Main responsibilities
- Model high-quality teaching and coach colleagues.
- Lead professional development on teaching.
- Support teachers who need to improve, ECTs and mentors.
- Lead projects on curriculum, assessment or pedagogy.
- Teach a significant timetable.
Statutory duties and official sources
England, maintained schools. Paragraph references below are to the 2025 STPCD. The 2026 edition was published on 16 October 2026; its Order comes into force on 6 November 2026, with Section 2 taking effect from 1 September 2026. See the pay guide for 2026 figures and paragraph references.
- The relevant body may create posts on the leading practitioner pay range and must determine an individual pay range within it in its pay policy. Source: STPCD 2025, paragraph 16.
- Lead practitioners have the same professional responsibilities and rights as other teachers (other than a headteacher), with additional duties relevant to modelling and leading improvement of teaching skills in their job descriptions. Source: STPCD 2025, paragraph 49.1.
- Lead practitioners are outside the 1,265 directed-hours limit and are entitled to a break near the middle of the day. Source: STPCD 2025, paragraphs 51.4 and 52.3.
The NPQ in leading teacher development and NPQ in leading teaching are voluntary routes (NPQ courses).
Key dates in the school year (2026 to 2027, England)
- Appraisal cycle: set by the school's policy.
Common challenges and good practice
- Defined remit. The STPCD leaves duties to the job description; set out coaching, CPD and project responsibilities clearly.
- Subject-specific posts. Posts such as lead practitioner for English are the same pay category; the subject focus is set locally.
Common questions
- Is a lead practitioner a leadership post? It is a separate pay range from the leadership group; responsibilities focus on teaching quality.
- Do academies have lead practitioners? Many do, but pay and terms depend on the trust's pay policy unless the STPCD is adopted.
