Principal Teacher
Encyclopedia
A principal teacher in Scotland
is a promoted post that usually refers to being head of a particular department within a secondary school, in charge of running the department and ensuring it is performing to school standard, but can also refer to a 'guidance' position with responsibility for the pastoral care of a cohort of pupils. Increasingly, principal teacher posts are being introduced into schools where they involve specific management responsibilities in a school (e.g. assessment, ICT).
A PT is not a headteacher or even a School Principal and is not responsible for running a school.
Recently, most local authorities have been following a policy of reducing the number of principal teachers in secondary schools by combining departments and having PT's titled 'curriculum leaders' or 'faculty heads', who essentially carry out the same responsibilities but over more than one department. For example, History
, Geography
and Modern Studies
are all separate departments and may have their own Principal Teacher however in a Curriculum Leader system these three departments would form the Social Sciences
Faculty, headed by one person. Since principal teachers are paid on a 8 point scale depending on the size of the management responsibilities, Faculty PTs may earn more than an individual departmental PT did before, but the move towards faculties will save the local authorities money in salary costs.
Scottish teachings unions have expressed concern that the drive towards replacing groups of departmental Principal Teachers with fewer Faculty Principal Teachers is being driven by the desire to cut costs rather than about improving the management of secondary schools.
Principal teachers in Primary Schools in Scotland refer to a classroom teacher who also takes on some managerial role within the school. They usually work part time in class with time out for development and managerial duties. Principal teachers tend to work under both head teachers and Depute heads.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
is a promoted post that usually refers to being head of a particular department within a secondary school, in charge of running the department and ensuring it is performing to school standard, but can also refer to a 'guidance' position with responsibility for the pastoral care of a cohort of pupils. Increasingly, principal teacher posts are being introduced into schools where they involve specific management responsibilities in a school (e.g. assessment, ICT).
A PT is not a headteacher or even a School Principal and is not responsible for running a school.
Recently, most local authorities have been following a policy of reducing the number of principal teachers in secondary schools by combining departments and having PT's titled 'curriculum leaders' or 'faculty heads', who essentially carry out the same responsibilities but over more than one department. For example, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
and Modern Studies
Modern Studies
Modern Studies is a subject unique to the Scottish secondary school curriculum , that is concerned with the study of local, national and international issues from a social, political and economic perspective...
are all separate departments and may have their own Principal Teacher however in a Curriculum Leader system these three departments would form the Social Sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
Faculty, headed by one person. Since principal teachers are paid on a 8 point scale depending on the size of the management responsibilities, Faculty PTs may earn more than an individual departmental PT did before, but the move towards faculties will save the local authorities money in salary costs.
Scottish teachings unions have expressed concern that the drive towards replacing groups of departmental Principal Teachers with fewer Faculty Principal Teachers is being driven by the desire to cut costs rather than about improving the management of secondary schools.
Example Organisation
An average will have a Head teacher, one to six Deputy/Deputy head teachers, one to ten Pastoral principal teachers(guidance staff), and one Principal teacher for each subject area (i.e. Maths, English, Modern Languages, Physics etc.).Principal teachers in Primary Schools in Scotland refer to a classroom teacher who also takes on some managerial role within the school. They usually work part time in class with time out for development and managerial duties. Principal teachers tend to work under both head teachers and Depute heads.