As long as the job has a school-wide function and is concerned with leadership there is no reason why such a post could not be created. Some schools have been advertising for heads of either numeracy or literacy at assistant headteacher level for some time, and there have also been adverts for leadership in IT across the school. There are factors associated with transferring on to the leadership grade which need to be considered, such as the changes in conditions of service compared with serving on the main scale. The most important of these may be the loss of defined working time and all that that implies.

If you have a question for John Howson, please email susan.young@tes.co.uk