The #TMSouthHistorians team wanted to shine a light on all the amazing classroom heroes and share their thoughts, experiences and wisdom. As a result, we have created our Reflections, Recommendations and Ramblings series where teachers with a variety of experiences and backgrounds share their ideas and views. Our first brave contributor is Martyn Bajkowski (@BajkowskiMr) discussing his experiences and sharing tips for any new/potential Head of Department.
This is me
So I am and have been a Head of Department at two very different schools and in different circumstances. The first was at a school where I had already been a teacher in a department of two and gained my promotion internally, and another where I joined externally, which had a team of five teachers within it. I want to focus on that role as it is where my leadership skills have been tested and as a result I feel I have improved the most
Be confident not cocky
Firstly, it is important to always remember that you shouldn’t believe the hype – especially your own. At the interview stage you may well have presented a much glossier version of yourself than is a normal day to day running and the same may well be true of the school when they told you about department. It is sometimes easy to believe that you have been appointed to change things. To make your mark. To run the department how you think it should be run. However, I would advise some caution as Icarus tells us what happens when you think you can fly higher than you should be. Yes, you must have confidence in yourself and your ability to lead but not at the expense of alienating your team.
There is no I in Team
Now whilst some middle leaders courses will have told you that the first thing to do is to establish your ‘vision’ for the department…in my experience it isn’t. More importantly, your first aim should be establishing straight away the reality of your department. You need to gage what the strengths of the department are and the areas of development are. For me that involved listening to each member of staff in your team about what they think the department does well, could do better and anything they would like to see changed. This can be done in departmental meetings but also over an informal chat over a coffee, your team are more likely to be honest with you if they feel relaxed. Make notes (mental or otherwise in the first instance).
Be Realistic
Your next mission is the curriculum. Does it make sense and is it meeting the needs of your students? Do not rush in and make whole sale changes immediately as this unnerves staff and you need to take them with you. No department, however keen, likes the thought of a summer rewriting the entire curriculum. However, if anything is drastically wrong (and ideally has been mentioned in your conversations with staff members) feel free to cut and chop it out and replace it with something you think will work. Get the department to work collaboratively, share our the work evenly. Very few people will feel hard done by if they work is distributed fairly and it looks like everyone is pulling their weight. Give your team guidance on what you want and what you want to see in SOW. Most people like clarity and specifics, it is far easier to a task with parameters then trying to guess what you want.
It can be tempting to believe that you know best here. You may have been at a school where the curriculum seemed much better, where option numbers were much higher and you might well be right. However, initially, hold off. Your lesson plans and resources may well be great when delivered by you but you need to consider your colleagues and there need to build their own lessons. The curriculum is the most important thing but it is organic and does depend on your cohort. More importantly it will allow you to build bridges, trust and allow you to take your department with you so that they buy into the reasons for the change.
Assessment is crucial
What might need addressing is the assessment. You need to consider the current assessment practice and rationale and decide if you think that it is producing accurate but more importantly worthwhile information. Think about how regular you want to test, is it going to be formative or summative. How is it going to be recorded? Where is it going to be recorded? Many of these choices may be dictated by a school wide policy but these are things that need to be discussed and thought about. A key thing to remember is that any changes need to go hand in hand with a change in curriculum. Whilst these two are interdependent it should be your curriculum that is the master to assessment.
Communication is key
Using those conversations with staff, students and a look at the books you need to work out who is in your department. What are their strengths, what can they offer you in terms of support, who holds influence over others and who may be resistant to change that is needed. Some ideas to think of here are pre-meeting meetings with the influential people. Get them onside, involve them in the decision-making process and ward off any contentious issues before the meeting itself.
It may take time to work out what the students in your school need. So, conduct regular student voice activities and see what they enjoy and need. Again - there is no quick fix here which is why changing the curriculum is an ongoing process. Only once you have started to establish all of these things can you decide where your department is at, where you want to get to and create a vision to get there.
Other recommendations:
Create lists of immediate, short term and long-range goals and don’t be afraid to change your mind if new evidence arises.
Think carefully about who teaches what sets at KS3 and 4. There are strong arguments for having your strongest teachers with the lowest ability students. Work with your team to see what would work best.
Buy in subject specific expertise if you need to - you don’t have to have all the answers
Learn how to manage upwards – how do they want data, issues, concerns and ideas presented
Ask for help and guidance from as many people as possible and then decide which suits you the best. Seek the experiences of other HODs at your school or ask for help from the willing twitter teachers.
Lastly, whilst I started this piece by saying don’t believe the hype, especially of yourself, always remember the story of Icarus. Yes, overconfidence may end up with you losing your wings but Icarus father also cautioned him about flying too low. You have been chosen to lead and to grow and develop the department. To move them forward and you should be ambitious for your department. Set your vision high but remember that the surest way to make that vision sustainable is to build it with your department, step by step, rather than by yourself and just expecting them to join you.
