Head of department: what the job involves

A head of department leads a subject in a secondary school: its teachers, its curriculum and its results. You stay a classroom teacher with a full or slightly reduced timetable, and a teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) payment comes on top of your salary. From 1 September 2026, under the levels accepted for England, a TLR2 is worth £3,651 to £8,913 and a TLR1 £10,531 to £17,819, with the size depending on the department and the school’s pay policy.

Leading the curriculum

Within the school’s framework and the exam specifications, the head of department decides what is taught in each year and in what order. That includes choosing exam boards and specifications at GCSE and A level, writing or overseeing schemes of work, setting common assessments, and checking that year 7 teaching builds towards what is examined in year 11. When a specification changes or the school changes its curriculum model, the department head does most of the rewriting.

Resources fall to the same person: the department budget, textbooks and rooms. In practical subjects that also means working with technicians on equipment and safety.

Line management

Most heads of department line-manage the teachers in the team, which can be a handful of people in a small subject or a large group in English, maths or science. In practice that means:

• setting and reviewing appraisal targets
• observing lessons and giving feedback
• supporting early career teachers alongside their mentor
• handling workload and wellbeing concerns from the team
• starting informal support when a teacher is struggling, and sometimes taking part in formal capability processes

Some also manage support staff such as technicians or subject-specific TAs. Larger departments often have a second in department who takes some of this on, usually with a smaller TLR.

Results and accountability

Heads of department answer for their subject’s results. Each autumn they analyse the summer’s exam outcomes, explain them to senior leaders and governors, and set out what will change. During the year they track pupils’ progress, organise mock exams, plan interventions for pupils who are behind and moderate marking across the team. Before an Ofsted inspection, subject leaders are often interviewed about their curriculum; see Ofsted inspections from a staff perspective.

TLR payments

TLRs are paid for sustained extra responsibility focused on teaching and learning, including leading and managing other staff. The ranges accepted for England from 1 September 2026 are:

TLR	Range from 1 September 2026
TLR3	£727 to £3,600
TLR2	£3,651 to £8,913
TLR1	£10,531 to £17,819

TLR1 and TLR2 must include line management of other staff. Heads of department usually get a TLR2 in smaller subjects and a TLR1 in large departments or faculties. TLR3s are fixed-term, for time-limited projects. Each school sets the specific values in its pay policy, so two heads of department in the same town can be paid quite differently.

A teacher on M6 outside London is on £46,940. With a TLR2 at £6,000, say, they would earn £52,940 before tax. The STPCD 2026, which gives legal force to these ranges in maintained schools, was expected around early November 2026 and backdated to 1 September. Academies set their own pay but often mirror the national figures. See TLR payments, and work out the net effect with the take-home pay calculator.

Subject leads in primary schools

Primary schools rarely have departments, but they do have subject leaders. A primary teacher might lead maths, English, science or a group of foundation subjects alongside teaching their own class. The work is similar in kind: writing the curriculum sequence for the subject across the school, checking books and lessons, supporting colleagues and buying resources. It is smaller in scale and usually has no line management.

TLR1 and TLR2 require line management, so many primary subject leads are paid nothing extra, or a TLR3 only for a fixed-term project such as rewriting the curriculum. Some schools fold subject leadership into the expectations of every teacher on the upper pay range. If a primary post asks you to lead a core subject, ask how it is paid and how much leadership time you will get.

Workload

A head of department is a classroom teacher, so the 1,265 hours of directed time still apply on paper. Actual hours run longer. Data deadlines, reports for senior leaders, department meetings, parents’ evenings and exam season all land on the head of department. The job is easier in a school that gives department leaders protected leadership time on the timetable, so ask about that before accepting.

Getting the job and what comes after

Schools look for strong teaching, some leadership experience (a second in department role, a key stage coordinator post, or a whole-school project) and a clear view of how you would develop the curriculum. Interviews often include a data task and a presentation on your vision for the department. Our guide to interview presentations helps with the second.

The National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching is aimed at teachers who lead subjects or phases and is a common choice at this stage. From head of department, people often move to an assistant headteacher post; see deputy and assistant headteacher roles. Vacancies are listed under teaching jobs.