Director of Studies

A Director of Studies (DOS) is effectively the head teacher in a language school.

Responsibilities
The DOS has many responsibilities including:


 * Liaising between teachers and management
 * Observing teachers' lessons
 * Dealing with student problems
 * Internal and external exams
 * Organising and managing teachers' meetings
 * Choosing coursebooks
 * Creating syllabuses
 * Interviewing new teachers
 * Creating teachers' and students' timetables

Challenges
The aims and priorities of the school's management and those of the teachers' may not always coincide, and the DOS may have to walk a difficult line in attempting to keep everyone happy.

Whereas some Directors of Studies are well-trained professionals skilled at managing this tricky task; there are others who have neither the aptitude nor the training. These may sometimes give the position a bad name and may even generate unrest among the teaching staff.

The Peter Principle
The Peter Principle states that: In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence. In other words, workers continue to be promoted until they cease to competent - or until they are promoted to a position for which they have no skills or aptitude. It is possible that the occasional DOS may have fallen foul of this principle...