Blog -
Leading with Purpose
Insights on Effective School Leadership
Share on:
by St. Matthew's Research School
on the
Deputy Head and Assistant Director of St Matthew’s Research School
Hydeh is Assistant Director of the Research School and Deputy Head at St Matthew’s CE Teaching School, where she is also Geography and Oracy Lead. She is a Teach First Debate Mate Ambassador, a member of the Education Endowment Foundation Expert Voices Group and a Programme Lead for RSN Primary Literacy training.
Her key areas of interest are Oracy, Literacy, Metacognition and Learning Behaviours.
Subject leadership can be a challenge. Perhaps you’re a one form entry primary with one teacher leading 3 subjects. Perhaps your subject leaders aren’t particularly enthused by the subjects they lead. Perhaps cover is pulled at the last minute. These are problems we all may encounter. However… the updated implementation guide provides Curriculum Leaders with an opportunity to reflect and ponder:
How does the new implementation plan help Curriculum Leaders (CL) lead our Subject Leaders (SL) so that all subjects can flourish together?
The updated ‘Schools Guidance to Implementation’ recommendation 2 states, that as schools, we should ‘ensure people who can enable change can support, lead and positively influence implementation.’
This is paramount for driving change in our subjects.
Under this recommendation it states:
The factors that influence whether an individual or group can support implementation include the degree to which:
1. They have the knowledge, skills and expertise to help implement the intervention (e.g. subject development)
2. They feel empowered to act and can empower others; and
3. They have agency – choice over actions – within their remit
The above applies to the development of our curriculum. In this blog, I will breakdown how we intentionally plan for these influential factors.
1. Do SL’s have the knowledge, skills and expertise to help implement the intervention?
As Curriculum Leader it is important to bring subject leaders together. At
St Matthew’s our ‘Curriculum Thinking’ sessions have allowed for subjects to thrive. These half termly meetings have had the following foci:
Let’s look at an example from History and Science:
Presenting an authentic voice is key across many of our subjects. We have a moral imperative to present the past and present in an equitable way. This led us to have the following end point for history:
History end point: To consider the past from different perspectives
How does Reception play a part in this end point, which aims to decolonise the curriculum? When we are learning about the Indus Valley civilisation, how does the Y3 teacher interrupt potential ideas that Howard Carter is the only archaeologist worth knowing about?
Sequential knowledge that builds is vital, so that our pupils can access the new learning without the working memory being overloaded. This understanding of Cognitive Load Theory (see Rachel Cattrall’s blog ) helped us devise knowledge maps that would break down a National Curriculum objective into its component parts so we could support teaching and learning.
Here is an example of a ‘Science’ end point within the domain of knowledge: plants. To use their scientific knowledge to ask questions and make observations about the world around them.
Knowledge mapping empowers our SL to know their subjects better and enables teachers to teach their subjects with confidence.
2. How do we ensure our SL’s feel empowered to act and can empower others?
By intentionally discussing the beauty of subjects.
Feeling empowered to lead a subject requires confidence and enthusiasm. To feel this way, we enable our SL to love and champion the subjects they lead.
Mary Myatt talks about how the subjects that we lead and the resources we should expose the children to should be beautiful. 4Discovering this beauty is part of our ‘Curriculum Thinking’ sessions.
In Geography, we use Lyfta to amplify the authentic voices. Lyfta is a platform with storyworld’s ranging from Ethiopia, to the depths of the Amazonian rainforest. This interactive platform allows children to immerse themselves in the beauty and fascination of a place and its people. The links across subjects and year groups are strong and vast.
In Science, we spend time thinking about the awe and wonder that will support our aims to work scientifically and learn about a domain of knowledge – see the Primary Science Guidance Report for suggestions of how to do this.
Discovering the beauty and wonder of your subject certainly helps you to appreciate it more.
3. Finally, how do we ensure that SL have agency – choice over actions – within their remit?
Agency within subject leadership comes from a deep understanding of what your aims are. In order to be strategic, each subject has an implementation plan. These are reviewed twice in each academic year so that they can develop their own trajectory with their subjects.
Agency with subject leadership comes from a motivation to act. Acting takes time – time for thinking, time out of class to have impact. Time is precious in schools but if we value it, we must attach time to it.
Agency with subject leadership comes from knowledge. The Curriculum Thinking sessions are iterative and new learning is embedded over time.
Strategic curriculum development, like implementation, is a process – not an event and it centres around the people at the heart of the curriculum’s delivery, our teacher’s and SL’s. Invest time in providing clarity for them and the process of implementation (e.g. monitoring, evaluating) becomes easier.
This blog will form part of a series. Look out for ‘PSQM: the journey’ in Spring and ‘PE Power’ in Summer.
1Books that are helpful in their definitions: Primary Huh 1 and 2: Primary Curriculum Leadership Conversations by John Tomsett.
2Lekha Sharma talks about the Chasm in her book: Curriculum to Classroom: A Handbook to Prompt Thinking Around Primary Curriculum Design and Delivery
3https://educationendowmentfoun…
Blog -
Insights on Effective School Leadership
Blog -
Sonia Thompson, shares the new EEF guidance highlighting the need for unity and engagement for lasting change
Blog -
Sonia shares a range of EEF resources and tools that the schools can employ to support effective work with parents.
This website collects a number of cookies from its users for improving your overall experience of the site.Read more