsible for Additional and Special Educational Needs (AEN
and SEN) and county-wide inclusion strategy.
- Managed Cheshire's Ofsted inspection
in Summer, and follow-up from Autumn, 2001.
- Led two Best Value Reviews: school improvement
Spring 2000 to mid-2001, SEN 2002-03.
- 5 Continuing Professional Development Centres,
an education and culture art gallery, and the county's statutory
and discretionary teams for school and other learning sector improvements,
relating to over 300 schools, five FE colleges, and learning in
community settings.
- 6 Outdoor Education Centres
- Nationally acclaimed arts education service
- Processes for schools both causing concern, and
with good practice to disseminate.
- Liaison with the EAZ (Ellesmere Port & Neston)
and the Excellence Cluster (Crewe.)
- Managed EDP alongside developing the Local Public
Service Agreement.
1 July to 8 October 1999, bridging end of employment
in Warrington/start in Cheshire:
Requested by DfEE to work with Liverpool City Council
after its critical Ofsted Inspection. Liverpool's Acting Deputy
Director (Special Projects.) I committed not to apply for a substantive
senior post as the city's services recovered, because to have
done so would have fettered our intervention. My duties were:
- To bring leadership and coherence
to educational transformation programmes in communities across
the city, through ensuring positive change.
- To work with the Acting Director and the city's
one remaining senior education manager to support and challenge
Elected Members, a departing and then a new Chief Executive
- Worked with KPMG and DfEE, to:
(a) Undertake wholesale restructure, reducing the
establishment, working with remaining staff recovering from critical
inspection and KPMG review.
(b) Move over four hundred staff from unfit, to new
fit-for-purposes premises, in four weeks from the intervention
team's first viewing of the new space.
(c) Broker new relationships with all stakeholders
from a starting point of mutual suspicion, a history of Council
under-funding, and combative relationships.
(d) Steer through the launch of Excellence in Cities
(EiC), which won more money than expected and met every deadline,
in the face of explicit low governmental expectations.
(e) Chair partnerships city-wide to ensure initiatives
worked together.
(f) Make robust contributions to the Liverpool LEA
Project Steering Group with DfEE and KPMG, meeting fortnightly
to check progress and plan next steps.
(g) Write the principles, position and modelling
papers on which KPMG based its outsourcing specification for LEA
services.
- The result was that rather
than being outsourced, the city's services gained time to improve.
Re-inspections (2000, 2004) indicated this was fruitful.
23rd February 1998 to 16th August 1999: Assistant
Director (Quality Assurance) Warrington Council (new Unitary from
01.04.98)
Principal responsibilities:
- Member of leadership and management
team establishing the Department in the new Unitary Authority
- Policy formation and timely and consistent advice
to Elected Members.
- Liaison with local, regional and national bodies.
- Development work on new Best Value regimes.
- Forged new relationships with stakeholders, introducing
client-facing responsive services.
- Compiler, principal author, co-ordinator and
leader, EDP version 1 (1998).
1st September 1992 to 22nd February 1998: Kirklees
MBC, West Yorkshire
1. General Inspector (English) including full engagement
as a qualified Ofsted Inspector across all phases of compulsory
education.
- Advice to Elected Members on
policy development and implementation.
- General whole-school responsibility for 17 schools
in rural part of the borough.
- Work in inspection, and in training and facilitation,
contributing to service income.
- Liaison with arts bodies and providers and the
regional Arts Council.
- Consultant to YTV in a national Schools TV and
a regional current affairs series.
- Development of schools' self-evaluation frameworks.
2. Included a two-term internal secondment (0.8 FTE)
to complete the following:
- Chair of the working party
and author of Kirklees language development guidelines in a context
where in some localities English was the sole language, whereas
in others ten or more languages were in common use.
- Framed language and linguistic heritage projects
for Single Regeneration Bids;
- Managed teams ensuring access to learning for
pupils and families with English as an additional language;
- Contributed to national debates and developments
in my specialist area.
3. In addition, from October 1995, Curriculum Advice
Manager. 0.5 FTE management of curriculum development and those
delivering it, including income generation. Balance of 0.5 FTE:
Inspector for English.
1st June 1991 to 31st August 1992: Birmingham
City Council
Adviser, Schools Management Support, plus English
subject role.
- Advised Elected Members on
policy for families, children and young people, in and beyond
specialist role.
- General responsibility for 12 inner city schools
in all phases, plus two hospital schools, in the city's two poorest,
most densely populated inner city Wards.
- Worked in earning/trading training and development
in competitive markets
- Adviser for English and linguistic education
and training for Central Birmingham
- Consultant to Birmingham Readers' and Writers'
Festival 1992.
1 June 1989 to 31 May 1991:
Regional Co-ordinator, Language in the National Curriculum
(LINC) project, North & West Yorkshire LEAs (Leeds, Wakefield,
Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, North Yorkshire.)
- One of a team writing national
training materials.
- Set up professional networks across all six LEAs,
ensuring common training.
- Managed advisory teachers in six LEAs and ensured
they worked as a professional support and development network.
- Trained services providing support to the language
and other needs of diverse communities' children and their schools.
- Set up a resource base and publishing unit serving
all six Local Authorities.
- Ran regional and contributed to national events,
disseminating and further developing the programme in the process.
- Managed and accounted for a budget audited by
Leeds LEA on the region's behalf.
Easter 1987 to May 31 1989:
Kirklees LEA: Birkdale High School, Dewsbury,
Head of English
Sept 1979 to Easter 1987:
Doncaster LEA: Hungerhill School
Edenthorpe,
(3 posts, same school):
1. Sept 1979 to July 1981:
Teacher of English
2. Sept 1981 to Easter 1984:
Teacher of English plus i/c Drama
3. Easter 1984 to Easter 1987: 2-i/c
English plus i/c Drama
Education and Qualifications, latest first
Feb 2008: Graduated
Doctor in Education (EdD)
2001-2007: University
of Keele, faculty of Social Sciences and Education, EdD programme.
Nov 1997: Diploma
in Holistic Aromatherapy from the Northern College of Aromatherapy.
Member of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists
(MIFPA.) Qualified to work in palliative and medical care settings,
and in private practice
1979: PGCE (U.
Sheff) Secondary Education: History, and English with drama
1978-1979: University
of Sheffield Education Department
1978: BA Hons
(Cantab) in History: Class II Div 1
1975-1978: Newnham
College, Cambridge
1975: Four
GCE "A" levels: English, History, Geography, General
Studies
1974: Universities
Test in Use of English; "O" level General Paper;
Cambridge University Entrance Examination (History)
1973-1975: Mexborough
VI Form College, Mexborough, South Yorkshire:
1972-1973: 10 GCE
"O" levels (two 1972, eight 1973)
1968-1973: Pope Pius
X RC High School, Wath-on-Dearne, Rotherham, South Yorkshire
Course and Professional Development
1. As an Adviser/Inspector, Chief Adviser, Assistant
Director and Director:
Professional Development on legislation, professional
concerns and statutory duties. Ongoing through ConfEd, VSC, ADECS,
ADSS, ADCS, LGA, IDeA, DfES/DCSF, Ofsted, private providers.
- Trained in performance management.
- Cheshire Management Development Programme Autumn
2000 to Summer 2001.
- EdD in Evidence Based Policy Change and Development
in Education at the University of Keele. Began November 2001,
awarded 2007, graduation February 2008.
- Trained in the work of Returning Officers and
election teams (2008, 2009.)
2. As a teacher:
Drama, ICT, Writers' Workshops, Anti-racism, Oracy,
Effective Use of Reading. HODs in Secondary schools (Y&H
cross-regional course) 1988
3. NATE and NAAE:
Annual courses/conferences 1988 to 1998;
Branch and regional meetings and seminars of the
two organisations, same dates.
4. LINC:
National seminars on Linguistics and Language (1989
to 1991.)
5. Personal development:
- Trained as a general and a
grief counsellor.
- Trained facilitator for The Pacific Institute
(TPI) Investment in Excellence (IIE) programme.
- Professional aromatherapist qualified in 1997.
Interests and Pastimes
Northumbrian Smallpipes; piano; hammered dulcimer;
choral and solo singing; holiday home on the North Northumberland
coast; Church affairs; theatre, concert and cinema going; reading;
creative writing; travel; gardening; DIY; aromatherapy and
complementary therapies; paper, fabric, wool and other crafts;
novice level calligraphy, astronomy, and bird watching.
|
