What were school staff reading in June 2022?

At Edapt, we support thousands of school staff in England and Wales with employment-related enquiries. 

As a result, we have a unique window into the insights and concerns of school staff and how this changes at specific times throughout the academic year.

With over 250 accessible support articles on education and employment-related subjects, when school staff search for reliable information on employment issues in schools, they come to Edapt.

During June 2022, our top 3 most popular support articles were:

1 INSET days what are my requirements to attend?

During June we received lots of hits on our INSET days support article.

This is due to the fact that the majority of schools had a half-term break during June with INSET days either side of the holiday.

INSET (IN–SErvice Training days) were introduced in 1988 by the then education secretary Ken Baker so teachers could take part in professional development outside of their standardised 190 days.

Schools can decide how to spread out INSET days across the academic year, so you might attend two at the beginning of the school year, one before Easter and two at the end of the school year.

If you are a teacher in a maintained school and your school follows the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) your school must designate five days per year for purposes other than teaching. Each of the five days should be allocated six hours of directed time, even if teachers do not undertake activities for all of that time.

There are examples of schools which use all five days in one week or schools which try and coincide INSET days with elections to reduce school closures. 

Headteachers must ensure these five days are used for training purposes, as otherwise it would be depriving teachers from their right to continuing professional development.

Academies that do not follow the STPCD can decide how many INSET days to hold each year. 

2 Head of Department: what does the role involve?

At Edapt, we support many middle leaders, including heads of department. This was our second most clicked on support article of the month with many new middle leaders subscribing during June as well.

The head of department role can vary depending on the school you are working in. You could be leading a team of 15 members of staff in a large multi-academy trust or a department of 3 members of staff in a small independent school.

You will want to develop your practice as a classroom practitioner first and feel comfortable with taking on additional responsibilities within your department.

There may be a second in department position available or a TLR which you could apply for which allows you to develop many of the skills and attributes for the position.

Your second in department position could focus on a specific Key Stage or an improvement area in the school which you could lead on, for example, whole-school literacy training.

Shadowing and working closely with your current head of department will develop your leadership skills and the expectations for the role.

In addition, you might decide to apply for a National Professional Qualification in Middle Leadership (NPQML) which could support your application.  

If you feel unable to progress at your current school you may decide to apply for a head of department position in a different setting.

3 Deputy headteacher: what does the role involve?

Our third most clicked on support article of the month was on the role of deputy headteachers in schools. Similarly, to the article above, we support many senior leaders at Edapt and we saw a number of new deputy headteachers subscribing to our service.

Deputy headteachers will work closely with the headteacher and will be in the second most senior position at school, line-managing staff and working towards the objectives in the school improvement plan. 

To progress to the role of deputy headteacher you might already be an assistant headteacher or head of year. You might have also decided to complete a National Professional Qualification in Senior Leadership (NPQSL) to support your application to deputy headteacher.

You can apply for a deputy head role at different schools or decide to apply for a position at your own school.