What changes when you step up to senior leadership?

Every senior leader will have their own story about how they climbed the career ladder.

Sometimes colleagues will speak of being “in the right place at the right time”, others will speak of being approached and others will explain how they plotted their route to the top.

For me personally, it was more of a strategic approach. I led the performing arts faculty - it was small compared with core subjects, which limited the number of people I managed. So I decided to move from a position as a teaching and learning middle leader to a pastoral one; I needed to gain experience of across school leadership and add breadth to my resume.

It’s a chicken-and-egg situation; you need evidence of whole school impact for SLT and in order to get that, you have to have at least a foot on the ladder in the first place.

I was fortunate that this new position also came with whole-school projects linked directly to the school improvement plan, giving me the experience and evidence of impact that enabled me to apply more confidently for a senior leadership role.

So what happens when you move to senior leadership? Here are some of the big changes.

You become a classroom Jack-of-all-trades

Be aware that when you apply to be a senior leader, there is a chance that the school may not need you to teach your subject. I haven’t really taught my specialist subject for six years now.

You will probably find you have no classroom of your own, so no permanent base. Your small teaching timetable will quite rightly mean that you just need to fit in. You are a nomad. You sweep in, teach your lesson and get out, hopefully leading by example by being there on time and leaving the classroom spotless.

You have to be able to walk the walk. Others can and will disagree, but in my opinion, a senior leader in a school has to be an excellent classroom teacher. The reduction in my contact time means sometimes I feel a bit rusty, a bit slow off the mark and not as vibrant as our excellent NQTs.

You are not in charge of what is taught, that is someone else’s job. You’ve gone from owning the curriculum and the teaching and learning strategies to delivering them. You may be an assistant head, but the head of department is your boss in terms of the classroom.

Your door is always open 

When I first started my role as assistant head, nothing prepared me for the demands on my time during the working day. I learned very quickly that my job is to be available. It is simultaneously the single most challenging but rewarding aspect of leadership.

My job is to support students and staff perhaps in a time of crisis or when someone is really upset and needs you to take the reins. To lead, support, direct, challenge, point the way is the job.

Line management can present a challenge in the beginning. There isn’t enough CPD on how to effectively line manage subject areas.

This is something that I have had to learn in-post while reflecting on what I valued from line management and making sure that conversations are relevant and focused around the faculty and school improvement plan. Staff also need to know you are dependable - there are enough variables in the life of a middle leader without SLT being unreliable.

You see the bigger picture 

Often your role will overlap with other members of SLT. I may be responsible for behaviour and attitudes but areas of my work regularly overlap with aspects of teaching and learning or curriculum, so I must work closely with the member of SLT responsible for those areas.

Decisions should not be made in siloes - you need to have a collaborative approach and work as a team.

Being part of a trust, I value being able to speak to my opposite number in another of the trust schools for a bit of advice or support. Working together on an issue can be a huge time saver, lead to best practice and build really positive working relationships.

Governance, legislation and law are all a larger presence on SLT. I learned quickly that you can’t just make changes because you think it is the right thing to do. There has to be due diligence, a process of consultation and appropriate examination of policy and procedures.

Rapid overnight change isn’t really possible if you want to lead and take people with you.

Seven tips for those looking to make the step up

1. Audit your skill set

Get hold of some job descriptions, which you can easily do by downloading SLT job packs from Tes, and compare your skills and experiences with what the employer says is “essential”. Any that you can’t tick off become your to-do list.

2. Set out your ambitions

People aren’t mind readers. Tell your headteacher or line manager that you are interested in promotion. Ask for their feedback, advice and CPD. If you don’t have a whole-school responsibility now, put yourself forward for one. Or ask for a bursary or secondment. Your time and skills are valuable and if you turn out to be good at it, your school may carve out opportunities for you in the future.

3. Only take a job you’ll love

There really is no point doing a job on SLT that you don’t like. If teaching and learning is your passion, there is little point being an assistant headteacher for outcomes. You have to love it. If you love a couple of areas, great: this gives you more choice - just make sure that you can show impact.

4. Learn to let go

Think carefully about how you feel about your subject and your current role. If you are someone who struggles to hand over the reins and let someone else take charge, you might want to reflect on how you will feel about not driving your subject area.

5. Is now the time?

Examine your support network and home life. Are you confident that you can maintain a balance that you are happy with between job satisfaction and being present enough at home or for friends and family? If not, can things be adjusted to a level you can accept?

6. Get organised

You cannot hold everything in your head so you must find a way to organise all of the different parts of your working life, whether that is via electronic means or an academic diary or planner. Whatever you choose has to work to help you keep the plates spinning.

7. Learn to lead

There are some really good materials available for learning about leadership styles and the mechanics of leadership. Not all of these will fit with you and that is valuable because it helps you to learn about your own style.

Shonagh Reid is an assistant principal at a school in Nottingham