At Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education, we work to provide services and support nationally, regionally and locally to the education sector, and in some cases, directly to ākonga and whānau.

We help shape the policies, settings and performance of the education system for early learning, schooling and tertiary. We do this by building relationships and understanding the needs of those who receive our services.

We are making significant changes to how we deliver our mahi by

Taking practical action to give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

Giving priority to regional and local voice. 

Delivering greater responsiveness, accessibility and integrated services and support.

Improving feedback loops and information flows. 

Our organisation is made up of talented and committed people across Aotearoa from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. While we work in different groups and on different things, we all strive every day to make the biggest difference we can for every child, young person and adult student in our education system. 

About our group and team

Te Mahau | Te Pae Aronui (Operations & Integration). We use information, insights and service design functions to help the three Te Mahau frontline groups design and deliver services for our sector. We service and support the frontline groups and play an integration role between the enabling functions and our frontline services.

Our group provides nationally consistent service design, practice guidance and systems to support the integrated teams led by Directors of Education providing flexible and responsive services.We deliver national resourcing functions, including inclusive learning support, and national regulatory functions.

Our group consists of what was previously National Office Sector Enablement and Support (SE&S), Parent Information and Community Intelligence (PICI) and Evidence, Data and Knowledge (EDK) teams, excluding the Chief Economist position.

Mō tēnei tūranga | About this role

In the Early Childhood Group, we really care about New Zealand's youngest learners. We are looking for someone who shares our passion.

Our focus is to empower the early learning sector to meet standards, drive continuous improvement and accountability. We do this through a mix of:

advice and guidance

support to regional staff

contracting of service providers to raise participation and quality

clarifying interpretations and determine impacts on new legislation

translating policy into practice.

Please note there is further information in the attached Job Description.

Mōhou ake | About you

The Senior Governance Advisor role sits within the Early Learning Operations Engagement and Improvement team. You will work closely with other teams across the organisation and external advisory groups.

Your focus will be to establish and maintain streamlined governance process to support the Early Learning Operations and Funding group's strategic initiatives and governed projects. You will lead the secretariat support for various boards and groups, drive monitoring and reporting activity and support planning and project delivery.

We have great people who bring enthusiasm, energy and intellectual curiosity. We work in a fast-paced environment. That's code for, there's always a lot to do! So, you will also be good at planning, prioritising and juggling. 

You will bring the following skills:

Knowledge of the machinery of Government and governance in the public sector

Experience in a range of secretariat roles

Strong time management and organisational skills

Ability to connect with others and support people to meet their governance and reporting requirements

Ability to get stuff done, demonstrate judgement, consult and seek advice where necessary

Understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi and its implications for the work of the Ministry.

Kua rite koe mō tēnei mahi? | Are you ready to make a difference?

We need to reflect the diverse communities we serve, so we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, orientations, and identities. As an organisation, we are committed to building racial equity and excellence in the education sector.

We will provide flexible working environments where everyone feels relevant, valued and supported. So, if working from home and/or having a flexible start and finish to the day will help with this, we can usually make it happen. We'd love to hear what this might look like for you, so feel free to outline this in your Cover Letter.

In your cover letter we'd like to know:

about you, your values, your whakapapa

your interest and motivations for this role

the abilities, strengths, personal attributes and diverse perspectives you will bring to the role and this organisation.

The Ministry invites applications from fully vaccinated people or people with a valid medical exemption (under the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021). We will require evidence of your vaccination status, or your medical exemption, at the pre-employment stage of our recruitment process.