A very simple opening gambit from me: I believe that senior leaders should regularly teach a decent number of students who are challenging in terms of both behaviour and educational needs. That’s not to say I believe that senior leaders shouldn’t have a mixed timetable with a nice bit of sixth-form here and there, nor that classes should be allocated irrespective of individual strengths and specialisms. However, to me, it’s all about taking on a fair share. Have a think about some of the toughest kids that you and your colleagues currently teach (and, actually, have taught over the years): they’re pretty much the sort I have in mind.
Teaching students who are part of – in Mary Myatt’s words – the awkward squad is important for a number of reasons, but one stands out in particular: doing so enables senior leaders to gain a deeper understanding of the everyday challenges faced by teachers with full (or fuller) timetables. And this has many knock-on effects. For example: constructing class lists, allocating teaching and support staff to groups, and deciding upon rooming arrangements becomes a more delicate proposition when the impact of some of those decisions will later be experienced first-hand. Equally, when it comes to making some of the weighty pastoral decisions, like defining the severity of sanctions or deciding on how to allocate resources to support members of staff, first-hand experience will help senior leaders to make more rounded decisions. And, of course, there’s also this: teaching is often hugely draining and sometimes hugely frustrating. And that can be easily forgotten from behind an office desk or amidst a carousel of *very* important meetings.
So, if you’re a senior leader, here’s my challenge to you: take on a difficult KS4 class for which you’ll be held to account at the end of the year or, if that can’t be done, do a regular KS3 cover slot on a Thursday or Friday afternoon; at the very least, take some of the big hitters into your existing classes. I’m sure there’ll be a list of reasons as long as my arm why this might be difficult to do, but it can be done – so what’s stopping you?
Thanks for reading –
Doug
Great
Last year I tried to get message out there that SLT need to teach at least 25% and have ownership of a class for which they can be accountable for results. This would have an immediate effect on unweildy marking policies etc. See https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2016/12/09/a-call-to-action-what-we-would-like-from-you-for-2017/#comment-890
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Thanks very much for this. I’ll check out the post.
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I totally agree Doug – it also means you get to know the awkward squad personally, which makes a big difference when you see them in another context. Last year I had an Y11 class where I had excluded over 1/3 of them over the years for various reasons and if I hadn’t taught them, and got to know them as young people, then that would have been my only experience of them!
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Cheers, Nick. And that’s exactly what I mean: it’s so important.
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