Head teacher

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Headmaster redirects here. For the type of Transformers, please see Headmaster (Transformers). For headmaster in Japanese martial arts, see soke (martial arts).

A head teacher, headmaster or headmistress (all often referred to simply as the head) is the most senior teacher in a school in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

In Scotland such officials are sometimes known as the "rector", most commonly in independent schools. In North America such officials are usually known as the "school principal" but the term "headmaster" may be used in more exclusive or private schools. Some American public schools, such as Boston Latin School and Milpitas High School also use the term "headmaster" either because of its history or historical connections. Milpitas High School's "headmaster" is also known as the "prior".

The terms "headmaster" and "headmistress" used to be the standard throughout both the state and private sectors, with "head teacher" usually only being used to refer to them collectively. In recent years, however, it has become usual to officially use the gender-neutral term in state schools. Nevertheless, the gender-specific terms are still in common use, and may be in more formal use in some schools, particularly the remaining state grammar schools. Independent schools usually still officially use the gender-specific terms. Some use other terms, such as "high master".

While some head teachers still retain some teaching responsibility, most of their duties are managerial and pastoral.

A secondary school usually also has a deputy head (occasionally "depute-head" in Scotland) and several assistant heads, who act as assistants or subordinates to the head teacher. Commonly, a state school will have between two and six assistant head teachers (AHTs). Each AHT is normally in charge of a specific area of the school, such as administration, staff appraisal, first year, sixth form, discipline etc. Normally AHTs only have a small teaching role within the school.

A state primary school will usually have a single deputy head, although they may sometimes be replaced by two assistant heads. In some larger primary schools (over 500 pupils) there may be two deputy heads or a mixture of deputy head and assistant heads. In primary schools deputy heads tend to be class based with some non-contact time to carry out leadership or management roles although in some primary schools the deputy head may not have a full time teaching role but have a range of whole school leadership responsibilities

Independent schools frequently use other titles for officials under the head teacher.

The official term for the third most senior teacher in state schools (as in many independent schools) was second master or second mistress, but these terms have generally gone out of use in the state sector.

[edit] Some famous head teachers in fiction

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