Introduction

You can’t hold on to good teachers forever. They will, at some point, wish to move on and seek positions of influence themselves. And here is where we find a typical Catch 22 situation: you can’t prove that you can do a head of department’s job until you have had particular experience. But you can’t gain that experience until you’re a head of department!

So you have a choice. One option is that you can make it very difficult for them by taking all decisions yourself and giving them no scope for developing their own ideas and creativity. That won’t prevent them leaving eventually, but will almost certainly make them less willing and less effective in the meantime.

The other option is to offer them opportunities to use their own initiative, try out their ideas, and be in charge of something outside their own classroom. That may make it easier for them to leave for promotion, which is a shame from your point of view, but it will also almost certainly make them more willing and able while you’re working together.

As Head of Department you should look at your job description and try to identify opportunities to delegate  some responsibilities, even if only temporarily. Note that the aim is to delegate responsibility, not just tasks. The aim is not to reduce your workload, but to give members of your team the kind of experiences that will stand them in good stead should they wish to seek promotion. Examples might include:

•   Creating part of a scheme of work.

•   Devising lesson resources.

•   Running team meetings and training sessions.

•   Representing you at meetings such as a local authority subject leaders meeting.

•   Being responsible for a particular area, such as children with special educational needs.

•   Being in charge of a particular section of the departmental budget.

How do you decide who should do what? Find out what their interests are, and see what they’re especially good at.

Let me tell you a story

I held the classroom door open for the ‘man from the Ministry’. I’d invited Andrew to come along and see what we were doing in the Computing department of the school I’d joined as Head of IT. Andrew was the ideal person to give us feedback about what we were trying to achieve, because he’d been involved in the development of the National Curriculum. And because he still worked for an official education body he would also have plenty of good practice tips he could share with us from his visits to other schools.

As we left the lesson, I said to him, “Now I’ll take you to see a good teacher.”

The teacher, Abi, laughed, with a smile that enveloped us all. When I joined the school six months previously, part-way through the school year, she was one of the teachers I’d ‘inherited’ as part of my team. A PE teacher by training and experience, she’d been roped in to teaching Computing, learning the subject as she went along.

One of the things I did as soon as I started was introduce a new scheme of work for the subject. This adopted a project-based learning approach, whereby students would work on a particular problem for six weeks. I’d prepared the first term’s projects, i.e. the first two, and asked the other members of the team to prepare a project each to take us through to the end of the year.

For each project they had to identify the learning goals, which had to tick off some of the boxes in the National Curriculum, come up with an interesting scenario or problem for the youngsters to get their teeth into, prepare the resources for all the classes, including additional work for those with special educational needs and the more advanced students. On top of all that, each ‘project lead’ had to run a training session for everyone else in the department, so that we all knew what we were doing.

When it was Abi’s turn, she came to see me often, to check whether what she had in mind was suitable. Was it challenging enough, or perhaps too challenging? Were the ideas she had engaging, or mundane. All I remember thinking during these meetings was “What a brilliant idea. I’d never have thought of that!”.

Needless to say, when Abi ran the team training session all the others were enthralled too. We knew that the pupils would love the challenge she’d set.

Despite being in only her second year of teaching, Abi had real presence in her classroom, and while friendly she had iron discipline. I always suspected that came from being a PE teacher, where safety was a paramount consideration.

Once, I came out of a senior leadership meeting — one of those meetings in which the complete overhaul of the curriculum was discussed (I use the term loosely) in five minutes and whether the Times Education Supplement should reside in the staffroom or the library took 45 minutes. It was gone six, and my intention was to go to my classroom, pick up a few things, and head off home. When I arrived, Abi was there, sorting out all the filing cabinets — “because I knew you’d never have the time to do it”.

Another time, I was called to attend a local authority meeting and a senior management meeting at the same time. Despite having been meditating for a number of years, it is a source of constant disappointment to me that I have not yet mastered the art of being in two places at once. I asked Abi if she would mind going to the LA meeting.

“But what should I say if they ask me questions”, she said.

“Say what you think”, I replied. “I trust you.”

After we’d been working together for around six months, Abi came to see me. She was upset.

“I need to leave and find another job.”

“But why?”

“It’s the journey. I’m spending nearly two hours travelling each way, and what with after-school sports clubs and weekend matches, I’m never seeing my partner or my home. I’ve had to start looking for jobs nearer where I live.”

I asked her what sort of jobs she’d been looking at, and she said those on the same level she was on now, which was the lowest rung. I told her that she should be looking at Head of PE jobs instead.

“How can I?”, she replied. I haven’t even finished my second year of teaching.”

When the meeting ended, about ten minutes later, she seemed much happier. The very same evening she applied for the post of Head of PE in a large comprehensive school not far from her home.

She got the job.

Question

So what went on during that last ten minutes to convince Abi that she should apply for Head of Department jobs, and gave her the confidence to succeed on her first application? Think about this question before turning the page. You may wish to refer to the article What does a Head of Department do?

Answer

If you read that story while referring to the Head of Department’s job description, you’ll note that Abi had already achieved or experienced several things expected of a Head of Department:

•   She got on well with colleagues.

•   She had excellent discipline in her lessons.

•   She devised a set of lessons and their associated resources for teaching the topic to a range of ages and abilities.

•   She ran a training session for the rest of the team.

•   She represented the department and the school at a local authority meeting.

All I did as Head of Department was provide opportunities for Abi (and the other people in my team) to take on various responsibilities and, I hope, act as a role model in how I dealt with my colleagues. Abi did the rest.