The head teacher is the most teacher of teachers in a school. The head teacher is also called a headmaster or headmistress, which are gender-specific terms. As a whole, they are called head teachers. In a nutshell, the head teacher is the person in charge of the various departments in a school. The lead role makes him or her a part of the school’s executive committee. The next step after being a head teacher is to eventually become part of the school’s administration.
The head teacher may not have a growing heap of responsibilities, but their responsibilities, though smaller in number, are actually heavier. Some head teachers still retain teaching responsibilities, so they would still have to insert some classes in the middle of all their other tasks. Some head teachers, though, are relieved of any teaching responsibilities, and seems to have already delegated the act of teaching to the nurses under his or her supervision.
This leads us to the second primary responsibility of head teachers. They act as leaders or supervisors who supervise and evaluate the performance of the teachers. Head teachers are always teachers themselves, who just climbed up the ladder until they reach the head teacher post. This way, they are in the correct position of authority to advise teachers on teaching skills and classroom management strategies. Any problems that the teachers may have should be brought to the attention of the head teacher, so that it can be resolved.
The third responsibility of head teachers is focused on the school’s curriculum. It is the head teacher’s job to lead the teachers in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the school curriculum. In case the existing curriculum needs work, it should be the head teacher’s initiative to lead and motivate the teachers to work on the curriculum as a team. Since this responsibility directly involves the education that is received by the students, this is a very important duty of a head teacher.
Because of these heavy responsibilities, head teachers should have certain qualifications and characteristics that will empower them to take the lead role. First of all, since the end recipients of the head teacher’s efforts are still the students, a head teacher should have the ability to handle children and interact with them. It makes no difference whatsoever whether the head teacher has teaching responsibilities. He or she needs this skill nevertheless. However, if a head teacher has teaching responsibilities, he or she naturally has to have excellent teaching skills. For those who don’t have teaching responsibilities, then the focus of their job is on managerial responsibilities. It follows, then, that they need strong managerial skills. They should be able to balance their interaction with the teachers and the students with the level of authority that they should maintain at all times.