To think this is off? Interest in opinions of teachers

[Newbie198]

Think small department- head of department and one other subject teacher. Subject teacher has made good impression in the two years he has been there, works hard, hits deadlines, excellent relationship with students, excellent results, taken on a lot of the head of dept role (writing schemes of work, creating resources, marking exam papers for head of dept etc) outstanding reports from ECT mentor and verbal feedback from colleagues, students and parents.

Professional working relationship between the two, but teacher feels that head of dept not particularly appreciative of his efforts and often takes credit for their work.

Head of dept secures new job elsewhere.
Tells teacher this news a week after securing job as a drop in comment during a meeting. Teacher congratulates head of dept and excitedly asks if school will recruit for head of dept position (teacher would love to do this, and thinks they are more than capable)

Head of dept casually says that oh, it was advertised last week. Teacher expresses interest in applying. Head of dept vaguely mentions the closing date being very soon and changed subject. Teacher quickly applies that evening.

Regardless of your views, eg teacher not as good as they thought- does this seem off to you?

YABU- teacher obviously not worthy of applying
YANBU- weird not to even mention to the only other person in your dept?

The skills required to be an effective HoD are not the same skills required to be a good teacher.

I've seen too many situation where people are second in department or HoD without the relevant experience and skills, especially where they're very (some times over-) confident in their abilities. My experience is that it doesn't make effective subject leadership.

My gut instinct is that if someone in their first couple of years thinks they're ideal for HoD, that should be a warning sign that they aren't ready.

ECTs shouldn’t be going for HOD roles, they haven’t got enough teaching experience.

Really good hearing your honest points of view, and has given me food for thought.

Some leadership posts may have a prerequisite number of years experience in the classroom, i.e. at least 5 years teaching experience. This is usually stated in the job description, but may just be a unspoken preference of the senior leadership/ governors/ etc., in the school. Maybe the existing HoD knew this, and that's why he didn't prompt other teacher to apply.

It would be unusual for somebody to go from ECT to HoD!

It’s really hard to tell from your post. At my school all jobs are advertised in the internal bulletin so we would all know about them. You say it’s a small Dept so I’m assuming not a core subject but even so this teacher sounds a bit inexperienced. But yes but odd.

I don’t think it was odd it wasn’t mentioned at all either. I’m not a teacher but in a corporate environment it wouldn’t necessarily be mentioned to the team the vacancy was open. The only reason it would be, would be if you were hinting they should apply as they’d be in the running for the role. I’d suggest (not being harsh) that if it want mentioned to the teacher it’s because it’s not felt they have the experience / skill set to be able to do the job.

Thanks to those who think it’s a bit odd!

Totally understand all the experienced teachers/ HODs who say it’s too soon/ very different to bring a good teacher etc. It does make sense.

Still think it’s odd not to mention, he considered them friends of sorts and as a dept of two they have spent a lot of time together. I would have mentioned but said it’s probably not suitable as yet.

Incidentally teacher applied and was interviewed for pastoral head role last term. Yes the feedback was they were a serious candidate but it’s too soon, but the school did interview them. Teacher felt the school would consider giving less experienced teachers an opportunity. Maybe HOD one step too far.

Are you an ECT? Maybe you lack experience to take on a leadership role just yet. It’s no one’s job to make you aware of vacancies. Keep your eye on your LA recruitment website and keep abreast of vacancies yourself.

I voted yanbu, odd not to mention it but if this HoD is also slt are they recruiting separately? Because there is no way an ect can apply for HoD with slt! And maybe not HoD either tbh.

Headteacher/ SLT would definitely have asked HoD for feedback on possible replacement. Teacher would have been invited to apply had they felt he was suitable. Perhaps after only two years experience, they felt that he is not robust enough for HoD role and are looking for a more experienced replacement?

The outgoing HOD probably has nothing to do with recruitment. Most schools will have a fairly standard recruitment pack which will go live on TES almost at the touch of a button, given a few tweaks.
We’ve just recruited a new HOD. The outgoing HOD wasn’t told in advance the role was being advertised and although we did appoint internally, safer recruitment procedures also mean that we took steps to ensure that the process was fair and transparent, so the internal candidate wasn’t seen to have any sort of advantage.

@Boomboom22
Yes it’s without SLT, even this teacher knows that’s a bit soon! The SLT responsibilities will be swallowed up by current staff I think.

@GhostBridezilla
Totally agree that it would have been teacher’s hard luck had they not seen the vacancy. Still think it’s odd for your closest colleague not to breathe a word!

Very common to do this as they may not get anyone applying for a regular class teacher but head of department will attract more applications.

If class teacher is that newly qualified they shouldn't be thinking about being a head of department yet anyway. They're not experienced enough

@Itsrainingatlast
That sounds much fairer and transparent to me, and very helpful.

This HOD knew the role had been live for a number of days and wrote part of the recruitment pack info. Agree with a pp he may not feel teacher is suitable yet, I would still have mentioned it and said to them that they were probably too inexperienced.

Really interesting to hear how it works in other schools thank you.

I'm not sure either of your voting options are appropriate, and are perhaps a little leading.

Mentioning it would be construed as an invite to apply that would then have to be dashed. Why set yourself up for that conversation?

HOD clearly doesn’t think the teacher was a suitable candidate.

Absolutely this.
In my school, we all get an email from HR when a post is advertised. I wouldn't expect a personal heads up

@IhearyouClemFandango
Yes you may be right, I am a little biased about it.

I think I needed to know off the record from those in the know, that if you weren’t suitable for any reason then the job world just be advertised without you necessarily being told.

I get that, and this may be the case here.

I also wanted to know if those in the know still think it’s strange that a close colleague never even mentioned it.

Agree with you MrsHamlet
The only time I've been told a role is about to be advertised is when it's an internal role, it's already likely that a few of us are likely to be interested, and would be considered reasonable candidates, so we were all told to keep an eye on the HR bulletin so none of us missed the opportunity.

From the description in the OP it doesn’t sound like they are close colleagues, merely colleagues that have to work closely.

They tend not to look too fondly on people applying for different types of promoted posts (pastoral and departmental head for example) as the roles are very different. It makes it look like they are in it for the money rather than the benefit of the children/school.

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and I’d only say I’ve been ready for promotion in the last year or two, although I have had two maternity leaves, covid etc during that time, so probably nearer 7 years at the chalkface. Rising up too quickly IMO does not allow you to have a strong enough skill set to do a job well.

I got my first promoted post in y3 but it was a tiny, very specific TLR that was internal only. HoD, even in a small dept, is a big kettle of fish.

They tend not to look too fondly on people applying for different types of promoted posts (pastoral and departmental head for example) as the roles are very different.

This is also very true. You need to make up your mind.

I would think it odd if the colleague had the experience for the role.

An ECT or just completed ECT…just hasn’t (unless they possibly have many years experience in other management / leadership roles outside of education…but even then…) . So in this circumstance I don’t think it’s weird that they didn’t mention the role to someone who wouldn’t be qualified for it.

I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I think it’s a clear indicator they didn’t want them for the role and I also think it’s rude and bad management. It happened to me as the job I was in effect doing was advertised with no mention to me. I looked for a new job that day and got one at a better school at the same level within a week.
I have no idea where some of the people commenting work but in London/ Greater London schools TLRs in the year after ECT are quite common and in the third year very common. I was head of a key stage in the largest dept of the school in my third year which I would say is similar to being head of a tiny department.
It sounds like the person would be fine for a HOD role when there is no staff (or 1 staff member to manage) as it’s basically a bit or organisation and admin.
I would suggest they look for another job where they are appreciated.

You say 2 years experience, is it actually nearly two years experience? Meaning you'd still be an ECT ?

It is a bit of an odd move but they obviously assumed you'd seen it or assumed you wouldn't apply.