Sharing Good Practice guest blogs or articles for teaching magazines . Teach Middle East Magazine should probably be your first stop , as their mandate is to give educators a platform to share their ideas . If you haven ’ t already , begin your own online presence in the global teaching community . Networking is vital in career progression and especially in education .
Use your school ’ s performance review structure to your advantage . Raise the subject of career progression and arrive at the meeting armed with suggestions of how the school can help you get there . Avoid going straight in with a request for a threeday course with a fancy title and price to match . If your school has an impressive CPD training budget , then you may be off to a swish conference centre with freshly baked Danishes for breakfast . But realistically , for most teachers requesting development , the pot simply does not stretch to such luxuries . If this is typical in your school ( and even if the budget is massive ), consider getting creative in-house .
Request to shadow a manager or leader during your PPA time , before or after school . This will impact on your already stretched schedule but it does go a long way in showing your commitment to gaining experience . If this is granted , request to take on very small tasks . While this is not the same as grappling with the bigger concepts
of leadership on a course , you can be sure that you are beginning to get a real taste of what your future job will entail- from the bottom up . Expect no extra payment and moments of silently screaming into a filing cabinet , but repeat the mantra : the only way is up .
Build a rapport with the person you shadow ; they may begin to delegate more tasks to you . A good mentor will find ways for you to be acknowledged and valued , but try not to be too disheartened if some of your work gets attributed under somebody else ’ s name . Be careful not to run before you can walk and remember , doing a little over a long period of time well , is better than agreeing to take on more than you can handle , then appearing like you are not ready for the step up .
Expect that there will be moments where the job you eventually hope to do , is made to look easy- especially if the person doing it has done so for many years . By the same token , it can be tempting to form private criticisms about how you ’ d do things differently if you were in charge . This is a natural part of you learning the ropes- but be very wary of this trail of thought . Until the ink has dried on your very own contract for that position , accept that experience is everything in management and leadership , and what you are gaining by shadowing or assisting will count for a lot .
Keep an eye on the job market and the types of experience schools are requesting . Where possible , try to ensure your CV can reference as much as possible . Be patient and prepared to speak up regularly to your Head or Deputy . If you are told that you are suitable and ready for promotion but nothing is available , book back in to see the Head the following term and the one after that and so forth . Registering your intentions to climb the professional ladder once in a meeting may not cut it . So speak up and often !
Finally , when you do make it and get established- don ’ t forget to be kind to the person clambering for your position . The future of leadership and management relies on you passing the baton over with a willingness to invest more in the next colleague than was invested in you . Good luck and if you want to get in touch about creative CPD strategies that happen in your school , I ’ d love to hear from you .
Emily Gee is an experienced English specialist for KS2-5 . She has assisted and led the running of English departments both in the UK and ME for 12 years and has enjoyed informal consultancy opportunities within English departments across the ME region . More recently , Emily was promoted to Assistant Director of Studies at The English School , Kuwait .
Class Time | | Jan - Feb 2018 | 21