#2 We need to talk about… how new senior leaders should approach line management of subjects - Part 1
Hello, and thanks for joining me again! This week I'll be reflecting on my experiences of line management, as a new member of SLT.
As a new senior leader, my journey into line management was eye-opening, and I want to share some reflections on how I initially approached it. But first, let me share a candid disclosure.
When I was applying for my first senior leadership role, I didn’t give enough thought to what it really meant to be an effective line manager of a curriculum area.
Clearly, I recognised that line management would be a component of my role but I didn’t spend enough time considering what should underlie my approach to line managing a subject leader, and I’m really not sure why. I remember plenty of times as a subject leader when I felt I had to fight my corner and protect the integrity of my subject. I remember thinking that too often line management conversations focused on simple proxies and didn't get to the heart of what I was developing in my curriculum... Why was this not still in my mind?
I didn't have to think long about the senior role I wanted; I was clear that I wanted to lead with a focus on curriculum. I spent plenty of time thinking about the responsibilities that take a different shape when one moves into senior leadership, such as engaging with governors and parents, and being front of house for whole-school events.
Perhaps it was because during the application process I wasn’t prompted to consider this aspect either. While I take responsibility for not giving fuller consideration to line management, it’s worth noting that before Ofsted’s 2019 framework, many schools didn’t emphasise curriculum management as they should have (DfE, 2019).
During my interview for that first senior position, I was asked about specific policies I would consult if a colleague found themselves (or had put themselves) in a challenging situation. Understanding accountability measures and frameworks is crucial to effective operations, but I found myself questioning why curriculum wasn’t a focal point in our discussions.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I found myself in a school requiring urgent improvement - a reality that can often lead to overwhelming pressures. In a rush to address immediate needs, I let the essence of line management be influenced by the ‘tyranny of the urgent’. It’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters when you’re focused solely on reactive measures.
Sustainable improvement can’t come from a series of quick fixes. The curriculum should be at the heart of line management. My perspective shifted significantly as I observed an exceptional Head of Faculty who excelled in this area.
I line-managed the Head of Humanities, who had built strong relationships with her subject leaders. While I could discuss the positive impact on student achievement, I wanted to focus on why she was so effective in managing her team, especially as a non-specialist.
First and foremost, she listened to her subject leaders and grasped the intent of their curricula. She could articulate how they envisioned how their pupils would be changed by their learning. This understanding extended to how they wanted their subjects to be enacted in the classroom.
Moreover, she invested time in understanding how subject curricula enabled progression. She was well-versed in what defined progression in each subject, which allowed her to step into a classroom and engage in meaningful discussions with her subject leaders about curriculum implementation.
Her depth of knowledge enabled her to craft a strategic plan for the humanities that respected the nuances of each subject. Improvement was driven by the substance of the curriculum, by what pupils were learning, and why and how this learning would change them and affect what they could do next. Improvement was not driven by headline figures or target grades.
Conversely, observing her line management taught me how to be a better line manager and how, in a very practical sense, to put curriculum first.
What I quickly learned from stepping up to the post of senior leader was that in order to put curriculum first and be an effective line manager of a curriculum area, I needed to use line management conversations to build my appreciation and understanding of the distinctiveness of the subject/s in question.
Only then would I be in the position to ask informed questions about, say, the implementation of a curriculum and assessment, and to understand how a curriculum enables progression (Fordham, 2020).
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, when I'll share how I applied today’s reflections during my transition to another school in part 2 of ‘how new senior leaders should approach line management of subjects’.
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It is so rare for me to read a post about leading in education which I wholeheartedly agree with! Yes, listening and becoming an expert in the curriculum - so simple, and so often flouted in schools. I look forward to more of your posts. Welcome to Substack Catherine, and congratulations on being promoted by Teacher Tapp too.