New Subject Leader? Need Training? This One's For You.
If you've just taken on the leadership of a new subject, then there is plenty of free CPD available to you, and right now I'd like to point you towards some resources that I've put together to help you this year!
I've been blogging and podcasting about subject leadership quite a lot, alongside all the staff training I've been providing to schools and academies. I also have a couple of downloads that might be of use too. As a new subject leader with lots of responsibilities, you'll need some training and CPD and if you can get it free and any time you want, that's got to be a bonus.
First things first, if you are time-poor (and what teacher with additional responsibilities isn't?) but do have a commute, a dog walk or a gym sesh during which you can fit in a half-hour podcast, here's the link to The Subject Leader's Podcast which available at all the good podcast places: https://linktr.ee/subjectleaderspodcast. So far there are 8 really good episodes featuring real subject leaders and the things they've been getting up to in their schools.
Secondly, there are a whole host of blog posts, some of which I'll highlight now as a starting point for you:
School Leadership: Telling The Story Of Your Area of Responsibility - if you're wanting to really get to grips with what's going on in your subject in your school right now then this is a good place to go.
Subject Leadership and the Ofsted Inspection Framework - and if you're facing an imminent inspection then the likelihood is you'd like to feel ready, even if you know it's not all about Ofsted.
Subject Leadership: Leading a Team, Not a Subject - this one's a good one to get a sense of what subject leadership is and isn't and the sooner you wrap your head around this the better.
The 3 Cs of Curriculum Design - you might be in the privileged position of doing some curriculum development and this blog post will help you to think through some really important principles regardless of subject area.
And there's loads more where that came from.
Thirdly, you might be aware that going it alone (or if you're a senior leader, expecting your subject leaders to go it alone) is really difficult and that's where I can help beyond podcasts and blogs.
I've written about how I support subject leaders based on all the lovely feedback I've recieved from teachers and leaders in real life schools. You can read all about that here:
In the past I have run online training which is open to all, and I might be persuaded to do so again. If you or your subject leaders would like to take part in low-cost, online subject leadership CPD, drop me a line to register your interest and I will put you on a mailing list so you can be notified as soon as the training dates are available.
Finally, if you know that my expertise is just what your school needs, go ahead and get in touch and we can discuss how we can work together, whether that be staff CPD tailored to your needs, a bespoke day working with subject leaders, or a supportive and developmental curriculum review day:
