When you are working as a class teacher in a primary school you may be called on to take on the responsibility of leading the school in one of the curriculum subjects. If you are newly qualified this will probably be one of the foundation subjects such as music, technology or history however a more experienced teacher may be asked to take on the subject coordinator role for one of the core subjects such as Mathematics or English, but what does this role involve?

One of the most important responsibilities will be to convey to the rest of the teaching staff any new initiatives that are sent out from the local education authority which pertain to your subject. You will probably be called on to lead staff meetings each term to update staff and to guide and support them in their curriculum planning.

Another role of the subject coordinator is to do regular book trawls. This involves looking at a selection of books to check that the medium term planning is being followed, that differentiation is evident, that is to say that children are being given work to do that is appropriate to their ability, and that marking follows the school marking policy guidelines.