Does anyone have level 7 teaching qualification anymore? I mean the ones like Delta, DipTesol, etc. Having been involved a little with recruitment for summer school this year, I suspect these numbers are dwindling.

Depending on who accredits your summer school, there might be an expectation you have of one these qualifications if you want to be employed as an academic manager. However, I think lowering this standard is an inevitability. I don’t know what the figures are for people taking Delta, DipTesol, etc., but I suspect there are not enough to fulfil all summer school management jobs in the industry. If it was slim pickings before Brexit and the pandemic, it must be worse now.

We need to be clear that most recognised level 7 teaching qualifications are not managerial qualifications. There are modules in MA Applied Linguistics/TESOL courses and diploma courses which allow participants to do a managerial specialisation, but these are options amongst many other choices. What I’m essentially saying is although they are benchmark qualifications, they say nothing much about someone’s ability to manage a teaching product.

It’s not to say these courses are void, they are not- I got a lot out of Delta. Part of summer school academic management is effectively putting students into appropriate cohort groups. I was a Director of Studies before I did Delta, but I can say I became a much better tester after it.

Regardless to given requirements or the perceived efficacy of a course, it’s always better to look at a candidate’s experience as a guide to whether they might be able to do the job. Indicators which suggest someone might be able to cope should be practical examples, e.g., when someone has had to lead a team of people to achieve something. Running a summer school is very much like project management- you have a start, middle, and end. There are parameters, standards, and deliverables that needs to be met, which means someone has to be organised, accountable, and willing to work with people to make the project happen.

As it’s a teaching product, academic managers should be second language teachers with experience; stronger candidates will be invested in their work. An indicator of this is when a person has something to share in the teachers’ room. The person who imparts advice informally or becomes the focal point for questions. The same type of person might be confident enough to run an INSETT session.

In terms of the actual role, yes, you need to be a teacher, but the fundamentals of the job are setting up and managing a teaching department; it’s about managing people and office management. When it comes to spreadsheets, you need to be all over them like a cheap suit, because if you’re not, the job can become arduous. The time you have left to look at the teaching product will fizzle if you’re struggling with the admin tasks that are essential to the role.

Summer school academic management is hard. Many come into it ill prepared but brimming with confidence. When the complexities of the job are seen, it can, and does knock people’s self-confidence. However, it’s not insurmountable and there’s every reason why someone new to the role can be successful. The starting point is understanding what the role entails and providing much better training. When coming into something new, we all want to hit the ground running, don’t we?

If you are interested in reading my ideas of what skills and abilities are important when coming into the role of Director of Studies in as summer school, click here: Role profile of a summer school Director of Studies

Interested in other summer school related tools and topics? Click here: Summer school ideas

Do you need a game to fill a gap in your lesson and engage your students? If yes, look no further than here: Games and board games

Do you work in academic management? You might find a handy labour-saving tool here: Office tools