Raising Student Achievement

What role does the Head of Department play?

ABOUT US

• Lucy Edmonds – HOD at Green Bay High School for 10 years. I stepped down this year to be a teacher as my youngest is in Year 11. Pre-empty nest syndrome.
• Alan Santos – HOD at Papatoetoe High School for 10 years.

SO YOU WANT TO BE AN HOD?

• Congratulations! You have signed up for one of the most demanding and rewarding jobs in Education.
• Unlimited printing budget – score!
• You will not be given any additional training, you may have had a Management Unit before.
• You will be the invisible line between SLT and your teachers ie. the meat in the sandwich.

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU

• The order of importance is: TEACHERS –> PARENTS –> STUDENTS
• With SLT interjecting at every point.
• School culture plays a part in how you deal with each group.
• Your job is to empower your teachers to teach confidently and most importantly, independently.

HIRING TEACHERS

• This is very difficult in today’s climate of a world wide lack of competent Maths teachers.
• You will make difficult choices between permanent and contract roles.
• What the new teachers bring to the department and what they want as classes, everyone wants to teach Calculus.
• The difficulty of assimilating overseas teachers to the New Zealand curriculum, especially in Statistics.

TEACHERS’ TIMETABLES

• Maths teachers are like highly neurotic race horses.  Easily spooked, extremely pedantic and they know they are in high demand world wide. 
• Balancing teachers needs vs wants with their classes.
• Calculus vs Statistics
• Experienced teachers vs New teachers
• Classroom management skills vs Lack thereof

TEACHERS’ TIMETABLES

• You will either be like Santa, delivering gifts of lovely well-behaved Year 13 classes.
• Or you will be the Ghost of Christmas Past gifting a teacher the hell class of the most awful Year 10s.
• Needs/Wants of teachers – Classroom management styles – Upskilling new teachers – Experienced (but jaded) teachers – They have always taught that class – avoiding ghettos.

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

GROWING YOUR DEPARTMENT

• PCTs – You are responsible for PCTs gaining their full registration. Assign their mentors carefully, monitor their growth and celebrate them becoming fully registered.
• Established teachers – how are you ensuring they are growing as a teacher in other areas of the department?
• Advice and Guidance – more on this later.

ISSUES WITH TEACHERS

• Handling difficult meetings ie. a complaint from a parent.
• NEVER forward on a complaint email.
• Schedule a non-contact or before/after school meeting.
• Let the teacher know there is an issue, do not let them stew for a day wondering what the meeting is about.
• Let them read the email on your computer, give them time to digest the information, then discuss.

ISSUES WITH TEACHERS

• Plan steps forward with the teacher which can be measured.
• Email back steps taken with the parent/student.
• Document, Document, Document – share with your SLT liaison.
• Check in with the teacher to see if steps have been taken.
• Unobtrusively check in with the student.
• Email check in with parent to check they are happy with the steps taken.

PASTORAL CARE IN THE DEPARTMENT

• You are effectively the Dean in the department.
• You will be the first to deal with discipline in the Maths block.
• You can escalate issues to the Dean.
• You should be aware of all pastoral issues arising in your department.
• You can remove students from classes to give both the teacher, student and the class a ‘holiday’ from each other.
• You will then have to manage the reintegration of the students back into the class.

PASTORAL CARE IN THE DEPARTMENT

• You will probably not have your own classroom, invest in good sneakers.
• You may not be in the Maths block so, have a nominated person to act on your behalf, create a Faculty Withdrawal Room and set up a Whatsapp group with all the Maths teachers.
• Have a running Google doc to document issues with the Maths block.
• This is great for Health and Safety too.

ALLOCATION OF MUs

• Perpetual headache – they can be hot potatoes, no one may want it.
• Learn the differences between permanent and contract MUs.
• Permanent with the right person are gold dust – keep at all costs.
• Permanent with the wrong person is awful, enough said.
• Contract with the right person can mean lack of continuity.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

ALLOCATION OF MUs

• Job descriptions - this cannot be emphasised this enough.
• Co-constructed with SMART goals with regular check ins. Or nothing will get done.
• Constantly battle for more MUs. Most other departments will get more than the Maths departments ie. Science with Chemistry, Biology and Physics and Languages.
• Cosy up to a timetabler for inside knowledge.

DEALING WITH PARENTS

• You are the face of the department – usually on the school website.
• Handle parents like you are Superman/woman and they are kryptonite. You will be dealing with their child and parents are emotionally invested.
• Respond to all parental emails with 2 days, even with “I’m gathering more information and will get back to you shortly”.
• Recognise what the student has reported to the parent is usually very different to what has actually happened. See slides about difficult meetings with teachers.

DEALING WITH PARENTS

• Always offer to attend meetings with your teachers and parents. This will keep the issue within the department.
• Insist on all email correspondence between teachers and parents to be cc’ed with you, so you are kept in the loop of all issues in the department.
• Ask new teachers to the department to ask you to review emails to check for tone and formality.
• Emails to parents should contain: Praise + Issue + Praise

MANAGING THE DEPARTMENT

• Have a weekly newsletter, written by TICs of courses and available online.
• Have a weekly meeting slot – but don’t have a meeting unless it is necessary.
• Have a white board by the kitchen with relevant information on display.
• Have a digital and physical assessment calendar clearly posted in the department area.
• Rotate jobs in the department: kitchen/recycling/Maths clinics – you included in all the tasks.

MANAGING THE DEPARTMENT

• Sit and have lunch with your team, even if your office is far away.
• Check in during meetings to ensure assessments have been marked, moderated and uploaded to SMS during the weekly meetings.
• Follow up on teachers who have not completed these tasks.

ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS

• Automate as much as possible through the weekly newsletter.
• Each internal assessment should have a 2-year cycle.
• This is to upskill teachers on how to write assessments and prevent old assessments from becoming entrenched. Mike and Huia anyone?
• Group 2 teachers: Experience (writer) and New/Inexperienced (Moderator) who are currently teaching the course.
• Use NZAMT assessments, you do not need to reinvent the wheel.

ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS CONTINUED

• Once the assessment is written, the moderator will check the assessment and it will move into DRAFT in digital form.
• Have ALL the teachers physically complete the assessment (printed in blue) and return to the writer and moderator for feedback.
• Changes can be made and then the second DRAFT assessment (in yellow) can be given to ALL teachers for a final check.
• Good to keep all copies of documents in a plastic bag to keep track of revisions and which teachers have completed their feedback.

ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS CONTINUED

• Old assessment now becomes practice assessment - check NZAMT to see if original is still secured.
• New assessment becomes live.
• This process is repeated yearly with the EOY exams. NEVER rely on Sincos and Kohia papers to be correct or wholly relevant to your school culture.

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WORKING WITH YOUR SLT LIASON

• Insist on a weekly meeting with your SLT contact.
• Create a running Google/Word document with relevant issues and concerns completed by yourself before the meeting – they are busy too.
• They are there to support you. USE THEM, they were most likely HODs in the past and are a wealth of knowledge and information. They want you to succeed.

ADVICE AND GUIDANCE

• This is a hideous process for all involved. It could lead to the loss of their licence to teach and therefore a teacher’s livelihood. However, think of the impact the teacher is having on their students.
• You will need to raise your concerns with your SLT liaison, via the weekly meeting.
• Create a running document with all complaints about the teacher. Share with your SLT liaison.

ADVICE AND GUIDANCE CONT

• You will need to conduct at least 2 observations of the teacher – with them knowing you are observing them.
• Give the teacher at most 3 SMART goals to achieve before the next observation.
• Conduct another observation and check for goals.
• If goals are not met, SLT with repeat the same process with the teacher with another re-observation

ADVICE AND GUIDANCE CONT

• If goals are still not met, the Union Field Officer is called in for a meeting with all involved. New goals are set with another set of observations by yourself and/or SLT liaison.
• Usually the teacher will resign and move onto another school.
• NB. You cannot give an unfavourable reference (can be construed as constructive dismissal) – you can only provide dates of employment.

Lead and Manage

What role does a head of department play?

Building Relational Trust

• Respect
• Role Model
• Well Being
• Equity

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Building the Foundation

• Philosophical: Ideal vis-à-vis Pragmatic
• What kind of students are we producing
• Which field are we operating
• How are we supporting student success
• Pedagogical
• Approaches and strategies
• Growth mindset
• High expectations

Managing

Managing the system

• Devolution of responsibilities: Asst HODs and Teachers-in-Charge
• Recognising teachers’ expertise; autonomy; trust
• Curriculum Design: Courses, Schemes, Unit plans
• Assessment and Moderation
• Tracking student progress: data driven
• Efficiency and Effectivity: reflecting on progress and success
• Resources and Budgets

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Leading

• …to where? GOALS
• School Initiatives
• Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy
• Whaitake (Pastoral)
• e-Pedagogy
• Key Competencies
• Decision making
• Democratic approaches: top-down vis-à-vis bottom-up

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Leading

• Professional Learning and Development (PLDs)
• In-house
• External
• PPTA
• AMA
• NZAMT

Leading

• Future Plans
• De-streaming
• Numeracy
• Level 1 Curriculum