JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: Head of Technology & Design
REPORTS TO: Principal
PROFESSIONAL DUTIES OF A TEACHER
TEACHERS’ (TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT) REGULATIONS
(NORTHERN IRELAND) 1987
Schedule 3
Regulation 5
Additional Duties Head of Technology & Design
Health and Safety
a) To take lead responsibility for health and safety within all Technology rooms and workshops in line with EA guidance and relevant legislation.
b) To ensure that all practical activities are supported by appropriate and regularly reviewed risk assessments.
c) To ensure compliance with regulations relating to machinery and equipment, including maintenance, safe operation and staff competence.
d) To oversee the safe storage, handling and disposal of materials in accordance with COSHH regulations.
e) To ensure all staff and pupils are appropriately trained in safe working practices and the correct use of equipment and PPE.
f) To monitor and maintain a safe working environment through regular audits and inspections.
g) To investigate and report accidents/incidents and implement corrective actions.
h) To manage health and safety documentation and ensure it is inspection-ready.
Conditions of Service
The conditions of service for this post will be in accordance with the Regulations of the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.
Additional roles and responsibilities.
We are looking for a dynamic leader and teacher committed to working as part
of a team committed to raising standards.
The Head of Department role will require collaboration with a link member of the Senior Leadership team to track, monitor and evaluate the department’s curriculum model.
Leadership and Management
- To be responsible for the organisation and management of a subject department in accordance with the policies, procedures and guidelines agreed by school leadership, and to undertake any other duties or tasks related to this position which may be reasonably required by the principal.
- To formulate, implement, monitor, and evaluate Departmental Schemes of Work including, rationale, aims, objectives, staffing, staff development, resources, progression/continuity, differentiation, special needs approach, teaching methods,
assessment arrangements, homework policy, cross-curricular themes, inter-subject links, numeracy, literacy, I.C.T., careers education and evaluation procedures in line with the 4 phase programme.
- To develop implement and review regularly, a department improvement plan in line with whole school priorities as outlined in the school development plan.
- To ensure adequate resources are in place to deliver efficiently and effectively the curriculum, to undertake and delegate (when necessary) the requisitioning process.
- To monitor and support the work of a team of Teaching and non-Teaching staff, to create a purposeful working atmosphere in which every member of staff and their work is valued.
- To establish high expectations for all pupils, to monitor their progress and ensure that appropriate guidance and intervention strategies are implemented and reviewed for improvement.
- To undertake appropriate assessment measures (formative and summative) that aid pupil progress, formal exam sessions throughout and at the end of year fall within this remit. To use varied forms of assessment including teacher observations, collegiate book looks, trusted colleague network, sharing best practice, discussions with students, feedback for improvement, written tests, practical interactive activities, and other structured assessment tools measured to pupil stages of development.
- Plan and organise the curriculum for the subject/related subjects throughout the school, establishing how excellent standards, continuity and progression can be achieved and sustained.
- Regularly and systematically provide guidance to colleagues on content, methodology and resources ensuring that all pedagogy is underpinned by evidence informed research.
- To work collaboratively with their link Senior Leader to ensure appropriate
target setting and sharing of effective practice.
- To create a team identity within the department, holding departmental meetings which are purposeful, structured, recorded, tasks delegated, followed up and evaluated.
- To prioritise, monitor and review quality teaching and learning within the Department through regular lesson observations and other qualitative and quantitative measurement tools. To provide support and challenge underperformance.
- To liaise with the additional educational needs team to ensure active implementation of strategies to support all pupils to achieve, including the use of IEPS and PLP’s.
- To establish with the Department a coherent system of celebrating student achievement, to create the required ethos of mutual respect and understanding.
- To share with the Senior Leadership Team the responsibility for the professional development of staff as appropriate to their needs.
- To support and advise fellow colleagues in disciplinary action when appropriate and in accordance with the procedures established in School policy.
- To undertake and provide evidence of self-evaluation at departmental and individual basis on a regular basis.
- To complete a yearly analysis of departmental results, identify trends, strategies for
improvement and priority students using data and benchmarking to monitor progress in every child’s learning.
- To lead learning within the department by ensuring there is regular monitoring of on-going improvement, using regular data to track student performance and underachievement.
- Use pupil voice to monitor and evaluate classroom practice using questionnaires, surveys, and verbal feedback.
- To review the qualifications on offer on an annual basis and change if required, to meet the ever changing profile needs of students.
- To liaise with primary schools and community groups, and coordinate activities to develop strong relationships within the community
- To teach other subjects as required by the needs of the school.
- - To effectively line manage technical support staff and oversee the efficient procurement, maintenance and allocation of departmental resources and equipment.
- To ensure that all practical activities are appropriately adapted to meet the needs of pupils with additional educational needs, promoting safe and inclusive participation for all learners.
- To promote sustainable practices within the department, including the responsible use of materials and the development of environmentally conscious design approaches.
- To ensure the department is fully prepared for internal and external quality assurance processes, including compliance with ETI expectations and contribution to whole-school self-evaluation.
- To lead the effective integration of digital technologies, including CAD/CAM and e-learning tools, to enhance teaching, learning and assessment within the department.
- To lead and promote STEM across the department and wider school by fostering strong cross-curricular links with Science and Mathematics, modelling collaborative practice, and supporting the planning and delivery of primary liaison activities that enhance pupil engagement and contribute to school improvement.
1) Exercise of general professional duties
A teacher who is not a principal shall carry out the professional duties of a teacher as circumstances may require:-
(a) if he/she is employed as a teacher in a school under the reasonable direction of the principal of that school;
(b) if he/she is employed by a board on terms under which he is not assigned to any one school, under the reasonable direction of that board and of the principal of any school
in which he/she may for the time being be required to work as a teacher.
2) Exercise of particular duties
(a) A teacher employed as a teacher (other than a principal) in a school shall perform, in accordance with any directions which may be reasonably given to him/her by the principal
from time to time, such particular duties as may reasonably be assigned to him/her.
(b) A teacher to whom paragraph 1(b) refers shall perform, in accordance with any direction which may reasonably be given to him/her from time to time by the board or by the
principal of any school in which he/she may for the time being be required to work as a teacher, such particular duties as may reasonably be assigned to him/her.
1. Planning
1.1 Planning and preparing courses and lessons;
1.2 Teaching, according to their educational needs, the pupils assigned to him/her, including the setting and marking of work to be carried out by the pupils in school and
elsewhere;
1.3 Assessing, recording and reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.
2. General
2.1 Promoting the general progress and well-being of individual pupils and of any class or group of pupils assigned to him/her;
2.2 Providing advice and guidance to pupils on educational and social matters and on their further education and future careers including information about sources of more
expert advice on specific questions, making relevant records and reports;
2.3 Making records of and reports on the personal and social needs of pupils except in instances where to do so might be regarded as compromising a teacher’s own position;
2.4 Communicating and consulting with the parents of pupils;
2.5 Communicating and co-operating with such persons or bodies outside the school as may be approved by the employing authority and the Board of Governors;
2.6 Participating in meetings arranged for any of the purposes described above.
3. Assessment/Reporting
Providing or contributing to oral and written assessments, reports and references relating to individual pupils and groups of pupils except in instances where to do so might
be regarded as compromising a teacher’s own position.
4. Staff Development/Professional Development
4.1 Participating, if required, in any scheme of staff development and performance review;
4.2
a) Reviewing from time to time his/her methods of teaching and programmes of work;
b) Participating in arrangements for his/her further training and professional development as a teacher.
4.3 Advising and co-operating with the Principal and other teachers (or any one or more of them) on the preparation and development of courses of study, teaching materials,
teaching programmes, methods of teaching and assessment and pastoral arrangements.
5. Discipline/Health and Safety
5.1 Maintaining good order and discipline among pupils in accordance with the policies of the employing authority and safeguarding their health and safety both when they are
authorised to be on the school premises and when they are engaged in authorised school activities elsewhere.
5.2 Participating in meetings at the school which relate to the curriculum for the school or the administration or organisation of the school, including pastoral arrangements.
6. Public Examinations
Participating in arrangements for preparing pupils for public examinations and in assessing pupils for the purposes of such examinations; recording and reporting such assessments;
and participating in arrangements for pupils’ presentation for and supervision during such examination.
7. Review and Development of Management Activities/Administration
7.1
a) Contributing to the selection for appointment and professional development of other teachers, including the induction and assessment of probationary teachers;
b) Co-ordinating or managing the work of other teachers;
c) Taking such part as may be required of him/her in the review, development and management of activities relating to the curriculum, organisation and pastoral functions of the school.
7.2
a) Participating in administrative and organisational tasks related to such duties as described above, including the management or supervision of persons providing support for the
teachers in the school and the ordering and allocation of equipment and materials.
b) Subject to the provisions of Article 22 of the Order, attending assemblies;
c) Registering the attendance of pupils and supervising pupils, whether these duties are to be performed before, during or after school sessions.
8. Number of days/Hours of work
8.1
a) A full-time teacher, other than a teacher employed in a residential establishment, shall be available for work on 195 days in any year of which not more than 190 days
should involve teaching children in a classroom situation;
b) A teacher, other than a teacher employed in a residential establishment, shall be available to perform such duties at such times and such places as may reasonably be
specified by the Principal, or where he/she is employed by a Board on terms under which he/she is not assigned to any one school by the Board or the Principal of any school
in which he/she may for the time being be required to work as a teacher, for 1,265 hours in any year exclusive of time spent off school premises in preparing and marking lessons
and time spent travelling to and from the place of work;
c) A teacher may not be required to teach as distinct from supervise children in a classroom situation for more than 25 hours in any week in a primary or special school and 23.5
hours in any week in a secondary school;
d) Unless employed under a separate contract as a mid-day supervisor, a teacher shall not be required to undertake mid-day supervision;
e) Subject to paragraph (f) all teachers shall be required to have a break of at least 30 minutes between the hours of 12 noon and 2.00 pm;
f) Teachers in nursery schools and nursery units in primary schools shall be required to have a break of at least 30 minutes between the hours of 12 noon and 2.30 pm;
g) For the purposes of this paragraph, a ‘year’ means a period of 12 months commencing on 31st July and a ‘week’ means a period of 7 days commencing on a Sunday.
9. Staff cover
9.1 Supervising and teaching any pupils whose teacher is not available provided that:
a) In schools with an average daily enrolment of 222 or less, in primary 1 and primary 2 classes in schools with an average daily enrolment greater than 222 pupils and in nursery
classes in primary schools a teacher other than a supply teacher shall not be required to provide such cover:
b) In schools with an average daily enrolment greater than 222 pupils a teacher other than a supply teacher shall not be required to provide such cover after the second day on
which a teacher, other than a teacher of primary 1 or primary 2 class or of a nursery class in a primary school, is absent or otherwise not available, or from the first day if the fact
that the teacher would be absent or otherwise not available for a period exceeding 2 days was known to and agreed by the employing authority in advance.
This job description will be subject to review in light of changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid and inflexible but should be regarded as providing guidelines within
which the individual works. Other duties of a similar nature and appropriate to the grade may be assigned from time to time.
In accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (1998), the post-holder is expected to promote good relations, equality of opportunity and pay due regard for equality legislation at all times.
