Subject leaders in primary

[natterer]

I'm interested in how primary schools assign subject leadership. My school is beginning a system where every teacher has to take some kind of subject responsibility - exact roles and responsibilities (and any remuneration) have not so far been mentioned. This seems dodgy to me but I would really like to know how it is working these days in other schools. Are TLRs still used properly elsewhere?

Thanks in advance!

In my school you only get a TLR if you have line management responsibilty. I am a wider curriculum lead (have written all the MTPs) and also have particular responsibility for Science and DT. No TLR but have received an R&R payement.

We haven’t had tlrs for subject leadership for absolutely ages.

Even in a very well-funded school everyone had some subject responsibility with tlrs only for core.

Where I work, every qualified teacher (except for ECTs in their first few months) has a subject responsibility.

Nobody has a TLR.

We have completely re-written the entire curriculum in the last 2 years, driven by these subject leaders. No additional money and 2 hours per term in terms of time. My understanding is that this is normal.

Every teacher has a subject leader role in my school. Core subjects are shared (I'm English and we split it reading/writing, have had English since my second year of teaching). No extra money. Used to be able to have extra time out of class on an ad hoc basis but not enough staff for that at the moment. They get allocated seemingly randomly, although I'm sure some thought does go into strengths etc (I'm still bitter as I'd asked for RE or music...).

Every class teacher is a subject leader, no additional TLRs- there is no way we could afford a TLR for every class teacher! They do get additional subject leader time but on an ad hoc basis. The whole curriculum has been re-written to ensure the school intent runs through everything we teach. In a recent OFSTED , they selected reading, maths, science and PE

Every teacher is a subject leader (of 2 or 3 subjects, as we are a small school). No TLRs.

I'm surprised this is your expectation as it's been years since I've seen subject leadership come with a TLR.

1 form entry so everybody leads one subject or more. Some also lead key stages or have other additional responsibilities. No TLRs, can't afford them! I've only ever worked in one school with TLRs for Maths and English and that was 15 years ago. They've probably done away with them by now as well!

No remuneration for subject leadership.
Occasional half or full day off class responsibilities if a particular piece of work is needed, but no regular non-contact for subject work.

Oh, and all teachers on 2+ years' teaching has some subject responsibility, even if in a shadowing role.

Small school. Everyone leads multiple subjects. No TLRs. This is the norm in primaries and it should not be.

@Meandmini3

Small school. Everyone leads multiple subjects. No TLRs. This is the norm in primaries and it should not be.

Exactly this. And I've never received any training in any of my subjects nor on what ofsted is looking for in a deep dive so how we're meant to do the job effectively I don't really know.

We have had LOADS of deep dive training, lots of mocks, going through deep dive questions, sharing with subject leaders in other schools, we had an OFTED inspector in for a day and EVERYONE was"deep dived" A nightmare at the time but we were all very grateful for the practice when OFSTER turned up for real😩

@spanieleyes

We have had LOADS of deep dive training, lots of mocks, going through deep dive questions, sharing with subject leaders in other schools, we had an OFTED inspector in for a day and EVERYONE was"deep dived" A nightmare at the time but we were all very grateful for the practice when OFSTER turned up for real😩

The level of detail you're expected to know as a primary subject lead is ridiculous.

No-one picking up an additional role (or two) whilst not being paid for (nor given time to do) it should be required to have the same level of knowledge of the subject in their school as a secondary department head.

The workload required to always be able to answer those questions effectively, from memory, and with recent detailed examples is completely unreasonable.

Thanks so much everyone for your responses! So it looks like this is a widespread issue. My school had a few TLRs until recently but not for all subjects and only for people who specifically wanted the role. This recent push is clearly ofsted-driven. This is from the 'school teachers' pay and conditions' statutory document though:

"Teachers are expected to contribute, both orally and in writing as appropriate, to curriculum development by sharing their professional expertise with colleagues and advising on effective practice. This does not mean that they can be expected to take on the responsibility of, and accountability for, a subject area or to manage other teachers without appropriate additional payment. Responsibilities of this nature should be part of a post that is in the leadership group or linked to a post which attracts a TLR1 or TLR2 on the basis set out in paragraph 20."

Nationwide, this isn't a new issue. Unless you're in London or a very well funded school (eg. high levels of deprivation, high PP, etc), primary teachers haven't been paid for subject leadership. Maths and English maybe at some schools, but even then it wasn't the norm.

We all know what the STPD says but in reality it doesn't happen in primary. And primary teacher have been left with very little options on this.

The flip side is that if you're not paid for it, it's not ultimately your responsibility. It's technically the head/SLT. Obviously the reality is if Ofsted slam science and you're the science coordinator, you're going to be the one getting it in the neck but technically you're just a class teacher and you can't be held responsible.

Interesting @careerchange456. I am in London, 3-form entry school. I know that things are worse for schools elsewhere in many ways. This is another one to add to the list I suppose. Just wondering whether to pick this battle or not!

The thing is, in London, you are an asset. With teacher retention as it is, you're valuable to them. They won't want to lose staff.

Where I live, there's currently one part time, mat leave cover being advertised and that's the only primary job in my whole county. Nobody leaves their jobs (nice rural area) and there are a lot of applicants per job. They could replace me if they wanted to so I'm in no position to bargain for TLRs. As it is, my school has no money for pencils and glue sticks so I know there is no money for TLRs anyway! So here, if you want your job, you have to do the work that comes with it.

It often doesn’t happen in secondary either. I was subject leader ( told i was going to be) for a number of years in a non specialist subject, 5 A-level groups, several other teacher, not a penny of tlr or extra time. Should not be the case but needs a major shift in education funding for it to happen.

Most secondary schools have heads of department, which is a specific role and is paid accordingly and has additional "frees" for leadership time. It sounds like your school was stringing you along.

My school is beginning a system where every teacher has to take some kind of subject responsibility

That’s just normal running of a school isn’t it? Who has been leading and organising your subjects until now?

Maybe this is in response to fairly new OFSTED deep dives - your school has bizarrely just caught on to something they should have been doing for years - without someone leading your subjects surely you’ll be well and truly f**cked…