Middle leadership is often described as the engine room of school improvement, and it’s easy to see why. Middle leaders have two major strengths when it comes to improving schools: they spend a large amount of time working with a small number of teachers and are subject specialists. These two factors are crucial in driving the improvement of teaching in a department.
Ofsted recognises the value this expertise has for school improvement. The “deep dive” inspections often have an inspector working closely with a head of department, visiting lessons and discussing trends in evidence and the decisions that have been made.
But middle leaders cannot do this work alone. They need the guidance, support and challenge of an effective senior leader to bring the best out of them. However, it is rare to be line-managed by a member of the SLT who shares your subject specialism.
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Understandably, middle leaders can have some anxiety when first being managed by a non-specialist: what if they don’t see how whole-school decisions affect the subject? This can create a dynamic in which middle leaders appear to be resistant to new ideas. These concerns are warranted but resolvable.
Middle leaders need to build a working relationship with their line manager in which the manager supports and advocate for them. When the big decisions are being made in SLT meetings, the line manager needs to know enough about the subject to determine any potential pitfalls or complications that might arise.
How middle leaders can build a strong relationship with their SLT manager
So what can you do to ensure you have a positive working relationship? Here are my tips to help build a strong working relationship:
1. Give your line manager the crib notes
Make your line manager a rough guide to your subject. This should include what specification you use, how assessment works at the end of the course, what valid mid-year assessment looks like and the topic-by-topic route through the course.
It should also include operational factors, such as your main financial outgoings, the things you want to buy but can’t afford and how much time you need to complete the course effectively.
2. Be receptive
When you discuss an issue and you hear the words “when I was line managing maths...”, don’t block it out with “but that’s not how things work in drama!” - instead ask some clarifying questions. Why did they do it? What was the impact? Then you talk through the challenges you’ll face in your subject, and why it might not work in the same way.
3. Play to their strengths
Adapt the way you work to take advantage of their strengths. They have a high level of expertise - just not in your subject.
If your line manager is a behaviour expert, ask them to spend time in lessons of classes that are struggling. If they’re in charge of timetable, get in early with your issues with the current blocking to ensure a better timetable next year. Whatever their expertise, take advantage of it.
4. Seek advice of colleagues
It can take some time to get used to another person’s way of working, but your fellow middle leaders are always there to provide support. Seek out those who were managed by the same person last year: they might have suggestions on the best way to approach things if they get a bit tricky.
5. Seek the opinions of others
Before you push back on an idea, use your subject-specific network. Either formally through a professional body, or casually via Twitter, for example.
Reaching out to other experts gives you a chance to check your instincts or if, actually, the suggestion is workable. This will give you reassurance that it is not your personal bias creating resistance to an idea, and provides the valuable input of someone who might have had success with it.
6. Lesson observations
Non-specialists will struggle to observe a lesson and pick out subject-specific things - but this doesn’t mean they can’t play an important role in the quality assurance of teaching. Not all aspects of a good lesson are subject-specific, and the process is made easier if your school has a shared language for the routines and practices that are generic in lessons.
At my school, we use “drop-ins”, which are around 10 minutes long. By using your department’s teaching and learning policy, you can create a document for SLT which lists the sorts of things they should be looking out for in the beginning, middle and end of a lesson.
Adam Robbins is a head of science and is the author of Middle Leadership Mastery
