24 | LEGAL ADVICE
APPR AISALS
Understanding appraisal
For a staff appraisal process to be effective and transparent, the appraisers themselves need to be properly trained in a range of different skills
T
his is the second in a series of articles exploring pay and
performance in the independent
school sector. The first article considered performance management and the role of an effective appraisal process. This one will consider how to get the most out of an appraisal process, including the planning process and the skills needed by the appraisers in the school. The third article will consider current issues relating to pay
in the sector, including the emergence of performance- related pay, and how this can be linked to appraisals in practice.
Background
There is an increasing need to have an effective appraisal process in place in schools, well embedded into the school's culture, as a tool to assist with performance management and to allow a potential link to pay in the future should the school identify this as a strategic area for development. It is clear that an appraisal process has a number of benefits for teaching staff, in terms of dealing with performance concerns, ensuring standards are met and, importantly, linking objectives for individual staff to the strategic plans of the school. The first step for schools is to review the current position and consider whether the existing approach is as effective as it could be in order to enable the school to get the most out of the process. Once any review of the process has been completed, consideration
should be given to how the system operates in practice.
Planning
The previous article in this series highlighted the importance of preparation on the part of the senior management of the school before appraisal meetings take place with teachers. The first step is for the senior management team to consider the strategic plans and aims of the school for the year ahead. Secondly, they should agree on the key principles which will be the focus of appraisal objectives set during appraisal meetings. These principles and aims need to be communicated effectively to those staff carrying out the appraisal meetings to ensure consistency across the process and to assist with seting useful and targeted objectives for staff.
What skills are required? A vital step in preparing for appraisal meetings is training the staff who are going to hold the meetings with teachers. These staff are often heads of department and work closely with the staff
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