Demonstrate vision, direction and guidance

Campus-level Leaders can be key players in the implementation of the system’s vision and direction for the subject. They are the links between the System Leaders/ Program Coordinators and teachers, thus having considerable impacts on how successfully the system vision and direction are translated into action. In order to effectively direct the activities of the department toward the system’s vision, Campus-level Leaders need to fulfill the following requirements.

Showing a depth of understanding of the subject vision and the curriculum In order to lead the curriculum emphasis in line with the school’s and the system’s initiatives, it is a must that Campus-level Leaders understand the curriculum fully and commit to a shared educational vision focussed on providing quality learning outcomes for all students. They need to demonstrate a good understanding of how the ESL curriculum works as well as a sophisticated understanding of the school and system’s policies related to ESL. More specifically, they need to obtain deep insights into the following aspects of the curriculum: Subject aims: to make sure all of the activities of the department are geared towards the end point ESL standards: to align all of the department’s teaching and learning activities with the standards Key approaches to teaching and learning: to orient the teaching activities of teachers, organize teacher training on appropriate teaching methods.

Deliver training to teachers, ensuring that teachers are fully aware of the subject aims and the curriculum and are able to disseminate them to parents and students consistently Campus-level Leaders need to actively inform and ask teachers to carefully read the information about the curriculum provided on WikiESL and on the mapping portal. In addition, training sessions should be delivered on a regular basis to discuss the crucial contents of the curriculum in depth, ensuring that staff are clear about the importance and role of the ESL subject in contributing to students’ development and future success. The training contents should cover, but are not limited to the following areas: Induction training to the ESL subject and the ESL curriculum Training focusing on analyzing the standards/ outcomes of the ESL subject Training on how to organize professional activities in alignment with the subject vision and key approaches Training on how to deploy available resources to maximize the effectiveness of outcome-based and competence-based teaching and learning

Supervise the communication to parents and students, making sure they are fully informed of the subject aims, subject specifics and students’ learning paths The campus-level leaders play a key role in ensuring that parents and students are always ready for the challenges of the subject. In light of the subject orientation and goals, they develop implementation and monitoring plans. They need to collaborate with relevant parties (homeroom teachers, academic counselors, etc.) so as to warrant consistent and coherent school-parent communication. In so doing, they need to: inform parents of the subject’s key content knowledge at the beginning of the academic year organize workshops to introduce the curriculum and subject requirements to parents at the beginning of the school year send assessment details and exam guides to students and parents prior to an important assessment