Subject Leadership: Evaluating Impact and Planning Ahead
Learn how to measure the impact you’re having through subject leadership with this Subject Leadership: Evaluating Impact and Planning Ahead Pack. As part of our subject leadership series, it explores subject self-evaluation and the crucial next steps, including cyclical improvement, action planning and how to develop staff in your setting - perfect if you’re new to subject leadership, have just started leading a new subject or have are taking on subject leadership in a new school.
What?
A pack with full guidance on how cyclical improvement works in subject leadership, including how to complete a subject self-evaluation and how to use this information to inform your next steps. We offer guidance on the pros and cons of subject improvement plans vs. subject action plans, providing you with easy-to-adapt templates for both.
The pack also reviews CPD, including staff confidence surveys for both yourself as a subject leader and for staff who teach the subject you lead. If you're seeking ideas for questions to ask staff, we've included a huge bank of them so you can tailor your subject confidence audit to the needs of your setting. There's also guidance on different ways you can gather accurate staff views and how you can use this to create a CPD plan for the year.
It’s the perfect way to gather information at the end of the school year to allow you to plan for subject development in the next academic year (only please don’t do this over your summer holidays!)
Who?
Subject leaders, particularly if it’s the first time you’ve led a subject or if you’re seeking guidance on how to strategically plan for your subject in the long term. It would also be helpful if you’ve started leading a subject that you’re not so confident about, or if you’ve moved schools and you’re looking for a way to gather information about the subject you’re taking on.
Heads, senior leaders and middle leaders would also find this pack useful if you’re looking to support and develop a subject leader in your school.
How long?
You might want to put a day or two aside for completing the subject self-evaluation and improvement planning - this would allow you to gather all necessary information, evaluate it and form your next steps. Of course, these timescales will be dependent on how well you know the school and subject, and how familiar you are with subject leadership.
The subject confidence audits for you and your staff may take another day in total to implement and analyse - you’ll want to leave a large enough gap for staff to complete the audits too. Once this is complete, your CPD plan for the year can be developed.
When?
Start as soon as you’ve purchase the pack (you'll get instant access) or at any time to suit your workload. You might find this pack useful towards the end of the academic year when you’re evaluating the impact your subject leadership has had. The start of the academic year in September would also be a good time to look at improvement planning. However, in reality, you can use it at any time of the year when you want to explore evaluating your subject and planning for change.
Why?Gone are the days of subject leaders ordering a few resources for their subject and ticking it off on an action plan. Subject leaders play a vital role in ensuring pupils have great outcomes, both academically and in a broader sense. That means this pack is ideal if you’re looking to see the impact your leadership has had so you can develop. It can also raise your confidence as a subject leader if you know that you’re working towards improving pupil outcomes, particularly if you’re feeling unsure about an overdue Ofsted inspection.
Key questions answered:
- What is a subject self-evaluation?
- When is it a good idea to complete a subject self-evaluation?
- What considerations should I make before carrying out a subject self-evaluation?
- How do I carry out a subject self-evaluation?
- What is a subject improvement plan and how is it different from an action plan?
- Which is the best fit for me – a subject improvement plan or an action plan?
- How do I carry out a subject improvement plan?
- What is a subject action plan?
- When is the best time to write a subject action plan?
- How do I write a subject action plan?
- What is a subject leader skills and confidence audit?
- What is a staff subject confidence audit?
- Why take the time to do a staff subject confidence audit?
- In which situations might you find that a staff subject confidence audit helps you as a subject leader?
- How do I carry out a staff subject confidence audit?
- What are the pitfalls to be aware of when completing a staff subject confidence audit?
- Why should subject leaders consider CPD for staff?
- Who should I consider when planning for CPD in the subject I lead?
- What considerations are there when creating a CPD plan and cycle?
- How do I begin writing a CPD plan and cycle?
