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Creating an effective communication network in your department will go a long way in creating a harmonious relationship between your staff, as well as improving the educational environment for your students.

If your staff are fully informed about the issues affecting them and the organization of your subject department and the school, then they will be more prepared to offer assistance and suggestions to improve the functioning of the department and help resolve any ‘problems’ that may arise. . . Helps create an “all in this together” atmosphere between you and your staff.

Therefore, it is important that you, as the curriculum leader, keep everyone well informed. I did this in several ways.

• Departmental meetings at the beginning of each term, usually on students’ free days.

• Regular memos to all staff as issues arise. Each teacher had their own lockers where all the memos and personal information went. I used different colored papers on which he posted notes. for example, yellow could be used for important notices; green can include information about the evaluation; blank may contain information of a general nature. The advantage of colored paper is that it doesn’t get lost among the reams of white paper that teachers collect during the school year.

• Use of email. Remember that emails are stored on the computer and are not lost. You can opt for a code to tell teachers the priority of each email.

• Once a week, at a staff morning tea. Here, on an informal basis, I kept my staff abreast of current and developing issues.

• Staff meetings during the period were only called when a new issue arose that had not been considered at the beginning of the period meetings. He would lead these meetings before school for a maximum of 30 minutes starting at 8:15 am. This allowed staff time to get ready for the 9 am class.

• One-on-one meeting. In addition to my end of the year meeting with the teachers one on one, I would meet with a teacher when problems related to them were referred to me, either by the administration or at the request of the teacher. Sometimes a fellow teacher might pull me aside to explain that a colleague was having trouble and needed help.

• Open door policy. This allowed teachers the immediate opportunity to bring serious issues to my attention quickly instead of waiting for the next department meeting. Your department will only be successful if every staff member, from the youngest to the most experienced, feels like a valued member of your team. There are ways to develop this feeling of inclusion. One is to have an open door policy where any teacher can talk to you privately about any issue that concerns you.

• Solicit opinions from staff. An extension of the previous idea, in the departmental meetings that you chair, is to ask the opinion on the topics under discussion to the young teachers or teachers who generally prefer not to comment. Here you are working to make them realize that their opinion is valued and that your department needs their experience and knowledge to get the best result for their students.

• Coordinator meetings. Each separate subject or grade level had a coordinator. This person set the work schedule, offered teaching suggestions, including which teaching aids, computer software, and calculator programs to use; He wrote evaluation items and overlooks the correction of these tasks. Whenever possible, he would attend these meetings to keep up with progress in each area, even if he wasn’t teaching at that grade level.

• Report of the meetings of Heads of Department. These meetings with the administration established the directions in which the school would move. I often gave this report at our weekly department morning tea meeting.

• Looking for advice. No one is the source of all knowledge, no matter how experienced they are. It’s important to be humble enough to seek advice from others who have experience within your department. This again adds credibility to your attempts to make all of your staff feel valued. It is also important to listen to the young staff. Your knowledge of the use of modern technology and the educational pedagogue can prove invaluable.

• One last point: there will always be one or two staff members in a large department who aren’t always up to date with what’s going on. Be aware of who they are and send them silent reminders in private to keep them out of it.