Welcome to Ethical Training and Consultancy (ETC)

A new ETC appraisal policy for 2012 is now available to download here; the latest appraisal guidance from ETC is available here.

The 2006 regulations on managing teacher performance will be revoked.

The 2012 regulations will take effect from September 2012. Academies and free schools will not be subject to the regulations.

The new regulations are a simplification of the current regulations. In effect passing on more responsibility for interpretation to governing bodies and headteachers.

The new regulations retain the following elements:

Governing bodies and local authorities will have to have a written appraisal policy for their teachers
Governing bodies will have to appoint an external adviser to advise them with appraising the headteacher
Objectives will have to be set for each teacher which contribute to improving the education of pupils
Schools will have to have an annual appraisal process for teachers.

Teachers will have to be given a written appraisal report which sets out:

an assessment of their performance
an assessment of their training and development needs
where relevant, a recommendation on pay.

The main changes are that under the new regulations:

Teachers’ performance will be assessed against the relevant standards, against their objectives and against their role in the school.
Current guidance advises that the standards should be a “backdrop” to performance management discussions.
Most of the prescription in the current regulations will disappear, including the three-hour limit on classroom observation. After September 2012, governing bodies and local authorities will be free to make their own decisions about the amount of observation that is appropriate for their teachers.

The new regulations make no mention of job descriptions. But ETC job descriptions have for some time included the relevant standards and ETC performance management policies have set the standards as performance criteria so the requirement to assess a teacher against the standards is already in place.

The requirement that the headteacher should set objectives for a teacher that contribute to improving the education of pupils at the school and the implementation of the school development plan are identical to existing ETC objectives.

The ETC performance management policy allows for drop in observations so there should be little to change with regard to classroom observation.

The section of the regulations giving me greatest cause for concern is paragraph 7(6) (a). The 2012 regulations require the headteacher to assess the teacher's performance of their role and responsibilities during the appraisal period against:

the standards applicable to the teacher, and
the teachers objectives

Without any clarification this assessment will be highly subjective and in large schools could result in variation, inconsistency and unfairness. At the extremes of performance this is unlikely to be a problem. But at the margins how will a reviewer have the clarity to determine a positive assessment against a negative one?
For me this reinforces the need for large schools to have a cadre of specialist reviewers rather than relying on the role being added to the HOD or HOY job description.

For a copy of the 2012 appraisal regulations click here.

A new ETC appraisal policy for 2012 is available to download here; the latest ETC guidance is available here.

Paragraph 4 of the 2012 regulations states that: "the governing body of a school must appoint an external adviser for the purpose of providing it with advice and support in relation to the appraisal of the headteacher".

Ian Draper has performed this function for many governing bodies. He will work with governing bodies and their headteacher to agree objectives and set standards or criteria. He will draft a statement and will facilitate review meetings and draft a written report following a final assessment meeting.

If you would like to discuss Ian's involvement with your headteacher appraisal please contact Jean Hemsley on 07956 640196 or send an email to jean.hemsley@ethicaltraining.com

The DFE has published alongside the new regulations a model policy.

Schools are still required to have a policy. Existing ETC policies would not need to be changed to comply with the new regulations. The model policy includes a section on teacher capability.

The new optional model policy sets out an example of a model capability policy that schools might like to follow for teachers about whose performance there are serious concerns that the appraisal process has been unable to address. It is shorter and less complex than the current procedure, and complements, rather than duplicates, the appraisal process.

The main changes are:

There is no informal stage in the capability procedure
The suggested length of the monitoring and review period following a first warning has been reduced in length from 20 weeks to between 4-10 weeks. It is important to note that the length of the review period must be reasonable in the circumstances of each case, and must provide sufficient time for improvement to take place.
Although the processes are separate the appraisal process will lead directly to formal capability.

To access a copy of the model policy click here.

The 2006 Performance Management Regulations require that “a reviewee’s objectives be determined having regard to the reviewee’s job description”. The 2012 regulations do not include this requirement. However ensuring all staff have a job description that sets out the performance requirement of them is both good practice and is fair.

In many schools the job description is a list of tasks describing the job for the purposes of recruitment and has not been changed since their appointment. The 2012 regulations require objectives to contribute to the implementation of the school development plan. ETC job descriptions are reviews annually in the light of changes to the SDP. The job description therefore would guarantee that objectives met this requirement.

The latest iteration of the ETC job description explicitly separates the recruitment function from the performance function.

Part 1: Recruitment - sets out the core requirements of the post and addresses:

The School Vision
The current School Improvement Plan priorities
Values and behavior required of employees
Personal and professional conduct standards
Responsibilities and duties

Part 2: Performance Criteria - relates directly to the relevant Teacher Standards and Ofsted priorities and sets out the criteria by which a teacher’s performance will be assessed through performance management:

The achievement of pupils
The quality of teaching
Behaviour and safety
Leadership and management

I recommend the following generic job descriptions for teaching staff:

NQT
Post Induction Teacher
Pre Threshold Teacher
Post Threshold (UPS1) Teacher
Post Threshold (UPS2) Teacher
Post Threshold (UPS 3) Teacher
TLR1
TLR2
Excellent Teacher
Advanced Skills Teacher
Assistant Headteacher
Deputy Headteacher
Headteacher

An example of a Post-Induction Job description can be downloaded here. Others may be available on request.

In July the government accepted new Professional Standards which will be in place for September 2012. In effect there are eight new standards which replace the QTS and core standards for teaching. In addition there is a preamble that sets out the values and behaviour to be met by all teachers and three immutable statements about personal and professional conduct.

The Standards are a huge improvement on the 41 core and 33 QTS standards, they are far more manageable to performance management and replace the unnecessary distinction between QTS and Core.

Two comments:

The review recommends that the standards should form a baseline of practice expected of all qualified teachers regardless of the point they have reached in their career. Every school will make a judgement about the level of practice a teacher should be demonstrating. In my view to be fair and transparent schools should find ways of describing the different requirements in practice between a MPG1 and an MPG6 teacher. This in my view is best done through the use of post-induction and pre-threshold job descriptions. Only those teachers who have demonstrated sufficient levels of competency should be progressed to the pre-threshold job description and supported to prepare for post-threshold status.
The theme of the 2010 White Paper is the importance of the quality of teaching. The Barber and Mourshed book, How the world’s best-performing schools systems come out on top makes reference to a now much quoted seminal piece of research from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System which found that the two most important factors impacting on student achievement to be differences in teacher effectiveness and the prior achievement level of the student. In our work over the past fifteen years we have been arguing that these should constitute the two performance management objectives. I would like to have seen the standards separated into three categories: those relating to supporting pupil progress, those relating to the quality of teaching and those relating to leadership and management. I have drafted revised job descriptions for post-induction and pre-threshold teachers incorporating and categorising the standards. Please contact me if you would like a copy.

The Second Report of the Independent Review of Teachers’ Standards was released in December. The central recommendation was the creation of a Master Teacher Standard which would replace the existing post-threshold, advanced skills and excellent teacher standards. Criticism of the existing standards was that the existing standards were vague and "progression from one level to the next is expressed in comparative adjectives and adverbs rather than any meaningful measure of improvement in practice" (para 3.20).

The new standard is written as a set of narrative descriptors (a model that ETC has been developing in their UPS1, 2 and 3 performance expectations).

There are five sections to the new Master Teacher Standard:

1.         Knowledge
2.         Classroom performance
3.         Outcomes
4.         Environment and ethos
5.         Professional context

For the full Master Teacher Standard click here.

The review raises issues of pay and career progression which are embedded in the current standards and identifies them as issues for the STRB to consider.

So there will be no change until STRB reports and the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document is published.

It is my view that if the master teacher standard is accepted as a replacement for the existing higher level standards and a teacher at any stage of their career can attain the master teacher standard, the outcome will have to be greater flexibility for governing bodies in determining pay for their teachers. The most likely outcome is an individual pay scale similar to the leadership scale with governors determining where each teacher is placed dependant upon their performance.

For the full report click here.

The 2011 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document has been published on the Department for Education web site.

There are some minor changes this year. We expect that following the revised performance management regulations and the new teachers’ standards there will be significant changes for 2012.

Schools may consider this to be an ideal time to review their staffing structure.
The White Paper and the imperative of delivering high quality teachers and teaching may require schools to review whether their existing staffing structure is delivering or is past its best. A school staffing structure ought to be directly related to a School Development Plan. All posts should be able to link their duties and responsibilities directly to the SDP.

Key drivers for change:

Raising standards and delivering improved learning outcomes for all children.
Raising the quality of teaching and delivering effective management of performance.
Cost and added value.
Growth in support staff.
Recruitment and retention of the most successful teachers.

Changes you might consider:

Removal of TLR posts - TLR positions are not performance related and create significant differentials between the highest paid teacher and the leadership spine. Removal of TLRs opens up L1 – L5 salary ranges.
Expanded leadership groups with whole school responsibilities such as Inclusion, Assessment, Leader of learning, Leader of Teaching, Curriculum.
Payment of additional increment for excellent performance for teachers on MPG.
Implementation of Excellent Teacher and AST posts as leaders of pedagogy.
Use of Advanced Teacher posts and pay spine.
Establish performance management for support staff.
Implement a career and work life balance policy.

ETC has been working with schools reviewing staffing structures since 2006. We have produced innovative and cost saving solutions. If you want to find out more contact Jean Hemsley on 07956 640196 or email jean.hemsley@ethicaltraining.com

Last year we introduced the concept of job descriptions linked to standards and career progression. Many headteachers have asked for job descriptions that set out the different expectations of a UPS 1, 2 and 3 teacher.

We have now produced a set of expectations for each level linked to the SEF headings. Click here to download.

We have also incorporated them into revised job descriptions. For copies, e-mail Jean Hemsley on jean.hemsley@ethicaltraining.com

We now have more than 100 job descriptions for support staff. All are written to the latest SEF headings and all are linked to the relevant national occupational standards for supporting teaching and learning.

The Key to Effective Performance Management

Example policies for both support staff and teaching staff together with guidance advice are available from ETC and some can be downloaded from the Performance Management page of this site.

Job description, wherever possible, should be linked to the appropriate national standards. The standards provide the framework career progression. As a member of staff progresses to higher standards these new competencies should be contained within the job description.

ETC has now produced a wide range of job descriptions for teaching and support staff. Some are available to download from this site on the Performance Management page; others can be requested by e-mailing jean.hemsley@ethicaltraining.com.

Sound objectives are essential together with clear timescales and regular feedback. Many schools have reported problems with consistency of practice. We recommend tight management and monitoring of reviewers together with a substantial training and induction programme.

ETC recommends as long a lead time as possible for introducing new policies, systems and procedures. A plan for the 2010/2011 academic year is available to download here.

The new Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) will simplify and incorporate the existing NVQ qualifications. These qualifications will eventually need to be set against a job in terms of the qualification level needed. CPD for support staff will increasingly link to the relevant qualifications and credits.

Please contact us if you would like a CPD policy for support staff including the national occupational standards, the QCF, the career development framework, the common core of skills and knowledge for the children’s workforce and a common induction programme.

Your staffing structure is crucial to the effectiveness of PM. Revision of policy, practice and procedures will be a waste of time and effort unless the underlying values and attitudes that drive reviewers behaviour are addressed as well. These behaviours are wedded to the structure. So for any change in PM to be fully effective it needs to be underpinned by a staffing structure that can deliver it. It may be time to create a structure that mirrors the core process of the school the learners, the teachers and the leaders.

If you would like to find out more on the work we have undertaken please contact Ian Draper or Jean Hemsley.

The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) came in to being on 1st October.

The SSSNB will be responsible for setting up and implementing a framework for negotiations on the pay and conditions of service for school support staff in maintained schools. This almost certainly will lead to changes in the conditions and pay for support staff in schools and will, in turn, lead to changes in performance management procedures and job descriptions that incorporate the relevant national occupational standards.

Click here to view the latest information from SSSNB.

The latest version of the ETC Performance Management Policy is written for both teaching and support staff (a copy can be downloaded from the policy section on the Performance Management page). In addition to the work of the SSSNB, National Occupational Standards for Support Staff have been written (See 'Priority Links' [left] for links to the NOS for Classroom and Teaching Assistants) and ETC has produced job descriptions for all support staff that link the competencies from the Standards with the priorities of the School Improvement Plan. These provide the basis for an effective performance management model for support staff. Exemplar job descriptions can be downloaded from the Performance Management page.

ETC’s new programme of training events for 2010-11 can now be downloaded as a single document from the Events page.

If you have a query relating to any of the subjects covered on this website, please e-mail jean.hemsley@ethicaltraining.com and we will respond to you as soon as possible.

If you would like to discuss how we might work with you or how you might work with us, you can find our contact details here.

•	Learning Support Assistant
•	Cover Supervisor
•	Post-Induction Teacher
•	Headteacher