In my experience, one of the most important roles of anyone responsible for whole-school teaching & learning is to create the conditions for excellent teaching to happen. To empower subject experts you need a calm, studious atmosphere around the building & in classrooms.

I think a lot of people don’t realise how much you have to be present for this. In corridors to manage changeovers, supporting teachers with entrance/ exit, dropping in to support with behaviour etc.

It’s often associated with pastoral SLT roles, but really if the core purpose of a T&L role is for all lessons to be excellent then the conditions teachers teach in are essential.

We introduced silent transitions between periods 1-2, 3-4 & 5-6 to enhance the conditions teachers teach in. These are the sorts of decisions I think a T&L Assistant Head has to consider. Will they improve the starts of lessons enough to make them worth enforcing?

It’s not all about the fashionable stuff e.g. CPD, observations & instructional coaching. A lot of it is designing & implementing systems that create the right conditions around the building so subject-experts have the autonomy to teach their best lessons. …https://justonethingafteranotherblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/18/whole-school-teaching-and-learning-structures-to-increase-teacher-autonomy/">https://justonethingafteranotherblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/1...