FEATURE FOCUS: CPD
making a difference to significant numbers of teachers and other education professionals.”
Denise Inwood offers a slightly different, but equally compelling, view of the way in which CPD, objectives and the performance
management cycle can be used to maintain challenge and raise standards in the classroom.
“Schools are
collaborative organisations and all teachers join the profession with expectations that they will make a difference. However, we are all familiar with the business principle that generally 80 per cent of an organisation’s work is completed by just 20 per cent of its staff. Put that into the context of a school and it can mean that new professionals who arrive in school full of energy and enthusiasm are leant on too heavily and may burn out if not appropriately supported. This is bound to affect morale.
“Therefore, it’s self-evident that in order to retain highly motivated and effective teachers in our schools we need to nurture them and support them. This doesn’t mean we don’t offer and encourage challenge, but that such challenge is within the context of their job description and their responsibilities.
“In the current education environment where money is tight and schools have limited opportunities to reward their staff financially, it is critical that reward is earned and seen to be so by all staff in the organisation. The process is very simple, if not challenging. It involves senior leaders setting fair and appropriate professional objectives which reflect the responsibilities of individual members of staff across the board, so that teachers rewarded with a position on the upper pay scale are accountable for more challenge and have a more demanding set of objectives than their more junior colleagues. “In this way the eager young professionals who arrive in school champing at the bit to make a difference are challenged, but within the expectations of their experience and longevity. It’s
Image courtesy of The Education Support Partnership
important to avoid coercing staff into taking on more than is appropriate in relation to their role and responsibilities.
“This means that objectives need to be differentiated. If I am a teacher at the top of the upper pay scale then my objectives should have a different level of rigour and accountability than if I am a teacher in my third year of practice. For example, a teacher at the top of the Upper Pay Scale (UPS) may have objectives which include coaching and mentoring less experienced staff, whereas the objectives for a third-year teacher would be more likely linked to perfecting aspects of their own practice and be linked directly to outcomes I their own classrooms.
“We know that Ofsted will look very closely at the quality of teaching in schools and the UPS profile of staff. We are hearing frequent stories of
Ofsted challenging Leadership and Management in schools when they have witnessed poor Quality of Teaching but the school has a significant number of teachers on UPS. In this instance Ofsted will look closely at the objectives set for staff and will, if they feel necessary challenge the quality of Leadership and Management raising questions about the challenge expected from staff on UPS.
“It’s essential that head teachers grasp this nettle and ensure that staff have objectives that are fair and appropriate, that reflect their levels of responsibility and ensure that they recognise their accountabilities to deliver to these. “Part of the Performance Management cycle should include head teachers reviewing the agreed professional objectives of their staff. Whilst part of a formal process, it does provide a head teacher with two very powerful insights into staff engagement, reviewing the professional objectives set for staff, heads will find an amazingly useful way of taking the collective pulse of their organisation, reflecting on the direction of travel and the commitment staff are making to the journey as part of the organisation. But as well as that it will also help to ensure potential under-performance resulting from a lack of challenge is being addressed at the outset and help to maintain staff effort, morale and commitment.”
For more information on BlueSky’s approach to staff performance management, please visit:
http://blueskyeducation.co.uk/
To find out more about The Education Support Partnership or for help and advice, call the free 24-hour helpline 08000 562 561, or visit:
https://www.educationsupportpartnership.
org.uk/helping-you/training-development- fund
October 2017
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