The governing body, with the headteacher and senior leadership team, provide an overall vision and set priorities for the development of ICT. They balance the needs of various departments for facilities and for professional and technical support. They agree Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 ICT targets and monitor and review progress regularly.
Often, the senior leadership team has a member who is the line manager for ICT, taking a lead role in monitoring ICT teaching and learning in the ICT department and across the curriculum, supporting the ICT subject leader's development of the subject and leadership development, and taking a particular interest in results and analysis of data. This gives the senior leadership team rapid and continuous feedback on the progress of pupils, and on results and other outcomes in ICT and future development needs.
The ICT coordinator, usually a member of the senior leadership team, is responsible for coordinating the cross-curricular use of ICT to support learning in all subjects, and for allocating equipment, accommodation and professional support for ICT throughout the school.
The subject leader for ICT, the head of the ICT department, has responsibility for the teaching and assessment of the programmes of study for ICT. Some schools may have subject leaders for each key stage.
All subject leaders are responsible for ensuring that ICT is used effectively to promote pupils' learning in their subjects, and will agree with the ICT coordinator the facilities needed to make this possible. The subject leader may also contribute to the assessment of pupils' performance at the end of Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 by passing on a record of the levels achieved to the senior leadership team.
As middle leaders, subject leaders play a crucial role in developing and sustaining the nature and quality of pupils' experience. Within their area of responsibility, they shape and lead the quality of provision and the standards pupils achieve. They influence outcomes in other areas of the school, and can act as the gatekeepers of standards and innovation as they are the leaders closest to the classroom.
It is essential to school improvement that subject leaders participate fully in school self-evaluation to know what is done well and what needs to be improved, to help decide priorities and the next steps for school improvement and raising standards. Self-evaluation is a significant aspect of school inspection. The Middle leaders' self-evaluation guide provides middle leaders with a tool, linked to the Ofsted self-evaluation form, to gather and refine their evidence and analytical processes.