Monday, March 19, 2007
Take Me To Your Subject Leader…Regular readers of this blog might remember a previous post – ‘The Sheer Futility of Human Existence’, when we heard at the staff meeting how co-ordinators in primary schools had been replaced by ‘Subject Leaders’ who would drive everything mercilessly forward with ‘vision’.
Central to their task would be preparing a mazzy big file with a Job Description, Vision Statement for your School/Subject, Subject Policy, Subject Development Plan/ Action Plan, Annual Maintenance Schedule, Subject Scheme of Work, Examples of Planning (medium or short term), Assessments, Marking Policy, Tests, Some examples of assessed work, Examples/Reports of monitoring activities, Monitoring Schedule, Schedule for Staff meetings where Subject is on agenda, Relevant Minutes of above meetings, Schedules for SMT Subject Management Meetings, Reports to the Governors, Minutes of above meetings, Subject Evaluations and reviews including last OfSTED, Copies of monitoring feedback to teachers, Budget Information, List of resources and Purchases, CPD Log for Courses, Activity Log For Subject Leader and Pictures of La La and Twinky Winky. OK, I did make the last bit up, but I’m sure you get the point.
However, I’m reliably informed that particularly if you are expected to ‘manage’ other staff then you are entitled to a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payment. The relevant paragraph is from the Frequently Asked Questions in the ‘Rewards and Incentives Group’. In question 41A they state,
‘In cases where responsibilities exceed or lie outside these parameters (for example, where the co-ordination of subjects across the curriculum entails leading and managing other teachers), it would not be reasonable for teachers to undertake them without additional remuneration. It would then be for the school to determine whether such responsibilities/posts of responsibility meet the criterion and the factors for the award of a TLR payment or whether they would better be undertaken by an AST, an Excellent Teacher or a member of the leadership group.’
I won’t quote the full answer for reasons of brevity and also whenever I start reading official documents it induces a state of catatonic stupor.
What is clear – Subject Leader = payment = even then avoid it like the plague – give it to management.
Labels: Work
