Last reviewed on 26 October 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 41659

A handy guide to the most common roles you’ll come across in your school, single academy or multi-academy trust (MAT), so you know who everyone is and what they’re responsible for.

This article is based on our model role descriptions on The Key Leaders and The Key for School Governors, plus the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH) and our glossary.

Download our cheat sheet

Keep this handy so you can refer back to it to check who different people are in your school, and what their responsibilities are.

You might not have every role listed here in your trust, and you might have additional ones, so feel free to edit and annotate as you like.

The cheat sheet covers:

  • Leadership roles
  • Teachers, support and admin staff
  • Governors

KeyDoc: who's who in your maintained school

If you can't print it off right now, or prefer to be paperless, we've included all the information below.

Role Description Headteacher/principal Establishes the school's ethos and strategic direction, oversees systems and policies, manages staff and monitors progress Executive headteacher/principal In a maintained school, an executive headteacher is appointed for a particular situation, such as where: A school