In 2008, the government gave the National College (NC) responsibility for the professional development of leadership in children’s services. It worked with partners, including the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) and the Virtual Staff College (VSC) in designing programmes to develop the leadership of Directors of Children’s Services (DCSs) and those aspiring to the role.
The National Framework for Succession Planning for Children’s Services was established by the National College (NC) in 2010. This leadership development initiative was funded for three years by a £4.8m grant from central government. It was seen as the ‘next step’ in providing comprehensive workforce development programmes for current and future leaders of children’s services. The grant was distributed to Director of Children’s Services (DCSs) groups in the nine English regions, with a small sum retained for a National Support Team (NST). A further allocation was made in 2012 to establish a Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI) as part of the overall initiative. Following the General Election in 2010, the National College’s remit changed and it no longer had responsibility for such programmes. The VSC was initially appointed as ‘caretaker’ for the National College’s Succession Planning Initiative and became the accountable body for this provision in April 2012.
National aims for the initiative and a process for evaluating its success were established by the National College and continued by the Virtual Staff College when the provision was transferred to it in November 2011. The DCS groups, mindful of the national aims, created regional programmes based on an audit of their current and future workforce development needs.
The purpose of this report is to provide an evaluative analysis of the outcomes achieved through the implementation of the Succession Planning Initiative, which began in 2010 as set out in ‘The National Succession Planning Framework for Children’s Services’ (NC, 2010).
To read the executive summary please click on the link below:
To read the full evaluation report please click on the link below: