With the average tenure of a director of children's services (DCS) being just three years, the role is one of the hardest local authority leadership positions to fill and retain. However, stable leadership is vital to delivering high-quality children's services says chief executive of The Staff College Jane Parfrement.
The Leading for Longer report, for which the college consulted more than 100 current and former DCSs, found a range of internal factors affect the ongoing churn, including inadequate career pathways, transition planning, and development opportunities.
Entering the role
There is no nationally recognised pathway to becoming a DCS, meaning the route into the role can be “messy, nationally incoherent and somewhat chaotic”, according to the report.
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