Page 79: Becoming a subject leader

Page 79: Becoming a subject leader

Last year, during my ECT1 year, when a member of staff left the school in December, I volunteered to work alongside our curriculum lead, being trained up throughout the year joint leading (in my case) Religious Education. I am a passionate and aspiring leader so when the potential opportunity arose, I felt settled into my school and class teaching role, therefore ready to take on my next challenge. Last year, I completed a wide range of independant study to start the process of becoming the subject expert in our setting, but also, how to become a successful leader and what underpins this. It is clearly evidently from extensive educational research and classroom based studies that have been carried out that curriculum and assessment drives any area of teaching, adapted to suit the needs of an individual school's composition and community.

In the shared leadership role, I began to support and contribute towards a deep dive in a school improvement visit and I also began to attend network sessions with other local schools. This is an ongoing partnership and is essential in ensuring our curriculum is representative of our contextual composition as well as being a fantastic opportunity to network with other leaders and learn from their expertise. I started to lead whole school staff meeting/training, sharing the new vision for the subject and approach that is going to be implemented for our learners. Having this 'welcome' and 'cross over' supported relationship building with all staff. At the end of last year, I completed a subject leader evaluation and began to produce an action plan to support the development of the subject for this year.

From this step into subject leadership, this meant as soon as September rolled around, I felt confident to meet with my new subject leadership partner. My partner is a new teacher to the school but an experienced subject leader. This has worked fantastically, my partner leader has brought their knowledge and expertise of driving subject leadership and I have been able to bring my new ideas, knowledge of the school and the action plan from last years evaluation. This has lead to a strong start point where the curriculum is being developed (quite literally as i'm also typing this!)

Here are my 5 tops tips and 'to do's' stepping into the role of what to do in subject leadership:

(I am no expert and I am indeed new to this all! This is just what has worked well for me so far)

1. Complete a subject knowledge audit and bridge any personal gaps or misconceptions you might have in the subject area. You are the expert in your school, get yourself booked onto training!

2. Find a network. Networks are a current educational buzz! I am part of three (my religious education subject leader, being an ECT2 and my NPQLT). I cannot recommend these enough, they are great for sharing expertise, learning about new resources, sharing resources and for offering/receiving advice from more experienced leaders.

3. When the subject is taking place, before the unit starts, share expectations with all staff. Produce a time line for book looks, pupil interviews, conversations with staff and assessment deadlines. (a) for your personal accountability for the subject and dedicating your subject time, and (b) so staff feel well communicated to and are confident in carrying out expectations.

4. Deliver staff training following your personal CPD. As a subject leader, ensure to support all teaching staff in feeling confident in subject knowledge and pedagogy. An example of this is meeting with any new teachers who join the school to 'fill them in', introduce yourself and support. Offer to teach a lesson, go through planning etc.

5. Conduct a detailed subject evaluation and action plan to ensure all next steps are addressed and that the subject is progressing to the highest standard it can. It is about identifying the problem, implemented needed change and reevaluating the success of this. Small steps ensure for achievable  steady subject progression.

Stepping into the role and taking this opportunity and initiative in my ECT1 year has allowed me to feel confident and settled in driving this subject (along with my new subject partner) this year. Through stepping into the role of subject leadership, I endeavour to ensure our learners are curious, inquisitive, open-minded and respectful individuals and that our teachers are confident to install this through their teaching.

- Miss Yeoman