For Newly Promoted Academic Managers

Survive Your First 90 Days as an Academic Manager

From Teacher to Manager, Week by Week

You were promoted because you were an excellent teacher. Nobody handed you a playbook for the job itself. This is that playbook, sequenced for exactly what you'll face, week by week.

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The Gap

Sound familiar?

Nobody warned you the job would look nothing like teaching.

Suddenly responsible for timetabling, observations, and staffing decisions you've never been trained to make.

Managing people who were your peers last month, including the awkward conversations that come with it.

No formal handover from whoever had the role before you, and no time to enrol in a diploma before you're expected to perform.

Reporting upward to senior leadership in a language and format you were never taught to use.

The Manual

19 modules. Sequenced by when you'll need them.

Not organised by topic. Organised by your first 90 days. Each module pairs a short practical guide with a real example from an actual school.

Phase One
Weeks 1–4: Survival
The things that will hit you before you're ready, in the order they'll hit
1From Best Teacher to Manager: The Identity ShiftRead this first, it reframes everything that follows
2What Are You Actually Working With? Auditing and Operating Your Academic SystemsWorks whether you've inherited a proper SIS, a spreadsheet, or nothing at all
3Time & Priority Management Under Constant Urgency
4Timetabling & Scheduling at Scale
5Observation Frameworks & Post-Observation Feedback
6Managing Underperformance & Difficult Conversations
7Managing Up: Briefing Senior Leadership
Phase Two
Weeks 5–8: Building Your Systems
Once you're not drowning, the operational backbone
8Academic QA & Compliance Basics
9Safeguarding Coordination
10Student Services & Welfare Handoffs
11Onboarding & Induction Systems
12Building a Staff Culture Worth Working In
13Placement Testing & Level-Change Processes
14Recruiting and Selecting Teachers
15HR Collaboration: Hiring, Performance, Escalations
Phase Three
Weeks 9–12: Growing Into Leadership
Stable now, thinking like a manager, not just surviving as one
16Budget Literacy for Non-Finance Managers
17Data-Informed Decision-Making
18Curriculum Management: Schemes of Work & Teaching Guides
19Working with Admissions/Sales Without Compromising Quality
15+
Years in senior academic leadership at ILA Vietnam, HUTECH, RMIT, and ES Dubai
20+
Academic Managers directly developed from classroom teacher to leader
100s
Teachers observed, coached, and supported across a 15-year career

This isn't a diploma and it doesn't try to be. IDLTM and DELTM remain the credentialed, long-form route if you're committing to management long-term. The Academic Manager's Survival Manual is the fast, practical guide for the moment you're promoted and need to function, built from real frameworks used inside ILA Vietnam, RMIT, HUTECH, and ES Dubai.

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Reflective Guide · 15 min · No cost

From Best Teacher to Manager: The Identity Shift

The module that reframes everything else. Leave your email and I'll send it to you directly, and you'll be first to know about future guides.

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The Academic Manager's Survival Manual

Instant download. Read it on your first day, or your fortieth.

$19

Launch price · one-time purchase · instant download

  • 19 modules, sequenced across your first 90 days
  • Built from real frameworks, not theory
  • Real examples from real schools throughout
  • Lifetime access, read on any device
Get the Manual, $19

Who's Behind It

Andrew Hall spent fifteen years in senior academic leadership at ILA Vietnam, HUTECH University, and RMIT University Vietnam, developing over 20 Academic Managers directly. He holds an MA in Educational Leadership (Distinction, University of Manchester) and the Cambridge DELTA. More about Andrew →