Spotlight Site: The Key

A Transformational Source of Information for Leaders or a Waste of Time

 
There are suprisingly few educational leadership sites run in the UK, which is quite surprising given that there are over 5000 secondary schools and a multitude more of school leaders. So The Key stands out but is it for the right reasons?

The Key has over 3000 articles and interviews that provide a reflective lens to review the work that we carry out, as leaders. Additionally, The Key has job descriptions and potential interview questions for all leadership roles including headships.  If you are considering stepping up the career ladder in education then signing up with the The Key (https://schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/createMember)  means you have access to this information. Beware, on a trial membership if you click on more than 5 links you won't be able to see the article (I did this the first time I logged on and missed out on some free articles that could have helped me). Here are some excerts to show you the articles that are on offer:

"Summary of responsibilities of heads of year"

Princethorpe College in Warwickshire has a job description for a head of year 9, which explains that heads of year are normally responsible for the pastoral and academic overview of their year groups. The document divides the postholder's responsibilities into areas including pastoral, academic and home-school communication. We summarise these responsibilities below.

Pastoral responsibilities

• Assuming responsibility for the welfare of pupils
• Following up incidents, maintaining records, meeting with parents and tutors
• Managing and leading a team of tutors and co-ordinating their work
• Supporting the tutors by counselling and disciplining pupils, as and when appropriate

Academic responsibilities

• Monitoring and evaluating the standards of achievement and progress of the year group by using pupil data
• Organising and leading progress meetings with tutors after internal exams
• Monitoring the rewards system across the year group

Responsibilities relating to home-school communication

• Responding to parental enquiries by telephone, letter or email
• Keeping accurate records of all communication with parents and all sanctions issued

The document also outlines responsibilities relating to the school's tutor group system, reporting and assessment, and 'other tasks' such as organising and leading assemblies, and supporting whole-year trips."

For more details about this position or heads of department positions then click the followign link:

https://schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/staff/staff-ratios-and-qualification-requirements/teaching-roles/the-role-and-responsibilities-of-a-head-of-year.

"Moving from having an assistant headteacher to having a deputy headteacher"

One of our members asked us why a school would move from having an assistant headteacher to having a deputy headteacher.
We contacted one of our associate education experts, Phil Preston, for advice on why a school would move from having an assistant headteacher to having a deputy headteacher. He said that the reasons for such a change would depend on the school's circumstances. However, he did suggest a number of reasons that a school might consider such a move.

Advantages of such a change

Phil explained that a deputy headteacher is normally someone who would be expected to assume all the responsibilities and duties of the headteacher if the headteacher is absent or unable to carry out his/her responsibilities.
An assistant headteacher may not be able to do this unless given authority as part of his/her job description or contract. Part of an assistant headteacher's role would be to take on specified senior management roles and to learn from the headteacher.
A school may therefore want to move from having an assistant head to having a deputy head capable of assuming – immediately, without further training – the headteacher's responsibilities if the postholder is absent..."

For the rest of this article go to https://schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/staff/staff-ratios-and-qualification-requirements/leadership-roles/the-differences-between-an-assistant-headteacher-and-deputy-headteacher.

So, there is are a wealth of materials for career transitions and transforming your leadership but the school you work for may need to pay a bit of money for it, definately not a waste of time and The Key stands out for the right reasons... mostly.

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Summary

A great paid service for education. There are over 3000 articles for aspirant leaders and you get 5 articles free (per email address), only 4 stars because you have to pay for it.

 Overall rating

★★★★☆

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