From Language Teacher to Language Teaching Manager

Globally, the field of language teaching has expanded rapidly over the past twenty years
driven by wider markets and more varied forms of English language provision. This
expansion has created a demand for English language teachers and a concomitant need
for managers of language teaching organizations (LTOs). As often happens in other
fields, managers are typically recruited from within, drawn from among employees
within the LTO. How easy is it for teachers to make the transition from classroom to
directors office? What competencies do they already have and which ones need to be
developed and how can teachers go about developing them?
I have chosen to use the KASA (Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Awareness) framework1
for analysing and answering these questions. This model is one of the foundations
underpinning the teacher education and professional preparation programmes at the
School for International Training. It provides a very useful framework for looking at
competencies and I have found it particularly apt in this instance. The information for
each area has come from my own experience, various presentations I have done on the
subject at conferences, and from consultation with participants in the International
Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM).
Knowledge: Knowing About2
What information do I need to manage this school successfully?
The language program manager needs a lot of information in order to do his or her job
well. This knowledge includes market information (who the clients and customers are,
what the untapped part of the market consists of, who the competition are); resource
information (what the school has at its disposal financial resources, technological
resources, building resources, human resources); institutional history and organizational
structure. It also involves knowledge of the product that is being sold in our case
language teaching (as well as exams, curricula, coursebooks, etc). Finally it requires a
knowledge of management theory and practices just as teaching requires a knowledge
of approaches to teaching and methodologies
Much of this information is already available to the teacher who has recently been
promoted into the management position. She knows her students, she has an idea of the
market and of the human and material resources. Depending on how long she has been
working at the school, she has a sense of the institutions history and the academic
structure. What she may not be aware of are the detailed financial information, the
market (in terms of external factors and potential rather than actual students), and of
course the non-academic aspects of the school management, coupled with the very real
challenge of looking at the organization from an entirely different perspective. In many
instances, it may be that teachers dont have a real sense of what management actually is
often a result of negative experiences from being badly managed themselves. In effect
1
2

Freeman D. 1989 Teacher Training, Development, and Decision-Making TESOL Quarterly, 23(1) 27-45
Moran P. 2001 Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice Boston: Heinle and Heinle

they have been the recipients of management, and as such have had a different sense of
needs and expectations than as the providers of management.
There are a number of ways of coming by some of this information: books, for example,
could provide some of the management theory, and local information that may be useful.
The departing manager is obviously an invaluable source of knowledge, which in many
cases can be easily tapped into particularly if there is an overlap in the handover period.
Shadowing the manager for a week or two before he or she leaves is an extremely useful
exercise. Obviously working with the administrative staff is another important part of the
process. Training courses or workshops can help with some of the aspects of
management theory and an understanding of how organizations work, among other
things.
Skills: Knowing How3
What skills do I already have that I need to adapt, and which skills do I need to acquire?
This may be the most important area for a new manager. Many management skills are
fairly easy to transfer from the classroom, while others will need to be acquired. Some
of the former might be time management, the general management cycle (planning,
implementation, evaluation very familiar to teachers), communication and in
particular listening - an essential management skill. The latter might include teacher
supervision and evaluation, marketing, financial management, and customer relations.
Based on my experiences teaching on and coordinating the IDLTM, the two areas of
management that most strike fear into the former teacher are financial management and
marketing. It is not because those skills are considered to be harder to learn than any
others, but because most people feel like they are starting from scratch, having never
managed organizational budgets or sold a programme before.
As with any other field, skills are difficult to pick up from a book, and in this area of
competency acquisition, training courses and mentoring are particularly valuable. If you
know a manager at another institution (probably not a competitor) try and tap into their
abilities. If there are other managers at your school (and particularly if you are lucky
enough to have a marketing and financial department, say), use them. If there is a
director above you at the LTO, then see if they would be willing to act as a mentor.
Attitudes: Knowing Why4
Why do people behave the way they do? How can I become more aware of their
attitudes?
Finding out peoples motivations or the reasons behind certain facts can be tricky.
Teachers are forced to do this all the time asking why their students are there, what
motivates them to study the language, what learning style they each have, which ones
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among them respond to which activities and techniques, and so on. A new manager may
know something about the attitudes of his clients and customers, and even some of his
staff particularly his teachers but might need more information. Why do my staff
choose to work here? What motivates my teachers? What historical issues are at play in
the interactions and structure of the organization? What makes us tick - organizationally
and from a human resource perspective?
Many of the abilities needed to determine these attitudes, values and motivations can be
transferred directly from the classroom, but others will need to be acquired from other
sources. A course in organizational behaviour or human resource management would be
a good start, as would consulting with one of the many management books on the market.
Other ways include attending conference presentations, joining SIGs (like this one), and
sharing ideas with other managers. More locally, and specifically to your language
teaching organization, there is a clearly a good case for sitting down with all your staff in
one-on-one interviews to ask them what it is they like about their jobs, what they would
like to change, and how their work life could be made more satisfying. In this way, not
only do you get a sense of who your staff are, what brings them to work, what frustrates
them, and what motivates them, but you also get to learn a lot about the organization that
you might not have already known. One way of doing this successfully is to start with a
job model activity this is essentially a task in which both you and the staff member
individually list what you feel their job involves and what its priorities are. This can
provide an excellent set of information from which the conversation can evolve. You
will almost certainly be surprised at the difference between your perception of someones
role and their own!
Awareness: Knowing Oneself5
Who am I as a manager? What am I bringing to this role?
The easiest and simultaneously most challenging of the four areas. To give an example
from my own past: When I began my career as a teacher one of my primary concerns in
the classroom was to get my students to like me. It took quite a long time before I
became aware that this was who I was a teacher, and realized that this might even be
overriding other considerations like helping them learn English, for example. This kind
of self-awareness is something that you have to reacquire when you move into a
management position. Now, of course, it is about learning who you are as a manager.
One of the biggest challenges for a new manager who has recently been promoted out of
the classroom is to deal with the shift in her relationships with the other teachers.
However difficult it is to accept and however much everybody may hope that it doesnt
happen, there is a definite shift in the dynamic. Not long ago, I worked with a recently
promoted manager in Eastern Europe who was really struggling with the fact that her
friends in the staffroom were no longer at least at work her friends. There is not
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necessarily any solution to this problem except for an awareness that it will occur,
whether you like it or not.
So, who are you as a manager? Think about your first months in the classroom as a
teacher and remember how you became aware of who you were as a teacher. Its the
only way to speed up the process!
Summary
Just as teachers develop their competencies through a combination of training,
experience, discussion and reflection, so, too, do managers. Furthermore, just as training
is regarded as a vital part of becoming a teacher, and continuing professional
development (CPD) is a way of continuing to learn and grow, so, too, is training and
CPD vital for teachers who are becoming managers. The KASA framework outlined
above, and summarized below, is a good starting model to ensure that one remembers to
take into account all aspects of management rather than focusing only on the more
obvious need for skill building.
Books can start one off on the path to good management, but just as with teaching, books
alone are not enough. Personally, I would recommend training - tied closely to
mentoring - as the clearest path to success for the language teacher moving into the
managers office. Good luck!

Knowledge:
Knowing About
Getting Information

Skills:
Knowing How
Developing Expertise

Needs
Resource information
Academic programs
Market
Management theory
Etc

All management skills

Where from?
Books (see below)
Shadowing outgoing
manager
Management Courses
(see below)
Talking to staff and
other experts
Management courses
and programs
Books
Mentoring

Attitudes:
Knowing Why
Discovering Explanations

Awareness:
Knowing Oneself

Staff motivations
Staff needs
Staff priorities
Organizational structure
Communication
channels
Institutional history
Who am I as a
manager?
What are my strengths
and weaknesses?
How am I perceived by
staff/customers?
What do I think makes a
good manager?

Face-to-face meetings
with staff
Job Model activity
Management courses
Organizational
behaviour books

Reflection
Feedback from others

Useful Resources
Management Courses:
o The International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM)
www.idltm.org
o The IH Diploma in Educational Management
o ARELS Diploma in ELT Management
o Any number of less ELT specific MBA programs

Books
o Management in English Language Teaching White et al; CUP (1991)
o Reframing the Path to School Leadership: A Guide for Teachers and
Principals Bolman and Deal; Sage Publications (2002)
o A Handbook for Language Program Adminstrators Kristison and Stoller; Alta
Books (1997)
o The ELT Managers Handbook Impey and Underhill; MacMillan (1994)