Becoming a subject Coordinator or subject manager in Primary School is really the first occasion where your role within the school changes slightly.
Up to this point you will have been solely concentrating on your Class teacher position – now you are going to expand your horizons a little. But don’t worry – its not too hard!
These posts are not usually – in fact I will go further….never should be given to ECT’s. You have enough going on without an extra burden like this. In my schools I would not have even given this sort of role to a 2nd year teacher…so 3rd year teachers – you’re in the firing line!
Well there’s good news and bad news – which would you like first?
Lets start with the bad news and then we can sweeten it with the good – otherwise we are giving good news only to spoil it with bad news chasers!
The bad news is that you are going to have to do extra work…..and if its your first coordinator post then you more than likely won’t get paid extra for doing it. I’m sure you’re very grateful to hear that !
The good news is that if its your first coordinator role then you will only be asked to cover one of the “smaller subjects”….P.E / Art / R.E / D/T etc
That’s covered the aspect from ECT / recently qualified teachers viewpoint – for the rest of you the gun turns to point in your direction and to be blunt the bullets are bigger…hey ho!
For more experienced teachers things can depend on the size of the school which is then affected by the schools budget – if its a small / medium school then they don’t have much cash to throw about ( wishful thinking) so you may be asked to take on a Coordinators role of one of the bigger hitting subjects… the one’s directly in the firing line.
This obviously involves much more work and in a small school YOU MAY NOT GET PAID…..sorry
Medium size / average schools (approx. 250 pupils) may pay for the bigger subjects – it just depends on the schools / heads list of priorities for his/her spending.
The Head and Deputy will (I hope) have tried to carry some of the weight from the big hitting subjects but usually one or two other people have to step up. Yes its a bone of contention and yes the HT and DH are getting paid more than you but the scope of their job is much more intense and far reaching than yours even without a big subject thrown in.
If you’re in a big school then the Role of coordinator although dealing with the same issues is much greater as the job of implementation / management of the subject is much more involved (you may even have subject teams in the school organisation). In these type of schools I would anticipate that you get paid extra (management role) for this responsibility.
So what does it involve…well the immediate difference you will notice is that you get mail ! The Head teacher can now send you all the mail without opening it that concerns your subject – most of it will be rubbish or general advertising to sell you stuff but there will be some things that may be of interest.
From your point of view you need to get organised – I keep saying this across all my blog areas but it really does need to be sorted out – so the first thing to do is buy a file – make it a big ring binder (there should be plenty in school – if not ask and the school will pay…you don’t have to )
Write the subject in big letters across the spine and front and your name. Then in true organised style get dividers and put them in….you’re all set !
There should have been a Coordinator for your subject before – maybe they have just left the school or moved on to coordinate another subject. So you need to either talk to them (if still there) or find the file that they had (if they did one!) This will give you a good starting point for taking over the subject and you will be able to see what has been done in the past and how it was carried out.
In smaller schools you may not be able to locate any files or the file you find may have been done years ago with the subject not coordinated for some time…..in that case start to look for subject support materials (teacher level) that may be in school – pull them all together and make a list and brief summary of what they are and what they are about – then get it in the file !! You see I told you that a file was needed!
First things on your action plan….
You now need to look at 2 things
- What the national Curriculum says about your subject – what are the expectations / recommendations and progression elements . In other words what SHOULD your school be doing!
- Now you need to find out what is exactly happening in your school. You could do this firstly by a questionnaire or just by simply talking to staff. However be aware that you should make it clear that this is only fact finding and make it non threatening. It can be the case that teachers know they are not doing enough of a particular subject (or in some cases ANY of a subject and obviously they are not going to want to admit to this easily)….so maybe a questionnaire can be completed without identifying the members of staff.
Other ways of investigating may be through looking at timetables (amount of teaching time for your subject) – long and medium term plans to identify what is being taught and even sitting in on a lesson or two (without taking notes…just watching) and finally looking at books….just a selection from various ability levels in each class.
Before you do any of these things I would run your ideas by the Head or Deputy….what you don’t want to do is upset colleagues by perceived “demanding”…the HT / DH can have valuable input into how to handle things and the best way of organising them. Plus it makes it “official” and so needs doing!
All these things will give you a picture of what is happening in your school for your subject – good or bad it doesn’t matter – knowing is the first step of action and when you know then you can plan.
Charles