I have been teaching for five years, always the same year group. I have vast experience with Sats and I am a mentor to both trainees and newly qualified teachers. Plus I have the role of assessment co-ordinator and team leader for a key stage. What can I do next? I am still in my late 20s, but would like to go the deputy head route. I would rather not move school, but I am willing to in order to develop my career. What would you advise?
There are going to be lots of leadership post available in the next few years, as many primary heads and deputies retire. More than 40 per cent of deputies in primary schools were under 35 when appointed last year.
However, according to Department for Education and Skills figures, only a handful of deputies were under thirty. You might consider both widening your experience through taking a different year group, and enrolling on a programme of professional development, perhaps one leading to a higher degree. This will both widen your experience and increase your professional understanding. If you have spent your entire career in the same school, you might well want to move schools. This would be both a challenge and an opportunity to work in anther setting. Only about one in four schools appoints an internal candidate to a deputy headship and that is often when faced with no alternative.
