Job Title - HEAD OF DEPARTMENT (HOD) 

HOD’s are responsible for regular review of teacher and student work of their teams, with their own work serving as benchmarks. They are also responsible for building and maintaining collegiality and commitment of team members without asserting rank. For this work they will hold one teaching load less than teachers for independently managing teams up to 6 teachers, and two teaching loads less for larger or more complex teams. HOD’s are not responsible for performance appraisal of teachers but can be delegated some tasks by the section head for regular follow up of some or all team members.
 

Support for teaching and learning - 

• Supporting with course outlines, unit plans and lesson planning.
• Supporting technology integration for teaching and learning.
• Suggesting activities and experiences that extend beyond the physical classroom to extend learning opportunities.
• Working with teachers to analyse student work and data to inform work.
• Supporting development of team and individual goals.

Team Development and performance -

• Tracking overall performance, engagement, commitment and capacity of the team.
• Planning professional growth through department PD.
• Observing lessons when necessary and providing constructive and confidential feedback using a template for post observation meetings.

Collaboration and Facilitation - 

• Facilitating the development and use of a department learning continuum with content and pacing, in alignment with school and programme expectations.
• Creating a platform for collaboration (shared agenda) with the team members through department meetings. 
• Discussing upcoming changes in syllabus and plan for new resources as required.
• Facilitating sharing of pedagogical practices; 
  1. Assessments
  2. Learning activities
  3. Links to TOK / Interdisciplinary links with other subjects, DOL, etc
  4. Execution of classes
• Strategizing team engagements with IB and NEASC.
• Coordinating & reviewing dept slides for subject selection and orientation presentations.
• Coordinating important deadlines related to assessments, examinations and drafts.
• Coordinating peer observations within the department.
• Collaborating with the coordinator for the PDP on behalf of the team.

Assessment and reporting - 

• Ensuring that questions in tests and exams, or assessments have a balance of appropriate skill set and are of appropriate difficulty level.
• Checking reporting entries to ensure relevant and actionable feedback and other information is provided.
• Reviewing teams assessment data, to identify individual progression recognising that every child is unique; look for anomalies.
• Document findings and discuss with team and leaders for reflective improvement.
• Understand student abilities for generation of PG.
• Managing assessment and grading moderation.
• Ensuring accuracy of records for school data for both student and teacher performance.

Supervision and Resource Management - 

• Communicating with the Programme Coordinator and Section head for matters related to further intervention or support as deemed necessary.
• Working with school heads to ensure curricular continuity with a focus on curricular transitions between sections.
• Alerting the coordinator if syllabus coverage or assessment tasks have fallen behind.
• Managing a bank of resources inclusive of readings, videos and other materials relevant to the course and effective learning and teaching practices.
• Maintaining an inventory of departmental resources (ensuring repair and replacement).
• Proposing workload allocation to share with section head and programme coordinator after subject selection.
• Updating coordinator about issues raised at dept meetings and closing the loop.
• Arranging demo classes for potential recruits and sharing feedback on demos.