I have been teaching for many years and want to know the career path to becoming a director of education or a chief education officer.

Although schools have more control over their affairs today, all local authorities still have an education service of some sort that requires leadership from professional officers. Most are former teachers who have made the career move into governance and administration. The usual route is to start with a lower level post and progress through the ranks. However, it is possible to transfer later to a more senior post if you have additional skills.

Some areas require a degree of specialist knowledge such as leading special needs teams that often include pupil referral units. Posts that are more senior are concerned with both policy development and its administration and officers often work closely with both civil servants and politicians.

This can be a very rewarding area of work. It can make a positive difference to the education of young people in a particular community.