Professional Skills and Abilities

3.1 Curriculum, Pedagogy, Leadership and Strategic Vision

Headteachers lead and work collaboratively with the learning community to design and build the curriculum (i.e. through the practices that take place in learning communities in developing content, pedagogy, assessment and provision, as educational programmes are planned, enacted and evaluated). They critically engage with policy, research and practice to inform strategic knowledge and understanding of curriculum

3.1.1 Work with the learning community to design and build a shared vision to provide a curriculum informed by theoretical principles of curriculum design and purposes of education

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• critically engage with policy, research and practice to inform a strategic overview of the planning, development and assessment of learning to ensure that school-based decisions are in accordance with the principles and purpose of education, good curriculum design and addressing the learners’ entitlement to Learning for Sustainability
• develop and establish appropriate curriculum design and planning processes to meet the learning, health and wellbeing needs of all learners, including Gaelic medium education where appropriate
• ensure curriculum design and planning processes are well informed to ensure learners with additional support needs experience a curriculum that meets their needs; understand and lead change effectively across the school and wider learning community
• set clear standards in relation to enacting the principles of inclusion, sustainability, equality and social justice through the curriculum
• agree and develop curricular frameworks to ensure appropriate personalisation and choice through individualised pathways

3.1.2 Work with the learning community to establish, enable and sustain a strategic approach to the development and improvement of curriculum practices (including pedagogy and assessment) informed by knowledge and understanding of underpinning principles and purposes

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• develop a culture which promotes and sustains high-quality curriculum practices, including pedagogy and assessment
• agree and communicate clearly high expectations of curriculum in order to provide all learners with creative and consistently high-quality learning experiences and opportunities for learning to be transformative in terms of challenging assumptions and expanding world views
• engage with partners to facilitate access to appropriate learning opportunities, including outdoor learning within and beyond the school and resources across the wider learning community and provide learners with regular access to and education in the natural world
• engage with colleagues and the learning community to develop strategic assessment practices, outlining the principles, purposes, uses, impact and sharing of any data gathered
• enable colleagues to develop, enhance and share teachers’ curriculum practices

3.1.3 Work with the learning community to establish, enable and sustain processes which actively promote professional dialogue, critical reflection and collegial practice as a way of evaluating and enhancing curriculum practices (including pedagogy and assessment practices) and wellbeing among the school community

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• model and develop a culture of mutual trust, respect and accountability through the development and enactment of the curriculum
• promote a culture of critical reflection and self-evaluation and establish approaches to review curriculum practices which gathers views from colleagues and others across the learning community
• agree, develop and establish processes to validate and enhance the quality of curriculum practices (including pedagogy and assessment practices)

3.2 The Learning Context

Headteachers lead and work collaboratively to establish a culture which promotes wellbeing for self, others and the natural world to enable and sustain positive and purposeful relationships and partnerships with colleagues, learners, and others across the learning community to meet the identified needs of all learners. They critically engage with policy, research and practice to inform strategic knowledge and understanding of the learning environment.

3.2.1 Agree, share and enact the vision, values, ethos aims of the learning community with colleagues, learners, parents/carers and families and wider community

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• co-create an aspirational vision, values, ethos and aims, agreed in partnership with all colleagues, learners, parents/carers and families and wider community, and embracing Learning for Sustainability
• model and share the vision, values, ethos and aims regularly to all learners and the wider learning community including Gaelic medium ethos where appropriate
• promote a culture of wellbeing for all through modelling and supporting sustainable processes and practices for working and learning
• promote and enable a learning culture where additional support needs are integral to the learning community ethos
• create safe, caring and purposeful learning environments which are welcoming and inclusive, well managed and well organised

3.2.2 Agree a strategic approach to encourage and facilitate learner participation in planning and deciding about their own learning and wider decision-making within the learning community  

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• establish and sustain a collegial culture of mutual respect and trust where every learner is enabled to participate meaningfully in decisions related to their learning, their school and the wider learning community
• establish and sustain a range of strategic processes and approaches which enable every learner to participate meaningfully in decisions related to their learning, their school and the wider learning community

3.2.3 Actively establish, enable and sustain trusting relationships with parents/carers and families

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• establish and enable a collegial culture of mutual respect and trust to build and facilitate partnerships between parents/carers and families, learners and the school and wider learning community
• support and enable parents/carers and families to value the importance of education and learning in the home, the school and in the wider learning community
• sustain this culture to enable all parents/carers and families to have a range of opportunities to engage in partnership activities and processes related to learning, the life of the school and the wider learning community

3.2.4  Establish and sustain a range of approaches which promote and support partnership working with colleagues, parents/ carers and families, other professionals and agencies to support the rights and wellbeing of every learner and the wider work and life of the school

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• understand your own and others’ responsibilities for implementing national and local child protection policies and procedures to ensure the care and welfare of every learner
• understand your own and others’ responsibilities in supporting the wellbeing needs of every child or young person to inform practices in the school and wider learning community  
• ensure systems are in place which enable all partners to contribute to, and support, the diverse needs of every learner in line with local and national policy and legislation

3.3 Professional Learning

Headteachers establish and promote a collaborative culture of professional learning within and beyond the school and wider learning community. They critically engage with policy, research and practice to inform strategic knowledge and understanding of professional learning.

3.3.1 Co-create and lead a culture which promotes and sustains career-long professional learning across the school and learning community

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• take responsibility for, and engage actively in, career-long professional learning to deepen your knowledge, understanding and skills
• critically engage with literature, research and policy to challenge and inform decision-making and professional practice
• develop and engage in professional enquiry as a key element of a sustainable professional learning culture
• set high expectations of career-long professional learning for self and colleagues, as appropriate, and support a wide range of opportunities which enable this
• create and utilise opportunities for colleagues to develop leadership practices across and beyond the school and wider learning community
• build constructive relationships that engender commitment and collegiality

3.3.2 Ensure, enable and sustain approaches and processes which support engagement with critically reflective practice as an integral part of career-long professional learning and the professional learning culture of the school and learning community

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• use agreed processes which identify strengths and development needs and support career-long professional learning
• establish, enable and sustain coaching and mentoring principles and approaches which support professional learning including the PRD process
• support colleagues in taking ownership and responsibility for their professional learning and PRD using relevant Professional Standards to support self-evaluation and critical reflection
• ensure that purposeful ongoing professional learning and PRD takes place and that the outcomes of the processes contribute to improvement of professional practice
• ensure equal access to professional learning opportunities for all
• lead and support engagement with the Professional Update process

3.4 Self-Evaluation

Headteachers ensure collegial practices are established to enable and sustain a culture of self-evaluation for whole school and learning community improvement to evaluate the impact on every learner. They critically engage with policy, research and practice to inform strategic knowledge and understanding of self-evaluation.

3.4.1 Establish, enable, and sustain a range of inclusive, resilient, and adaptive relationships, processes and practices which engender an ethos and culture of self-evaluation at every level in the school and learning community

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As a headteacher, through individual and collegial activities you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• establish, enable and sustain an inclusive, resilient and adaptive culture of improvement using critically informed leadership practices and approaches
• build supportive relationships which help and support the culture of self-evaluation
• enable and sustain a culture of trust and mutual respect where colleagues, learners and the learning community engage in self-evaluation with confidence and integrity  
• facilitate an open, honest and critical stance in examining practice through modelling and promoting good practice in self-evaluation at every level

3.4.2 Develop and sustain the effective use of a wide range of robust and credible information to support and inform decisions and improvements across the school and learning community in line with agreed strategic and operational priorities

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As a headteacher you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• develop a culture of critically informed practice by using evidence, including research, and analysing against national and international benchmarks
• ensure that information is gathered systematically from a wide range of sources and partners developing innovative approaches to engage all groups
• ensure the use of a diverse range of information, qualitative and quantitative, to inform decision-making and identify priorities to shape and improve practices
• enable and support colleagues in using a wide range of information to plan curriculum (pedagogy, assessment and reporting) with a focus on improving outcomes for all learners

3.4.3 Lead and collaborate with colleagues, learners, parents/carers and families and the wider learning community in identifying, agreeing and implementing improvement priorities

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• create regular opportunities to engage colleagues, learners and the wider learning community to identify key priorities for improvement using the evidence gathered
• establish, sustain and enhance a culture where all learners, colleagues, parents/carers and families are involved in meaningful decision-making about the planning and enhancement of learning and in wider school and learning community improvement
• establish processes and facilitate opportunities for groups to work collaboratively to take forward improvement priorities

3.4.4 Develop systems for ongoing monitoring and review of the strategic improvement cycle with the school and learning community

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• undertake regular and systematic review of progress towards the school and learning community  
• priorities, including resourcing decisions, to evaluate the impact on every learner
• establish, sustain and review a range of strategic processes which enable colleagues to contribute to the overall monitoring and review of change through the improvement planning cycle
• effectively utilise a wide range of evidence to review and inform an improvement cycle which impacts on the development of the learning environment

3.5 Resources

Headteachers work with colleagues and the wider learning community to strategically  

• manage and allocate resources in a fair, transparent and equitable manner in line with identified strategic and operational priorities. They critically engage with policy,  
• research and practice to inform strategic knowledge and understanding of equitable and sustainable use of resources.

3.5.1 Ensure best operational use of all available resources in line with identified strategic and operational priorities, ensuring and maintaining a clear focus on the interests of learners

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:

• ensure resources are allocated in a fair, transparent and equitable manner in line with identified priorities and the principles of Best Value
• delegate and share appropriate tasks and responsibilities to other colleagues, including those with leadership roles, and ensure support is in place
• foster collective responsibility across the school and wider learning community for the sustainable use of resources
• establish and maintain systems to ensure decisions are taken in collaboration with the learning community, providing clear details of how resource allocation meets identified priorities
• establish and sustain transparent systems which support the effective monitoring, evaluation and review of the use of resources across the school and wider learning community
• be accountable for budget and resource management through utilising appropriate procedures and all available supports

3.5.2 Work within the structure of employment legislation, national and local agreements and policies governing employment  

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As a headteacher, you lead and work collaboratively to:  

• take due account of employment legislation and national and local agreements in all aspects of human resource management and ensure good practice in recruitment and appointment of staff, in accordance with the best interests of children and young people
• work within clearly defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities, to ensure a highly professional school team is built and sustained to meet the needs of the learning community
• take due account of the legislative framework related to equality and social inclusion, including in the appointment of staff, to promote an inclusive community which values diversity and challenges discrimination
• take due account of Health and Safety legislation to ensure the safety and welfare of all