Challenges for a Head of Maths

@MrsMathematica is stepping up to a Head of Maths role for the first time and asked on Twitter what preparation she could do this summer. I've had this post in draft for a while so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share it. It hope it might be helpful to other teachers in the same position.

A Head of Maths role has two sides to it: people management and operations. People management includes things like motivating and developing teachers, allocating work and responsibilities (including who will teach each class), managing absence and recruiting new teachers. It's all about looking after your employees and getting the best out of them. Operations is about ensuring that your team have everything they need to deliver the maths curriculum effectively. This involves stuff like planning curricula and assessments, putting mechanisms in place for tracking and monitoring student performance, and communicating with your team so that everyone knows exactly what they should be doing.

 

It may sound easy but it's really not! However I enjoy being Head of Maths immensely. I like the responsibility and ownership it brings. I like leading a discrete bundle of the school and having (to some extent!) creative control over how we do things. It's feels like an important and high impact role. Not only are our GCSE results double counted in P8, but we also have the highest uptake at A level, which brings significant financial benefits to the school. As Head of Maths I feel like I have more impact on the school's success than when I was an Assistant Principal, and for me this 'opportunity to make a difference' is really motivational. I also like the pleasing mix of project-style work (for me, things like 'Run Maths Week' and 'Write KS3 Assessments') and the intense hustle and bustle of day-to-day operations, where no two days are the same. I could be described as a control freak (rude! But yes, I am) and that means I do find the job highly stressful at times (this is most apparent when a teacher phones in sick and I have to run round organising and printing cover work - doing anything last minute puts me very far out of my comfort zone!).

Heads of Maths jobs come in many different forms. Some manage huge departments with 20+ staff, some only have one or two teachers on their team. Some run a faculty (for example managing Computer Science or Business as well as maths). Some sit on SLT. Some have a 2ic or TLR holders. Some have admin support. Some have their own office. Some are managed by a mathematician (most are not). Some are supported by consultants. Some have curricula and assessments provided by a MAT. The variation in our roles - in terms of both the scope of our responsibilities and the autonomy we are afforded - is vast.

Recently I've been reflecting on some of the most challenging aspects of the job. I have listed them below but I'm afraid I'm not offering any solutions! I think it's helpful for us to reflect on the tricky parts of our jobs and collectively share our strategies for dealing with them.

 

1. Handling Staff Absence

Staff shortages (for example due to long term sickness or a mid-year vacancy that could not be filled) create huge amounts of workload in planning and preparing cover lessons, plus there's the constant worry of the detrimental effect on students. 

2. Addressing Underperformance

Perhaps you're being bombarded with parent complaints about a particular teacher, or perhaps you have concerns from learning walks or results analysis. Either way, it's a highly delicate situation and - depending on what the problem is - may be difficult to fix.

3. Dealing with Difficult Parents

I totally understand that parents want what's best for their children, but sometimes they are just plain rude. It can be incredibly upsetting to be on the receiving end of aggressive and unpleasant emails. I was once advised to apologise for everything, even if it's not my fault and even if I don't think the parent is right. Just say sorry, defuse the situation and go from there. 

4. Recruitment and Retention
In many schools maths teacher job adverts attract no applicants whatsoever. Recruitment is shockingly difficult and gets worse every year. May is a particularly stressful month for Heads of Maths - we live in fear of last minute resignations, knowing that it will be nearly impossible to fill a vacancy for September. Alongside this, experienced teachers are leaving the profession in droves for reasons that are often outside our control. It's hugely upsetting, and unfortunately I don't have any ideas for how it can be truly resolved at a national level. 

5. Tiering Decisions
Deciding whether to enter students into Foundation or Higher Tier at GCSE is not straightforward for the 'borderline' students. Last year I had a parent of a Foundation Tier Year 11 student insist (rather aggressively) that I move her daughter to Higher Tier because a tutor had said so (tutors - please never do this!). She told me that I was 'ruining her daughter's life' and limiting her future opportunities by preventing her from being able to achieve a Grade 6. I kept the student on Foundation. The mother's words still play on my mind though. Tiering is a big responsibility and understandably can be rather emotive for parents. I do think tiers are necessary in GCSE maths, but it would be so lovely to teach a subject where there were no tiering decisions to make!

Other things that might appear on our list of challenges might be:

• How to ensure that the highest and lowest attainers make progress (particularly if you have a child who is consistently miles ahead or behind the rest of the year group, but no budget/staff for individually supporting that child)
• How to predict GCSE grades (from recent discussion on Twitter about using full GCSE papers in Year 10, I think this is something that some Heads of Maths really struggle with)
• What assessments to use (it's infuriating that exam papers are all over the internet - it feels impossible to find GCSE and A level mock papers that students won't have already seen) 
• How to ensure good behaviour in maths lessons (particularly in schools where centralised behaviour policies and practices are inadequate)
• How to get students to do their homework!
• How to assign teachers and students to classes when doing next year's timetable (absolute minefield!).

I'm sure there are many more challenges that I have missed here. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!

@TheMathsBazaar is a very experienced Head of Maths and he recently gave some sensible advice to new Heads of Maths on Twitter. I have quoted his tweets directly here:

"Stay on top of organisation. Get in first, check every room every day, make it easy for teachers to just teach, grab control of your budget, cancel wasteful subscriptions.

You are the buffer between your department and all the AHT crap. Shield them from unnecessary tasks. See if you can organise things centrally to save them bothering. 

Don’t try and do a review of the curriculum or scheme of work. Trust your team to be teaching well, and make small changes, it may be worth getting the department to discuss small topics. Large reviews never work and never get finished

Take it from an HOD, with 25 years experience, who has listened to what his teams praise him for: you are there to manage and organise. Forget vision, forget grand plans, just make sure they have everything they need, every single day."

Thank you @TheMathsBazaar for these wise words.

In my previous career, when you took on a new role you always received training on how to do it. I rarely see that happen in education. Teachers who step up to jobs in middle or senior management aren't sent on training courses to prepare them for the many complexities and challenges of managing people and managing difficult situations. They're normally just expected to work everything out for themselves. If you are in this position and you find yourself needing advice at any point - please don't hesitate to seek support on Twitter. 

It may be challenging, but I genuinely believe that Head of Maths is a fantastic job. If you're stepping up to this role in September, congratulations and good luck!