Specialist Leaders in Education

Initial Briefing Session

Wednesday 24th April 2014

Eligibility Criteria

• Hold a middle or senior leadership role.

• Have a subject specialism, included in the list.

• Although you need to be an ‘outstanding’ leader, you do not need to come from an outstanding school as long as your school has the capacity to release you.

• SLEs can come from all phases of Education.

You must have at least one specialism from our areas of expertise, which are based on the 4 areas of focus for Ofsted.

Ofsted focus Areas of expertise

Leadership and management

Academies and academy transition; assessment; leadership of continuing professional development; school business management and financial management; leadership of curriculum

Pupil achievement

Art; closing the gap; drama; design and technology; early years; English; geography; history; information and communication technology; maths; modern foreign languages; music; phonics; physical education; personal, social and health education; religious education; science; special educational needs; support for the most able pupils

Quality of teachingInitial teacher training and newly qualified teacher development

Behaviour and safety Behaviour and discipline; attendance

Specialism

Skills…

SLEs will have:

• excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• the ability to utilise high levels of emotional intelligence to work sensitively and collaboratively with colleagues.

• an understanding of what constitutes ‘outstanding’ in their field of expertise and the ability/confidence to articulate this.

Experience

SLE’s will:

• be outstanding middle or senior leaders with at least 2 years’ experience and a first class knowledge in a particular field of expertise.

Track record

SLEs will have:

• a successful track record, supported by substantial impact evidence, of working effectively within their own and/or across a group of schools, or working with a range of leaders within a single school.

• evidence of successfully using coaching and/or facilitation skills to bring about sustainable improvements.

You can also provide supporting evidence gained from completing leadership development opportunities such as:the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership

the National Professional Qualification for Middle Leadership

There is no cost to apply. Successful applicants will be entitled to some training at no cost to their school. However, the school will have to pay for associated travel or supply cover.

Supporting Evidence

Capacity and Commitment SLEs will:

• have a commitment to outreach work and the capacity to undertake such work.

• be supported in their application by their head teacher.

•The role lasts for 4 years, at which time there will be a review. The types of placements will vary. For example, one might be a 2 day diagnostic exercise, while another might require a 3 month, full time support role. Time may be taken as a block of consecutive days or spread over a longer period.

•There is no minimum or maximum time commitment. You and your school will need to think carefully about capacity and negotiate your availability together.

How it works? Allocation to a teaching schools alliance

Select teaching schoolTeaching schools are responsible for designating, brokering deployments and providing on-going support.

Core training day This is a compulsory day that all newly designated SLEs attend. It provides you with essential information about the role and will equip you with tools and techniques for effective school to school support.

Additional training sessions A menu of optional training opportunities is offered, with each one taking the form of 1 or 2 enrichment sessions. The SLEs are entitled to attend up to 2 of these sessions at no cost.

Deployment to support others

The core role is to support leaders in other schools, helping them to develop leadership capacity that will ultimately improve outcomes for children. Each deployment will be tailor-made to meet the needs of the supported school.

How it works? Access to on-going support and training

The Teaching school alliance will ensure that all SLEs are supported as and when required. The National College team will be on hand to answer any queries.

Additional Opportunities As well as supporting other schools, we expect that SLEs will also be able to engage with other opportunities and areas of work. For example, to undertake research projects on behalf of teaching schools, or engage with national policy-makers in relation to particular specialisms.

How do I apply?

• The next application round (cohort 5) opened on: Monday 5th May until Friday 23rd May.

• Refer to ‘Application Guidance’ document.

• Refer to ‘Application and reference form’ (EXAMPLE- 2 parts to the application)

• Must meet ‘Eligibility Criteria’.

• Select a teaching school that meets your needs- St Mary and St Thomas CE Primary Alliance or Ex Terra Lucem Alliance (Bleak Hill Primary School)

Key dates… Activity Date

Application round opens 5 May 2014

Application round closes 23 May 2014

Assessment and interviews 26 May to 27 June 2014

Submission of recommendations and validation

30 June 2014 to 8 July 2014

Notification of outcome 18 July 2014

Training September and October 2014

Assessment Day/Quality Assurance Teaching schools are responsible for the quality assurance of SLEs. Ultimately this means that we hold responsibility for ensuring that the SLEs who are being designated are providing high quality support to others, and that this support is having a positive impact. We are also

responsible for reviewing the designation of any SLEs whose work does not ensure sufficiently high quality outcomes.

Assessment Process (Recruitment)

•Letter to invite, phone call to confirm- WB: 2nd June.

•Lesson Observation- At an alliance school, teach your subject specialism. More details to follow… WB: 9th June- 16th June.

•Formal interview- 10 min presentation (title given) followed by 20 min questions WB: 23rd June.

• Informed of decision: by 18th July.

Funding

There are no plans (nationally) to have an SLE pay spine or to provide formal financial reward for individual SLEs.

However…

School will receive £200.00- £50.00 to go directly to SLE, this could be negotiated as a ‘one off’ payment.

Benefits • Fantastic CPD opportunity- professional development run by schools for schools.

• An opportunity to visit other schools and ‘magpie’.

• Career development opportunities.

• Newly recognised qualification for SLT/middle leaders.

• Leadership training through National College.

• Additional CPD opportunities- offered 1st.

• An opportunity to be involved in ‘Research and development’ that will benefit you and your school in being able to shape the future of education!

What an SLE does…

Specialist leaders of education focus on developing leadership capacity. While other roles (for example, advanced skills teachers) focused on developing classroom expertise, this role is about developing other leaders so that they have the skills to lead their own teams and improve practice in their own schools.

This may be done through one-to-one or group support and could involve a variety of activities, such as:data analysiscoachingfacilitating and trainingjoint action planning

If selected, you will be expected to provide evidence that your work has had a positive impact on outcomes for children and young people by developing leadership capacity in other schools.

Read case studies that give examples of the type of work being done by specialist leaders of education.

Pen Portrait

See examples…

Contact Information

Lisa Bradshaw (Director of the St Helens Teaching Schools Alliance)

lisa.bradshaw@sthelens.org.uk or 01744 678010/01744 678190

Sarah Makin (TSA admin) sarah.makin@sthelens.org.uk or 01744 678010/01744 678190

For further information about specialist leaders of education, please email sle.enquiries@education.gsi.gov.uk or contact our help desk.

Emailcollege.enquiries@bt.com

Telephone 0345 609 0009

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm GMT, excluding UK bank holidays.