The academic year machine rolls along, we're over half way through this one. Hopefully the machinery is running smoothly with just the odd bit of tinkering needed. Is the engine purring nicely? Now maybe it's time to have a good look under the bonnet, to give things a proper once-over, think about the journey we're on and maybe it's time to start to think about next year too.

Managing in TEFL is a fortnightly companion for language school leaders written by Simon Pearlman and brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training. You can subscribe on LinkedIn or here to recieve a copy direct to your inbox.

Of course, there's always the day-to-day bumps in the road, they're part of the journey. Lets take a moment to look back on our beginning of the year objectives, think where we are now and look further down the road to next year too.

How are we doing with aims we set at the beginning of the year?

Maybe we had strategic or operational aims, maybe they were big ideas or small changes. Where's the progress? Where do we need to redouble our efforts? Are there things we can let go of?

And also, what are the issues that have come up during the year? Where has our attention been drawn? Where do we need to focus? There's still lots of this year left, there's still time to act and, of course, plenty to do.

What did we want to do with the rest of this year?

Now might be a good time to revisit some of those aims from the start of the year. Perhaps we had plans for a reading programme that hasn't quite got off the ground. Or maybe we wanted to encourage students to work more with the app from the books. Or was it looking into AI to see how it could help us run the school better? In the midst of all the action, often these aims get lost. What were your aims? How are you getting on?

What has come up so far?

And what about those issues that have arisen this year and are requiring our attention? Maybe right now there are colleagues who would benefit from our support and students who are struggling and need our help. There's probably tech issues to fix, maintenance to consider and that cupboard that needs sorting out too. There's always lots to do.

Let's take a moment to pause, refocus, reprioritise and then go again. What are the issues that are busying your time and your brain at the moment?

Let's look forward too

Now is also a good time to start to think about the next academic year. Is it time to plan for staffing for next year? This will probably tie in with appraisals too, what are our colleagues thinking about next year? Are they staying? How can we help them develop? Appraisals are, for many of us, a two-way street, we're telling them how we feel about their work and they can appraise us too. By appraising and gathering feedback we can begin to plan. By starting the process now we also have the chance to make some adjustments quickly and show that we are listening and are ready to act on comments. We're probably beginning to get CVs through too, they need answering and we want to get the best people we can. Staff retention and recruitment are so important.

Student retention is arguably the most important issue. Is now the time to plan how to keep and grow our student numbers? We might well be discussing pricing for the next academic year, an early registration campaign and a push to attract new students. This, of course, ties in with the financial assessment and development; how are the finances looking? How does a small price increase add to the bottom line? What effects might any special promotions have?

The machine rolls along and our attention is drawn to immediate issues, let's not forget to look under the hood and see how the machinery is doing. And perhaps now is the time for a proper check up.

Here's to happily Managing in TEFL.

Managing in TEFL is brought to you by Active Language Teacher Training providers of Trinity DipTESOL, CertTESOL and Teaching Younger Learners courses. Please visit www.activelanguage.net for more information.