New Secretary General election - Brussels APEEEs Survey

New Secretary General to be appointed for European School System

It was announced at the Board of Governors in April that Mr Marcheggiano, the Secretary General, is to move to a new position as the Director of the Alicante School in Spain, as of September 2021. We thank Mr Marcheggiano for his work as Secretary General - a role he has occupied since 2016. It is far from an easy job, so we fully understand his wish to take up the opportunity at Alicante. We wish him every success in his new position.

The job of Secretary-General of the European Schools is without doubt the most important position in the European School system.

The individual in this post has the possibility to shape the evolution of the schools during his or her tenure to a very significant extent. The schools face unprecedented challenges at present, which the new Secretary General will need to address. The person selected carries on his/her shoulders the hopes and aspirations of the full European School community.

The question of who will get the position and what their priorities will be is therefore of huge interest to the parent community.

The main responsibilities Secretary General are:

• • Managing and ensuring the performance of the European school system;
  • Promoting and supporting the development of European schooling;
  • Planning, setting objectives, implementing policies evaluating the effectiveness of policies and activities
  • Representing the Board of Governors within the system and outside.

In essence this is a general management role - responsible for the finances, staff, management, safety, strategy, direction and performance of the system, plus managing the relations between EU member states and facilitating the Board of Governors. The Secretary General is ultimately responsible for delivering the optimal education outcome and school experience for our children.

The European School system is a very complex organisation to manage with responsibilities spread across multiple different parties, so the role takes special skills. The key oversight decisions are vested in a Board of Governors that includes all 27 member states, whilst control of funding is largely in the hands of the Commission. Seconded teacher recruitment, management and inspection is done by member states rather than the schools’ hierarchy.

Despite having all the responsibilities of a national school system, from curriculum to exams to safety and wellbeing, there is only a small head office staff to manage everything.

Finally, without much in the way of bottom-up recourse or complaints mechanisms to keep the system in check, there is a heavy responsibly for top-down control from the Secretary General, placing a further management burden on the small team.

The requirements for the position and rules for the selection procedure can be found by clicking this link.

What then is the ideal profile of the next Secretary General to take on this demanding role, and what should be her or his top priorities?

The APEEEs in Brussels would like to know your views. Please tell us by completing a short survey. We will be sending the results to the Board of Governors’ selection committee for the new Secretary-General.