Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 3 years from start date
Change your career, change lives
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About the Role
The Deputy Director of PGCE (Wales) provides senior academic and operational leadership for the PGCE programme, working in close partnership with the Director of PGCE. The role holds delegated responsibility for strategic leadership, curriculum design, academic quality, partnership arrangements, and regulatory compliance across a complex, bilingual, multi-partner Initial Teacher Education programme.
This is a senior academic leadership post aligned to Senior Lecturer (Teaching & Scholarship) at AC4 level, combining programme leadership with teaching, research and scholarship, curriculum innovation, and external academic engagement. The postholder ensures coherence, quality, and continuous improvement across programme delivery, in alignment with the Curriculum for Wales, QTS requirements, Open University academic governance, and external regulators including the Education Workforce Council (EWC) and Estyn.
The Deputy Director contributes to the strategic development of Initial Teacher Education within The Open University in Wales and plays an active role in national and sector discussions on teacher education, policy, and workforce development.
The PGCE at The Open University in Wales is a nationally significant, flexible route into teaching, combining online learning, live teaching, and school-based placements leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Delivered across all Welsh local authorities through an extensive partnership of schools, mentors, and university staff, and available in both English and Welsh, the programme plays a central role in widening access to the profession, strengthening workforce diversity, and supporting national priorities including Welsh‑medium education and shortage subject recruitment.
Key Responsibilities
* Provides academic leadership, curriculum oversight, partnership engagement, regulatory compliance support, and tuition.
* Provide senior academic leadership across the PGCE programme, supporting the Director in strategic development, delivery oversight, and continuous enhancement.
* Take a leading role in the design, development, review and enhancement of modules and programme‑level curriculum, including new provision where required.
* Lead operational delivery across the curriculum team, ensuring high‑quality, consistent implementation across all programme routes.
* Develop and apply innovative, evidence‑informed approaches to teaching, learning and assessment within a blended and distance learning ITE model.
* Ensure curriculum design and delivery align with the Curriculum for Wales, QTS requirements, and Open University academic governance standards.
* Oversee assessment design, moderation, standardisation, and quality assurance to ensure fairness, consistency, and academic integrity.
* Lead and support Curriculum Tutors, including workload allocation, performance management, and professional development.
* Provide senior oversight of school partnerships across Wales, ensuring consistency, quality, and equity of placement learning experiences.
* Lead the development, training, and quality assurance of mentors and practice tutors across the partnership system.
* Ensure robust compliance with regulatory frameworks including EWC requirements, Estyn expectations, and Welsh Government ITE policy.
* Contribute to business planning, resource allocation, and the financial sustainability of the programme.
* Lead continuous improvement and quality enhancement processes, including systematic monitoring, evaluation, and action planning.
* Oversee student academic experience, ensuring fairness, consistency, and integrity in assessment and progression decisions.
* Contribute to widening participation, inclusion, and improved outcomes across diverse student cohorts.
* Provide effective operational planning across competing priorities in a complex, dispersed programme environment.
About You
* Honours degree and postgraduate qualification in education or a related field (minimum Master’s level; PhD desirable). Applicants at Master’s level must demonstrate commitment to undertaking a Doctorate in Education (EdD) at The Open University.
* Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
* In-depth knowledge and recognised expertise in Initial Teacher Education and the Welsh education system, including Curriculum for Wales and current policy context.
* Significant experience of leadership in Initial Teacher Education, teacher development, or a closely related field.
* Proven ability to design, deliver, and review curriculum or modules in higher education or professional education contexts.
* Experience of using digital technologies to enhance teaching, learning, assessment, and programme delivery.
* Evidence of engagement in educational research, practitioner enquiry, or scholarly activity relevant to teacher education.
* Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to disseminate complex academic, pedagogical, and regulatory ideas to diverse audiences.
* Ability to carry out the role in a way that is consistent with equality legislation and University policies.
* Ability and willingness to travel across Wales and to work regularly from the Cardiff office, spending more than 50% of contracted time in Wales.
* Fluent Welsh (oral and written) or experience working in a bilingual environment.
* Experience of working with inspection, accreditation or regulatory frameworks (e.g. Estyn, EWC or similar bodies).
* Experience of working within initial teacher education, professional programmes or partnership‑based provision.
* Experience of contributing to or leading educational research, publications, or conference presentations.
* Experience of leading or contributing to process improvement or organisational change activity.
* Higher Education teaching qualification or recognition (e.g. Advance HE Fellowship or equivalent).
What's in it for you?
At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).
We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.
Working Location:It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Cardiff Office, it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately 2 days per month. Full-time working based from our Cardiff site is also supported if this is preferred by the candidate. Expenses associated with travel to our Cardiff site are not reimbursable. The postholder will also be expected to travel across Wales to attend partnership, governance, and stakeholder meetings.
The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.
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