NSW Education finds new director to lead support services transformation

The NSW Department of Education has brought in a former AMP transformation leader to front an overhaul of support services for teachers.

Sen Thevarajah announced on LinkedIn late last week that he had left his role as head of service strategy and design at AMP - "supporting the delivery of large-scale transformation across the [institution's] enterprise services portfolio" - to take up a transformation director role at the department.

Thevarajah had been at AMP for almost five years in transformation-led roles.

The area of NSW Education that he has joined, support services, oversees a wide range of facilities including online resources for teachers.

The transformation of that area is set to run for three-to-four years.

The upgrades will help the department deliver faster, more streamlined support services to teaching staff, a NSW Education spokesperson told iTnews.

“By streamlining administrative tasks and getting better clarity on technology, we will have stronger governance, accountability and responsibility for our support services and schools," the spokesperson said.

The idea is to free up time for teachers to focus on students, the spokesperson added.

“The transformation of support services has an ambition to position the department to provide best-in-class advice, information and services which support our people to be successful, whilst ensuring value is achieved alongside delivering high quality outcomes," the spokesperson said.

Thevarajah will report to the department's chief operating officer David Withey.

He said on LinkedIn he was "hugely grateful to AMP for the learnings, opportunities, and relationships."

"[It's] an organisation that has a special place in my heart, that helped me grow and taught me lessons that I will never forget," Thevarajah wrote.

“I’m excited to join the NSW Department of Education ... at a time where there’s a real focus on developing the education system for our children and creating an environment where we can grow the next generation of game-changers.”

Thevarajah's former responsibilities at AMP will be taken over by Bev Lawrence, who has been appointed head of service integration and management (SIAM) strategy, risk and governance, an AMP spokesperson told iTnews.

Lawrence was promoted into this position from her previous role as AMP’s head of technology governance and risk.