Subject Leaders
The core role of the subject leader is to provide professional leadership and management for a subject to secure high quality teaching, effective use of resources and improved standards of learning and achievement for all pupils.
TTA Standards for Subject Leaders. “It is the very good leadership of the head of department which distinguishes the outstandingly successful department from others. These very good leaders provide a stimulating and professional working environment in which the teachers are highly motivated and enthused about their work, and where they continually improve their performance.” Good teaching, effective departments, Ofsted, HMI 337 p58.
Have you as a subject leader thought about the following questions?
The Vision
What is the unique contribution of your subject at the student, school, community, national and global scales?
How does it integrate into the school’s vision?
How do you get all members of the department to strive for this vision?
The Process of Improvement
How do you know how well your students are performing?
How do they compare to students in other schools?
What data and evidence is available for analysis?
How do you convert areas for development into action plans?
How do you bring about change in the classroom?
How do you monitor the impact of your actions?
The Department as a learning community
Is your department a succeeding, coasting, improving or failing team?
Do you recognise your strengths?
Are you prepared to work collaboratively when planning, teaching assessing etc?
Are you prepared to take risks to develop your practice?
Are you prepared to seek out the views of your students?
Are you prepared to coach others and be coached yourselves?
Teaching and learning
Can you recognise high quality teaching and learning?
Does the department have a common understanding of issues such as lesson structure and pedagogy?
Are these the foci of your meetings?
Are you actively developing assessment for learning and developing independent learners?
