Education Support Officer - Numeracy

Proposed Interview Date: Week Commencing Monday 8 September 2025

Closing Date: Monday 1 September 2025

Contract Type: Temporary until 16 August 2026

Salary: ES01- £57,429

Working Pattern: 35 Hours per week

Location: Fife House

Purpose and Values of Education Directorate

The Education Directorate is committed to Improving Life Chances for All through a wide range of direct services which support our children, young people, families and the wider Fife community. Our approach to improvement is rooted in our core values: Compassion, Ambition, Respect and Equity which reflect the ethos, culture and practice principles of all staff across the directorate.

We strive to ensure that our attitudes and behaviour reflect these core values in all our dealings with children, young people, their families, and the wider community in partnership with those who support them.

Supporting Statement

As part of your application, you must provide us with a Supporting Statement which outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. For more information, check out the How to Apply section of our Career Site. Without a Supporting Statement, your application will not be progressed. Please upload your Supporting Statement at the section marked ‘upload resum é’. Your Supporting Statement must not be a CV. More information is available on our Career site at www.fife.gov.uk/jobs/supportingstatement

With consideration to the specific remit of the ESO role for which you are applying, please consider the following when completing your Supporting Statement:

Ways you have modelled and promoted the GTCS Professional Values (social justice, trust, respect and integrity) and Professional Commitment in your current and previous roles.

Consider the following: how have you ensured equity of opportunity for all; how you have developed relationships built on trust and respect that enable others to take responsibility; how your moral and ethical principles inform your practice and how your own professional learning underpins your development as a leader and the development of others?

How have you demonstrated your knowledge, skills and understanding when contributing to the leadership of change?

Consider the following: how have you developed and promoted an informed and critical stance which focusses on improvements; how have you promoted and enhanced collaboration and leadership at all levels; how have you promoted and modelled your organisation’s vision, values and aims?

How have you supported and sustained colleagues in creating a positive environment?

Consider the following: how have you inspired and motivated others to have high expectations; how have you encouraged and facilitated participation of others? How have you inspired confidence, enthusiasm and innovation which support high-quality learning, teaching and assessment?

Ways in which you have you built and developed approaches to increase and promote positive partnerships.

Consider the following: how you have contributed to change at operational and strategic level; how have you demonstrated supporting colleagues, families and partners?

Ways in which you have used self-evaluation to make changes at operational and strategic level.

Consider the following: how have you used self-evaluation to improve; how have you supported the professional learning of others, how have you ensured a wide variety of stakeholders are involved in decision-making processes and how have you made best use of resources and data to support development?

Job Details

Education Support Officer with the Professional Learning Team

The Education Support Officers (ESOs) lead and develop sustainable improvement in their strategic lead area and collaborate widely to develop their area of lead responsibility and key aspects of improvement support. Working collaboratively with practitioners in school, and with directorate and national partners, the ESO assists the raising of standards in line with national priorities, enabling the Education Directorate to satisfy Legislative, Scottish Government, Education Scotland and Care Commission criteria on performance monitoring and continuous improvement.

The Education Support Officer will:

• work in co-operation with Education Managers, Quality Improvement Officers and others in the Directorate to raise standards in schools, teams and services;
• provide a lead role in an area of expertise;
• Support the delivery of Transforming Learning by delivering PL and linking it with area of expertise.
• identify good, effective practice.
• keep abreast of local and national developments in content and methodology related to their area of expertise;
• contribute to collaborative initiatives and multi-disciplinary activities in schools, teams and services;
• co-ordinate the production of materials and identify resource needs;
• be involved in the initiation, organisation and evaluation of development priorities and ensure that these meet the needs of schools, teams, services and staff through direct personal contact;
• liaise with external agencies as approved by the Executive Director of Education and within council guidelines;
• advise on and, as required, participate in, the recruitment and deployment of staff;
• advise on the provision of supplies and the design and furnishing of resources;
• be familiar with all aspects of council Education policy and be seen as a representative of the Executive Director of Education in all aspects of involvement with the Directorate, schools, external agencies and the regional improvement collaborative;
• be knowledgeable about local and national priorities and help to ensure that these are being taken forward appropriately by the Directorate and schools.

Qualifications, Registration and Skill Requirements

• Educated to degree level, ordinary degree or equivalent (SCQF level 9), you will have an In-depth knowledge of current policy and practice, demonstrating a strong understanding of the current evidence-base and the ability to use this to influence others.
• You are required to have high levels of interpersonal skills and abilities which will enable you to lead and manage, both at strategic and operational levels, to ensure continuous improvement.
• Strong IT skills from an organisational perspective and as part of high-quality Learning and Teaching.
• Before confirming your appointment, you will be required to obtain Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme membership through Disclosure Scotland and become a member of the relevant PVG scheme.
• GTCS Registered.

The Person

The Fife Professional Learning Team works collaboratively within the team and across the Directorate and nationally to lead and develop sustainable improvement in key strategic areas. The team supports impactful approaches to improvement in leadership, curriculum and learning, teaching & assessment with practitioners across settings and at all stages of their career.

We are recruiting for a dynamic, enthusiastic and solution focused Education Support Officer to lead the support for practitioners in schools across Fife to develop sustainable, impactful approaches to Learning, Teaching and Assessment across the curriculum broadly, but with a lead responsibility for numeracy.

The post holder will lead on the development and direction, and review the impact, of Fife’s Conceptual Understanding in Numeracy approach, the related documentation and assessment. They will also lead and support on other developments with numeracy and mathematics locally and nationally.

The person will:

• work collaboratively to develop, share, deliver and review Directorate strategies to improve the quality and delivery of numeracy learning, teaching and assessment cross all educational establishments ensuring it leads to improved outcomes for all learners.
• have current knowledge and understanding to be able to ensure that numeracy policies and procedures reflect up-to-date research, best practice, national legislation and local and national guidance, playing a lead role in developing numeracy policy within and across the directorate, and partner organisations, and will be skilled at liaising with a range of managers and practitioners across a variety of agencies.
• research, develop, quality assure, deliver, and review impactful professional learning programmes in a range of areas, which meet the development needs of classroom practitioners across settings. This includes support for probationer and early career teachers, Support for Learning teachers, EYO’s and for Pupil Support.
• develop, lead, and support collaborative numeracy networks and working groups across Fife and nationally.
• collaboratively plan and lead high-quality PL engagements in schools which support and evidence improvements in classroom practice and learner outcomes, with reference to data.
• support practitioners in schools to use enquiring approaches to improve learning and teaching. Plan, deliver, support, and spread learning from impactful quality improvement programmes.
• gather and share evidence of effective practice in Fife Schools which supports improvement in numeracy learning, teaching and assessment; encourage practitioners to share their experiences and improvements.
• improve and measure the impact of Assessment and Moderation (A&M) across the curriculum through working in partnership with Education Scotland and Fife QAMSOs. Facilitate the Fife A&M networks to spread understanding of the learning, teaching and assessment cycle and support schools to translate this into practice with outcomes for learners.
• be able to deliver effective self-evaluation and improvement through an “inwards, outwards, forwards” approach to help schools, the Service and partners determine how we are doing, how do we know and what we are going to do now.
• be able to think strategically and apply critical analysis and have a high level of report writing skills.
• work closely with the team to deliver Transforming Learning professional learning across Fife.

Further Information

• Role Profile - When preparing your supporting statement, review the role profile and think about how you meet the essential criteria Role Profile
• How We Work Matters - Our employees are expected to display and promote certain behaviours in the workplace. See our How We Work Matters behaviour framework for more information.
• Employee Benefits - Employees have access to a benefits package that offers discounts on a wide range of products and services
• Directorate Information - Council Department information
• Social Media - Search for more 'Fife Council Jobs' on Facebook or follow us on X @FCJobsOfficial Alternative Formats - Job information can be made available in alternative formats, to make a request please email: [email protected]

For further Information please contact Jacqueline Crawford: [email protected]