Members' library

• Leading schools
  • Managing schools
    • Helping schools use resources well
      • Securing the best for less
      • The principles of school finance
      • Financial planning and budgeting
      • Strategic financial management and budgeting
      • Financial monitoring, reporting and evaluation
      • Cash management
      • Evaluating financial resource management
      • Creating capacity for strategic and operational leadership
      • Procurement
      • Personnel and benefits management
      • Leading learning and teaching
      • Managing the organisation
      • Effective use of resources: case studies

Leading learning and teaching

How the headteacher can use the whole school workforce to continually improve the school’s learning culture and improve outcomes for pupils.

The national agreement

Raising standards and tackling workload: a national agreement (2003) allowed headteachers greater flexibility in deciding which members of staff can undertake teaching responsibilities, also known as ‘specified work’, in maintained schools.

The intention of the agreement was to bring the whole school workforce together as an effective team to focus on delivering real benefits to pupils. The national agreement led to new regulations defining what specified work is, who can carry it out and under what conditions.

The role of learning and teaching support staff

The dramatic increase in the number of teaching assistants and technicians - as well as the increased professionalism of these roles - has placed new responsibilities on headteachers and teaching staff. Members of support staff are able to carry out specified work if the headteacher is satisfied that they have the necessary skills, expertise and experience. But they can only do so to assist or support the work of a qualified teacher and they must also be subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher.

Teachers, with their extra range of skills, experience and complexity of understanding, lead learning in the classroom and beyond. When used effectively, learning and teaching support staff can contribute to a culture in which teaching and learning is continually improving.

The growing number of staff

In real terms, revenue funding per pupil has never been higher in schools. More money is now delegated directly to schools from the local authority and schools have more freedom to decide how this money is spent. Much of this money has been spent on expanding the number of staff, particularly support staff.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools estimates that there are around half a million people in support staff roles with similar numbers of teachers. Between 2000 and 2009 the number of teachers in the maintained sector and academies increased by around 37,000 / 40,000, while the number of teaching assistants increased by more than 100,000 (these numbers are full-time equivalents). In the same period of time, the average ratio of adults to pupils in maintained schools (not including special schools) improved from 1:18.6 to 1:16.9.

The headteacher’s role

The changing nature of the role of support staff and teachers is influencing the way many headteachers lead and manage. Particularly in larger schools, the headteacher can no longer expect to take personal responsibility for every member of staff. The head is required to distribute and share responsibility to a greater extent than ever before. This involves building the capacity and capability of staff to deliver continual improvement in teaching and learning.

Developing capacity and capability

One of the significant strategic challenges for schools is to ensure that they have the right number of people (capacity) and that those people have the right skills and competencies (capability). This includes developing leadership succession planning, for example by identifying and supporting talented leaders within the school and locally. Performance management plays an important part in a teacher’s career progression so it is important to ensure that all teachers and their line managers take it seriously. All schools are required to have a clear performance management policy.

Although it is not a statutory requirement to appraise, performance manage or conduct a professional interview with support staff, it is considered good practice. Many schools have included support staff in the annual performance management cycle for a number of years.

Further information

• National Professional Qualification for Headship