If you’re a new or returning subject leader then you’ve got such an exciting year ahead of you! I’ve been a head of department twice and also head of faculty in the past and can see myself going back to that brilliant role again at some point.
Currently, I’m lucky enough to work with some fantastic middle leaders in my current role as curriculum and assessment lead in a secondary school. Whilst this blog may be skewed towards secondary subject leads as this is my own experience, I hope there is something here for everyone.
There are good bits and bad bits to middle leadership as there are with everything. As we start the new year, I’ve been thinking about people starting or returning to middle leadership and put this together as a consequence…
Take what you find useful and leave what you don’t think would work for you.
I thought through all the usual things people say, but this is a list of things that I think aren’t talked about as much as they are a bit uncomfortable or difficult. Sometimes its easier to imagine that we work in the abstract, or at a perfect school where nothing goes wrong, all levels of leadership are amazing, and no one disagrees. The thing is, none of us work at this imagined utopian school, so this is a summary of the reality of things I’ve found over the years. Again, just opinion.
There are three sections to this:
Advice looking back as someone whose had some interesting experiences as a middle leader
A summary of literature out there and what you might want to use it for
A summary of resources I’ve compiled over the years or have created collaboratively with the middle leaders I work with
What I wish I’d known…
Marathon not a sprint
There will be so many things you want to do and accomplish. Of course there are, you want the best for your pupils, but consider what needs to happen now and what you can build into your long term plan. As part of your middle leadership role you’re inevitably going to be enacting whole school priorities as well as your own, so choose wisely. Also, better to do things at their proper pace and get them right than try and do everything and smash some of the important plates you’re spinning.
As a green Head of History, I started at a new school and looked at the curriculum. I couldn’t use it. Honestly, I just couldn’t. Half the Year 11 weren’t on the spec and one teacher had sent most of the year watching films and creating resources around them. I decided to write the whole thing again, tackling all year groups all at the same time. Considering I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, having this extra burden meant the job became all the more difficult.
Within three weeks of making this decision we had staffing issues and not only was I sorting out the curriculum, I was setting cover lesson after cover lesson. I think that although it was better, the curriculum I put together wasn’t my best work and would have been better if I’d taken my time. Eventually I turned to trusted, decent textbooks for some KS3 units and focused on GCSE, but if I’d done this in the first instance, I would have been a lot more capable of coping in the dark run up to Christmas.
You can’t do everything all at once. Pick your battles and work for sustainability, not a quick turnaround, please!
Delegation
You’re probably a middle leader because you love your subject and are a great teacher. This is fantastic and I’m sure you know your stuff, but does everyone else? Sometimes it’s easier to try and do everything yourself at first. Unless you’re in a tiny department and must… don’t.
There are two reasons for this: the first is that you will simply burn out, the second is that you’re not empowering your team. Doing lots of things yourself might seem like you’re helping people out, but it can be perceived as lack of trust or micromanagement. You don’t want this. Your job is to model the key things you want to keep track of whilst training and delegating to your team in other areas.
For many, the biggest mindset shift when moving into middle leadership is going from teaching children to ultimately being responsible for the professional development of adults. This is a big an exciting opportunity and the best heads of department consider this in the planning of their meetings, conversations and long-term actions.
Pick your battles
As a middle leader you are the face of whole school policy in your area, whether you like them or not. Part of being part of any team or organisation means that sometimes you have to make peace with the fact that you will have some elements of policy, practice etc. that you’re not that big a fan of. It is ok to disagree. Of course it is, and if you think something is ethically wrong or increases staff workload unnecessarily, I’d argue that you have the responsibility of standing up for your team, but besides this, objections (especially public ones) are political. Sorry, but they are.
A while ago, I was talking to a trusted colleague about something I didn’t agree with at work. I went through the situation and we agreed that things shouldn’t be the way they were, however this was not a major thing. They asked me ‘is you speaking up going to change the situation or will it simply change how your SLT perceive you?’.
The sad fact of the matter is that if you pick holes in everything and speak out at every idea, you may not get the results you want because of how this is perceived. I know some SLT can be very ‘come to me with solutions’ and I’m not really for that approach, but it is what it is. Whilst you may well be right, its about how to put your views across in a way that ensures that you have the capacity to change things. I know this isn’t nice, but this is the reality of it. Be aware of the persona you are creating for yourself as a leader. Listen and take guidance from people you trust. Asking questions and criticising ideas with the person who shared them privately is usually a favourable approach.
You don’t need to ‘toughen up’
I’ve heard about people being told this on numerous occasions. The intent behind this is good. There are stressful and challenging aspects of being a middle leader, but does that really mean you need to toughen up? What I think people mean by this is that you should emotionally detach from the situation so that it becomes easier, but would you always want this? Caring is your superpower and once it’s gone you’re left with cynicism and performativity. Becoming more stoic helps in that you are happier if you understand what you can and can’t control, but feel free to be happy, sad, angry and everything else in what is a turbulent job. Genuine care for your staff and your pupils is an essential element of success.
Read!
The next bit of advice I’d give you leads into the next section of this blog… read as much as you can get your hands on. There are so many brilliant resources from subject associations, professional bodies such as the Chartered College of Teaching and organisations such as Ambition and Evidence Based Education. You probably don’t need this advice if you’ve found your way to this blog, but here I go anyway…
The best quote I can think of to exemplify this is one I use often:
“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” – Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Alternatively…
“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
The idea is the same. The more guidance you seek, the better the decisions you make as you learn from the experiences of others. Here are some books, articles and blogs I’ve found useful over the years.
Things I’ve read and why I like them…
Bentley-Davies, C (2014) How to be an Amazing Middle Leader
This book has been around for a while so check how up to date the examples are. The reflective questions are excellent and I’ve found them really useful for both myself and developing others.
Crome, S. 2023. The Power of Teams; How to Create and Lead Thriving School Teams
The best book around about teams in education. Lots of examples, opinions from people in the field and again, some ace reflective questions.
Pearce, J (2022) What Every Teacher Needs to Know: How to embed evidence-informed teaching and learning in your school
Such a well structured and accessible read. Love that this is evidence-based and is a useful collection of some of the key things we need to know about teaching and learning
Hargreaves, A , and M Fullan. 2012. 'The power of professional capital ', Learning Forward, 34: 36-39
Such a great resource for exploring the importance of developing staff
Counsell (2018) Taking Curriculum Seriously, Chartered College of Teaching
Basically, just anything by Christine Counsell on curriculum, right?
Sinek, C (2017) Leaders Eat Last :Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
Full of really interesting examples to support the different aspects of pulling a team together.
Scott, K (2021) Radical Candor (Revised Edition) : How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean
Does exactly what it says on the tin. Say what you want to say in a way that is kind, clear and conducive to action.
Myatt, M and Tomsett, J (2021) Huh: Curriculum conversations between subject and senior leader, John Catt Ltd.
Make your SLT link read your subject’s chapter if they aren’t a subject specialist.
Howard, K and Hill, C (2020) Symbiosis: The Curriculum and the Classroom
A great book for linking theory and practice. This book is a lovely mix of bigger picture thinking and what this looks like in schools.
This is just a few to get you started with. If you’ve read this far and liked it, please share with more reading recommendations of your own!
What we’ve built
If you’d like, I can give you a copy of this to have a look through, but over the last year, the middle leaders at my school have explored the many aspects of middle leadership in our meetings. I’ve collated our agreed approaches where they align and our universal expectations where we act differently, but work towards the same standard. Here I’m going to share the contents page so you can create something similar for your department or school if you wish. I haven’t put the whole thing in here because:
a) it won’t fit, and
b) your school is different to mine and I don’t want to imply there is a right way of doing things.
We also didn’t write this in one go, it’s a summary of our work over the year and I think this is the best approach rather than just handing over a finished booklet.
Middle Leader Handbook Table of Content
The school calendar
Annual overview of actions/deadlines for MLs to consider
What is the role of the head of department?
As middle leaders we… (what this looks like on the ground)
Tips for new HoDs
Behaviour policy
Means of participation – space to write what common T&L strategies looks like in your subjects
The difference between leadership and management (and why they are both important)
Where are we now? Departmental SWOT analysis
Candid conversations support
Homework guidelines
Homework calendar
How we lead department meetings
Our curriculum questions
Summative assessment checklist (based around PiXL ideas)
Conclusion
Middle leadership is wonderful. I went into it very young and a little naively if I’m honest. There are so many more amazing voices and resources out there now which is fantastic for those coming into the role at the moment. I just wanted to add to these the things I’ve learnt over the years, not because I know everything about middle leadership (no one does), but because I think knowing these things is useful and if we can share our advice and work together, hopefully your experiences will be enriching and positive.
All the best for this academic year!
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