Ten Strategies for Powerful Subject Leadership

10 strategies for powerful subject leadership

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Introducing the Developing Subject Leadership - a powerful five module programme to ensure the 10 strategies highlighted in this newspost are embedded cohesively across the whole school. Read more about Learning Cultures' 10 strategies for powerful subject leadership that embody the content of this new and highly praised programme.

Subject leadership is the pivotal role in driving school success. The curriculum is the fulcrum that delivers the highest quality outcomes for pupils, teachers and school leaders. It is the subject leaders who influence change in determining the knowledge and skills that will be planned and taught to ensure there is an absolute synergy with the whole school vision for excellence and continuing improvement. The subject leader must translate the curriculum intent, the overarching ambition that all pupils will achieve their full potential, into classroom pedagogy and deep learning that leads to successful outcomes for all pupils.

The curriculum is much more than the content  included in the programmes of study. They provide a shape in relation to the bare bones of what should be covered as part of a sequential learning pathway. They track the progress of pupils in relation to the knowledge and skills they will gain from early years to year 6 and SATs and then through the five years of secondary education that leads to GCSE.

The aims and purpose of study in each of the programmes of study set out some of the complex nature of deep pedagogy for learning that needs to be there. Ofsted's framework as well as that of other inspectorate bodies provides further criteria that needs to be considered in the pursuit of quality outcomes for all pupils.

Subject specific research and the subsequent focus on knowledge, substantive, disciplinary, procedural and powerful to name a few all require thought in the pursuance of deep learning and profound understanding.

Subject leaders have to navigate the various elements that make up the tapestry of learning that shapes an offer that will be deemed to provide pupils with the breadth and depth that is the benchmark of high-quality outcomes the school wants to achieve. Quality is a relative term, it is not much use as a benchmark unless there is a set of parameters that drives a collective ambition to strive for excellence in every subject and across the wider curriculum.

Subject leaders need the space and the time to work with their colleagues who lead other subjects to focus on the collective vocabulary that embraces each subject. This includes a deep understanding of pupils' prior learning, how each individual subject builds into a sequence that allows pupils to deepen their knowledge over time and the setting of clear goals that define end points for pupils to follow. There are concepts that define specific subjects, transcend subject disciplines and have alternative meanings in different contexts. Each subject uses reading and other literacy skills, all subjects encounter number and numeracy, some much more than others.

It is this collaborative narrative that will build the consensus that subject leaders can then inspire their own subject teams to build a true tapestry of learning that will be evidence that the curriculum has depth and breadth, is knowledge rich and allows pupils to develop the disciplinary knowledge and the core and wider thinking skills they need to succeed at the end of each key stage.

The following ten strategies are a good place to start in determining route to excellence.

1. Knowing the vision for continuous improvement in curriculum, pedagogy, learning, behaviour and well-being
2. Creating a cohesive and sequential curriculum that builds on prior learning, is concept rich, inclusive and has depth and breadth
3. Know your pupils and how they learn and create opportunities for their voice to be heard
4. Developing effective teams that share the vision and build collaborative excellence and improvement
5. Weaving a strategy for reading in particular and literacy more widely that transcends all subjects and other aspects of learning
6. Ensuring that maths concepts learnt in maths lessons are embedded where they apply in the context of learning in other subjects
7. Defining powerful strategies for transition across key stages and year groups
8. Building the spaces that foster deep learning
9. Designing coaching CPD that fosters a learning culture and has an impact on whole school improvement and excellence
10. Finally, but of the utmost importance having leadership that fosters a culture of trust, self-belief and challenge for all staff and learners

Developing Subject Leadership - a powerful five module programme to ensure the 10 strategies highlighted here are embedded cohesively across the whole school.

Learning Cultures have worked in partnership with Teaching Times to create the Developing Subject Leadership programme. It provides a platform that all subject leaders can use to support them in creating curriculum synergy in their own subject and as part of the whole school quest for the highest quality outcomes for all pupils.

There is the option to simply buy the programme or it can be purchased with either 8 or 16 hours of expert curriculum coaching support. A coach acts as a professional partner creating opportunities for powerful dialogue, excellent CPD potential and is an impartial guide who will help to ensure that the programme delivers the highest quality of planning, learning and pedagogy.

The programme is flexible, it can be delivered as a stand alone package for each individual subject leader or used to plan collaborative CPD. It is developed as a result of deep sector led research, it is knowledge rich and provides a range of highly interactive tools, resources and activities to support professional learning. One programme can be used by all the subject leaders or rolled out as a CPD model led by a senior leader or curriculum lead. It is therefore extremely cost effective as it could be highly relevant to as many as 14 or 15 subject leaders in a secondary school and pivotal to those in the primary phase who want to develop cohesion and expertise across the whole curriculum.

Watch this short video that explains the content and the approach and how it can lead to the Curriculum Excellence Award for your school.

To find out more or buy your copy of the programme do make contact, either email me, Glynis from Learning Cultures at  glynis@learningcultures.org or call me on 07974 754241 or Adam Richards at Teaching Times adam@teachingtimes.com or call him 07795 158672.