The Six Things A Headteacher Can Never Delegate, Says The DfE

I want to start with a document that exists in every school in the country that almost nobody reads all the way through and that a great many people are quietly wrong about. It is your behaviour policy. It is on your website because it has to be. And somewhere near the top of it, there is a review date. And I would put money on that date being the most recently changed thing in the whole file. Yeah. I mean, it is so remarkably easy to treat that file as just a pure compliance exercise, right?

Like ours was reviewed back in September and honestly, if pressed, I could not tell what exact wording actually changed. It simply receives its annual stamp of approval and goes straight back onto the server. And that administrative blindness is exactly why we are opening it up today. We're going to read the specific document that dictates what is actually supposed to be inside that policy. And more importantly, we are going to find the exact line within it that determines who takes the responsibility when the system fails. This is the education commute.

So just to set the context here, we have actually just finished 10 episodes on national leadership qualifications and frameworks. Yeah, we have. But those previous discussions were entirely focused on what a school leader is expected to know, right? And the skills they are expected to demonstrate in practice. Exactly. And what we are looking at today is a completely different object. Okay. It is directly the Department for Education's advice, which is formally titled Behaviour in Schools, Advice for Head Teachers and School Staff, February, 2024. Right, the full document.

Yeah, and this document is fundamentally about the piece of paper itself, rather than the leadership theory behind it. So it sets out very strict rules regarding what that piece of paper must contain. Well, for the sake of exploring how this works in reality, I am going to sit in the chair of the middle leader today. Perfect. I will represent the person who has to take this policy and actually apply it in the corridors and classrooms every single day. And I am going to sit in the chair of the person who ultimately owns the policy.

Which is a role that becomes far more specific and rigid than most people anticipate once we actually look closely at the wording. Okay. But before we delve into the details, we really need to address its legal standing. Is this document statutory? No. Just flat? No. Flat, no. That needs to be stated plainly right at the start. The document explicitly describes itself as non-statutory guidance. However, we do have to be incredibly precise here. Inside this non-statutory guidance, there are sentences that rely on the word must. Okay.

So what does that mean? Well, when the guidance uses that word, it is pointing toward duties that do exist elsewhere in law. But today, we are exclusively reading the advice provided by the department for education. We are not going behind it to interpret the underlying statute. So whenever the word must is used in this conversation today, the parameter is strict. Completely strict. It means the guidance says must. That is the extent of the claim being made. Understood. So I believe we have three main pillars to cover today, right?

Yes. You understand how this guidance constructs a behaviour policy. That is right. First, we will examine what the head teacher is explicitly required to determine. Second, we will look at exactly what the written policy has to contain. And third, we will explore what must legally happen to that policy once it is finalised. Well, let us begin with the first pillar, because this is an area where honestly, the assumptions often diverge significantly from the written advice. Yeah, they really do. The guidance is unequivocal here. It states that the head teacher must determine measures which aim to achieve six highly specific things.

And I'm going to read all six of these measures in full in order because the exact phrasing matters immensely. Cool. Right. One, encourage good behaviour and respect for others. Two, secure an acceptable standard of behaviour of pupils. Right. Pretty standard. Three, promote among pupils self-discipline and proper regard for authority. Okay. Four, prevent all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, prejudice-based, and discriminatory bullying. Oh, wait. I want to pause on measure four. Yeah. The brackets there are doing a lot of heavy lifting. Exactly. Because spelling out the specific types of bullying is a deliberate choice.

It explicitly names cyberbullying, prejudice-based, and discriminatory bullying in brackets. Right. If a school's behaviour policy simply declares, you know, a generic zero-polarised approach to bullying, it has completely failed to engage with the specific requirements of the guidance. Naming prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying means the school must determine measures that actively aim to prevent those specific harms, not just react to bullying as some general concept. That makes sense. Anyway, five, ensure that pupils complete any tasks reasonably assigned to them in connection with their education. Now, measure five also warrants attention, because it elevates the completion of homework to a fundamental standard of behaviour.

Yes, it does. It states schools must aim to ensure people complete any tasks reasonably assigned to them in connection with their education. But the operative words there are reasonably assigned and in connection with their education. Right, it is not a blank check. Exactly. It establishes a clear mandate that academic work is a behavioural expectation, but it creates a boundary. Staff cannot just issue punitive or irrelevant tasks. The work must be reasonable and connected to the learning. Got it. And then we reach the sixth measure. Yes.

Six, otherwise regulate the conduct of pupils. Which is such an interesting phrase. Instructing the head teacher to otherwise regulate the conduct. It is the ultimate catch-all clause. Yeah. When a prescriptive list of five specific duties concludes with the phrase otherwise regulate, it acts as a trapdoor. It is the precise location where every single behavioural issue that nobody thought to write down officially lives. And that brings us to the crucial distinction regarding who is actually responsible for all of this, right? Because immediately following that six-point list the guidance delivers a critical rule.

Okay. What is it? It states word-for-word This is a core responsibility of a head teacher. It cannot be delegated. Well, hang on I have to challenge the reality of that statement Go ahead because in practical day-to-day school life this work is delegated constantly. Oh, absolutely I mean a middle leader often writes the department handbooks behaviour section a A deputy head frequently runs the detention system and analyses the data. The head teacher merely signs the final document. That reflects the operational reality of almost every school, yeah.

But the guidance is drawing a very sharp distinction between executing the daily work and holding the ultimate responsibility. Oh, I see. The deputy can certainly design the system. A middle leader can certainly enforce it, but the guidance is locking the accountability firmly to one desk. Which means the true weight of that sentence only reveals itself when the system breaks down. Precisely. If a severe incident occurs and a parent or an inspector questions why a specific measure was determined, the guidance dictates that the answer is never the middle leader or the deputy head.

The head teacher answers for it. The responsibility for determining the measures cannot be delegated. Okay, so moving from the underlying responsibility to the physical document itself, we reach the second pillar. Yes, which details what the behaviour policy is actually supposed to look like when written. And this gets prescriptive, right? Highly prescriptive. It states that the behaviour policy should include detail on nine specific headings labeled A through I. Nine headings. Yeah. And we need to go through all nine in full in order because the most revealing requirements are hidden in the middle of the list.

Okay. Proceed with the first heading. A is purpose, including the underlying objectives of the policy and how it creates a safe environment in which all pupils can learn. So that establishes the philosophical foundation. Right. It moves to the operational side in the next heading, I assume. It does. B is leadership and management, including the role of designated staff and leaders, any systems used, the resources allocated, and engagement of governor's trustees. Wait, we really need to highlight the resources allocated there. Yeah. That is a literal budget line mandated within a behaviour policy.

It is. It requires leadership to explicitly document the financial or staffing resources they are committing to make the policy function, which is something frequently omitted in standard templates. Completely agreed. Next, C is school systems and social norms, including rules, routines, and consequence systems. Naming social norms alongside rules and routines is vital there. Yeah, why do you say that? Because it acknowledges that behaviour is governed just as much by the established culture as it is by the formal consequence system. Absolutely. D is staff induction, development, and support, including regular training for staff on behaviour.

Right. The key word in that sentence is regular. The expectation is not a single induction session on the first day of employment followed by silence. It demands an ongoing cycle of training. Which logically leads directly into how pupils are brought into that same culture. Exactly. E is pupil transition, including induction and reinduction into behaviour systems, rules, and routines. I have to say the inclusion of the word reinduction is exceptionally powerful. It really is. It fundamentally shifts how schools should view pupil behaviour. Because it acknowledges that an initial induction inevitably wears off over time.

By mandating reinduction, the guidance turns the act of reminding pupils of the rules from an informal chat into a structural requirement of the school year. Spot on. F is pupil support, including the roles and responsibilities of designated staff, and the support provided to pupils with additional needs. Okay. And the guidance expands on this by stating that adjustments can be made to routines for pupils with additional needs, where appropriate and reasonable, to ensure all pupils can meet behavioural expectations. The phrasing there is critical. Yeah. The adjustment is made so that the people can meet the expectation.

It is an adjustment to the route the pupil takes, not a lowering of the final destination. The high standard remains constant. Yes, exactly. G is child on child abuse, including measures to prevent child on child abuse and the response to incidents of such abuse. It separates prevention and response because there are two entirely different mechanisms that require their own distinct planning. Exactly. Now heading H, moves us into the territory of enforcement. Let's hear it. H is banned items. a list of items which are banned by the school and for which a search can be made.

And this is a purely mechanical requirement. The statutory power for a school to conduct a search is entirely dependent upon this physical list existing within the published policy. Yeah, if an item is not explicitly on that written list, the power to search for it is fundamentally compromised. And that brings us to the final heading, which contains the most debated topic in current school policy, I think. Oh, for sure. It is mobile phones. And we actually need to slow down and examine this carefully. Why is that?

Because the Department for Education actually uses two completely different sentences regarding phones within this one document. Really? How do the two sentences differ? Well, the nine-item checklist we are currently reading says the policy should contain a clear approach prohibiting the use of mobile phones in school throughout the school day. Okay, that is the narrow sentence most people are familiar with. Right. But within the main body of the text, the guidance goes significantly further. What is the wording in the main body? The body states, all schools should develop and implement a policy that creates a mobile phone-free environment by prohibiting the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day.

Oh, wow. That phrase and other smart technology with similar functionality changes the entire scope of the rule. It does. It deliberately catches smartwatches and any emerging technology that mirrors a phone's capability. So a school policy that only prohibits mobile phones has satisfied the checklist, but it has failed to implement the wider scope detailed in the body of the guidance. Exactly. Which brings us to the third and final pillar. Okay. Once the head teacher has determined the measures and the policy has been written containing all nine headings, the guidance dictates exactly what must happen to it next.

And this is the operational step where many institutions quietly fail to meet the requirements, isn't it? Oh, massively. The guidance is explicit. It states the head teacher must publicise the school behaviour policy in writing to parents, staff, and pupils at least once a year. Right. Furthermore, the school's behaviour policy must also be published on the school website. Those are two distinct obligations. Yes, they are. The requirement is not merely to make the document available upon request. It demands active publication. Exactly. And the audience list is what catches people out, parents, staff, and pupils in writing at least once a year.

Ensuring pupils receive the policy in writing annually is a substantial logistical hurdle that goes far beyond simply hosting a digital file on a website. Yeah, for sure. But it removes the ability for a pupil to claim they were unaware of the rules. There's a framing line within the document that encapsulates the philosophy behind all of these requirements. Oh, it reads, a school's culture and values are manifested through the behaviour of all its members. High standards and clear rules should reflect the values of the school. Right.

And the defining phrase in that statement is all its members. Yes. It does not single out the pupils. The guidance recognises that a behaviour policy is fundamentally a framework that governs the conduct of the adults just as much as the children. If we look at how this translates into application, we can examine what the concept of reinduction looks like across three different environments. Okay. Let's look at that. In a primary setting, reinduction changes the nature of the first week back after a holiday. How so? Instead of relying on a brief reminder and hoping the routine survived the break, the first week is treated as a formal reteaching period, using the exact same language and structure as the start of the academic year.

That makes total sense. In a secondary setting, reinduction provides a concrete mechanism for a pupil returning from a suspension. Instead of the people simply walking back into a busy corridor without guidance, the written policy mandates a structured reinduction step. Oh, that is crucial. Yeah. It becomes a named responsibility for a staff member to ensure that people is consciously transitioned back into the school's behavioural system. And in a specialist setting, the application centres on the guidance regarding additional needs. Right. The instruction to make adjustments where appropriate and reasonable so that all pupils can meet behavioural expectations is vital.

By embedding this in the written policy, providing that adjustment ceases to be an act of individual kindness from a specific teacher. It becomes an official, mandated provision of the school. Ultimately, it is the exact same behaviour policy, sitting on the exact same website with the exact same review date. But reading the guidance behind it reveals a much more complex architecture. It completely reframes the document. Staff room seed. At break, ask whoever is nearest the kettle when they last read the school behaviour policy all the way through.

Then ask them what is on the banned items list. The gap between those two answers is the episode. The walk-in. Two questions. Can your school evidence that the behaviour policy was publicised in writing to parents, staff, and pupils in the last 12 months? pupils being the one that usually gets missed. And second, does your policy actually contain the nine things, including a list of banned items and the resources allocated, or does it contain seven of them and a review date? Let us isolate takeaways from all of this.

One, there are six specific measures the head teacher must determine, concluding with the requirement to otherwise regulate the conduct of pupils. Crucially, the guidance states this is a core responsibility of a head teacher. It cannot be delegated. Two. The two areas that require the most deliberate planning are documenting the resources allocated, which falls under leadership and management, and formalising reinduction, which falls under pupil transition. Three. The policy must be publicised in writing to parents, staff, and pupils at least once a year, alongside being published on the school website.

Yes. Both actions are mandatory musts, and evidencing the written distribution to pupils is the most rigorous compliance check. The Department for Education Guidance is free to access. It runs to 34 pages, and a direct link is available in the show notes. Additionally, there is a printable one-pager summarising today's analysis available at theeducationcommute.co.uk, which is designed for use in a staff room or a governor's meeting. While visiting the site, there were also two free newsletters, one designed specifically for school staff and another tailored for parents and carers.

They utilise the exact same evidence base, but the insights are written specifically for the perspective of the person reading it. Safe trip in, see you at the gates.