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Principal Teacher



 
 
A principal teacher (PT), in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 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 primary schools where they involve specific management responsibilities in a school.

A PT is not a headteacher or even a School Principal
Principal (school)

Principal or Head of School is the title of the chief administrator of an elementary school, middle school, or high school in some English-speaking countries, including the United States, India and Australia....
 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.






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A principal teacher (PT), in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 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 primary schools where they involve specific management responsibilities in a school.

A PT is not a headteacher or even a School Principal
Principal (school)

Principal or Head of School is the title of the chief administrator of an elementary school, middle school, or high school in some English-speaking countries, including the United States, India and Australia....
 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: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
, Geography
Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth"....
 and Modern Studies
Modern Studies

Modern Studies is a subject unique to the Scotland 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

The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including anthropology, communication studies, economics, human geography, history, political science, psychology and sociology....
 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 expresed 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 Depute/Deputy head teachers, one to ten Pastoral principal teachers(guidance staff), and one Principal teacher for each subject area (i.e. Maths, English, French, Physics etc.).

See also

  • Education in Scotland
    Education in Scotland

    Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from other parts of the United Kingdom....