Victoria Widdows (nee Easto) - Portsmouth 1984 - 1991

Civil Service in the Education Sector

Telling people that I am a civil servant is always a little embarrassing.  It seems to conjure up images of ‘Yes Minister’, bowler hats and rolled umbrellas, and a lot of tea drinking!  While ‘Yes Minister’ can be frighteningly close to the mark sometimes, those images are generally pretty far from the truth.

The civil service is a very modern environment in which to work, with the opportunities for a huge variety of work.  Stability, the fact that public service is altruistic, and the way that the things I have been involved in on a daily basis are never far from the national news are huge pluses.

In my seven and a half years in the civil service, I have worked in both the (then) Department of Social Security and the Department for Education and Skills (formerly Education and Employment).  I joined as a fast stream statistician straight from university where I studied chemistry, and was immediately sent on a Post Graduate Diploma course in applied statistics at Greenwich University.  I then had three different jobs as a statistician, working on poverty statistics and a huge national survey at DSS, and then on some of the first ‘value added’ school league tables at education.  One of the many benefits of the fast stream is the way in which it is possible to move between Government departments very easily. 

I then decided to move out of statistics, and for two years worked in, and then ran, the Department’s central service for providing our Ministers with speeches and briefing.  This was very exciting as it gave me the chance to work closely with Ministers, including spells working directly in David Blunkett’s and Estelle Morris’ offices.  It meant being involved in all the key things the Department was doing, and also managing a team of 16.

Now I work on ‘strategy and performance’ which entails going to lots of very exciting high-level meetings on how education should/might develop over the coming years.  Also managing a series of conferences which last term reached every secondary headteacher in the country, and this term is going to 2,000 primary heads.

Progression on the fast stream is generally fairly rapid but nowadays (fortunately) is based entirely on your skills and competence rather than how long you have been around for.  You can expect to be promoted to a level where you will commonly earn around £35k and manage a small team (around 5) within about 4 years.  A lot depends on your Department, and obviously on your skills and aptitude.  Beyond that, progressing is generally slower, but if you are good, you could expect to be promoted to the senior civil service (salary around £50k and a large team) at about 35.

The civil service is a great place to work if you like variety and a challenge.  There are so many different roles, that there is bound to be something that matches your skills and interests.  Generally though, and particularly if you’re interested in the fast stream, good communication skills are important.

I’d really recommend it as a career.