Katherines Primary School Review of Governance 21 September 2013

The Governing Body’s Role inTeacher Appraisal and PayPartnership of Jewish SchoolsClare CollinsNGA Lead Consultant21st October 2015

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Welcome and Introductions

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NGA is a membership organisation

•Representing the governors and trustees in all state funded schools inEngland

•Our aim to improve the effectiveness of governing bodies by providing expertand tailored information and advice, and challenge when appropriate

Standard governing body membership is £77

GOLD governing body membership is £260

and includes an advice line

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Purpose of the Session

At the end of the session, governors should understand the governing body’sresponsibilities on teacher appraisal and pay. We will cover:

–Why performance should be managed

–The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document

–Staff appraisal and pay policies

–Headteacher appraisal

–Monitoring objectives and appraisal outcomes

–What does success look like?

–Appeals procedures

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Terminology

Performance management system - usually an annual cycle which includes:

–A starting point at which objectives for the year are agreed

–A mid year review of progress towards achieving the agreed objectives

–An end point with an appraisal meeting

The appraisal or annual performance review meeting – is the annualmeeting at which appraiser meets with the member of staff to discussperformance against the objectives agreed at the beginning of the year

NB Appraisal and pay are not necessarily linked

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Staff development matters

Staff performance and development

Being the most important lever for school improvement and therefore performancemanagement and appraisal, it needs to be done well in order for children and youngpeople to achieve their potential.

Effective self-evaluation

Governing bodies have a statutory responsibility to conduct their schools so as topromote high standards of education; if there is no formal appraisal then the picture ofthe school is incomplete and it will not be possible to set an effective improvementstrategy.

Continuing professional development (CPD) for staff

If there is no formal appraisal process then it is difficult to determine and arrangeappropriate CPD, which again will impact on the standard of education offered.

Good employment practice

The governing body has a duty of care to its staff, and appraisal is part of any effectiveorganisation’s staffing procedures. All staff deserve to be managed well and, as part ofthis, to have an effective appraisal which is carried out properly and informs their CPD.

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Discussion

What challenges face GBs in carrying out performance management?

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Challenges for GBs

Time

Evidence

Defensivenss

Inconsistency

Discrimination

Equal pay

Staff morale

Recruitment and retention

Appeals

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In the best schools I know, teachers at all levels of competence areencouraged to improve their practice; in the worst schools, a climateof fear reigns and teachers who find the job challenging can be leftunsupported, made to feel inept, and often go on to leave theprofession.Good Seeds Grow in Strong Cultures, Saphier and King:If we are serious about school improvement and attracting andretaining talented people to school careers, then our highest priorityshould be to maintain structures that nurture adult growth and sustainthe school as an attractive workplace.Make PRP supportive not penal. I am in the process ofcompleting the annual Performance Developmentcycle of 30 Huntington teachers. It is my core work,the most important thing I do in the school year becauseit is the vehicle through which I can most influencethe quality of teaching.

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Core responsibilities of the GB

•The governing body is responsible for ensuring high standards ofperformance in the school.

•The performance of staff employed at the school will have an enormouseffect on the learning of pupils, and therefore their achievements.

•If the governing body is unaware of how well members of staff areperforming in their roles, it will be unable to evaluate the school’s progress.

•If teaching is not good, the governing body needs to know to ensure actionsare being taken to improve this in order to fulfil its duty.

•The governing body also has to manage the performance of theheadteacher.

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Appraisal and pay policies

Academies

Have freedom to establish their own appraisal and pay policies: it is goodpractice to have a formal policy for staff appraisal (including appraising theheadteacher/principal)

LA maintained schools

Are required to have appraisal and pay policies for teaching staff whichmust take into account the teaching standards and include objectivesrelating to the performance of the school - academies may wish toconsider adopting similar procedures

Inspection

Ofsted inspectors will look at the correlation between performanceappraisal, pay and the quality of teaching. The September 2012 OfstedFramework revised and increased expectations in relation to appraisal andgovernors’ involvement in pay progression.

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The School Teachers’Pay and Conditions Document

•The STPCD is statutory for maintained schools and is contractual for manyacademies

•From September 2013 any school subject to the STPCD document had torevise its pay policy to ensure an explicit link between pay and performance

•Teacher pay has to be set taking into account their individual performanceAND the context of the school: in other words … pay increases are notautomatic but are based on successful performance

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Budgetary Implications

While schools will need to consider the budgetary implications of their paydecisions, these changes are about enabling schools to pay teachers in linewith their performance rather than progressing every teacher at the same rateregardless of performance or arbitrarily limiting pay progression.

The changes will allow schools to use their funds to reward excellentperformance rather than continue to be locked into statutory pay arrangementsthat mean year on year pay bill pressures that are beyond their control.

DfE Teachers’ pay reform – myths and facts

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Measuring Performance

•Performance measures can be absolute or relative or a combination ofboth

•Levels of performance required for progression to be awarded should bedefined

•Progression needs to be differentiated so that the very highestperformers can progress faster

•Sources of evidence must be determined e.g. self-assessment, peerreview, tracking progress, lesson observation, the views of pupils andparents

•The GB will need to monitor the outcomes and impact of the policy

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In practice

The GB will need to:

•Convene a pay committee with terms of reference for its delegated powers

•Appoint governors to carry out the headteacher’s appraisal and to make payrecommendations to the pay committee

•Ensure that those involved are trained: both governors and staff

Remember, many governors will be performance managed by their employersand will be confident and knowledgeable about the systems and behavioursrequired for successful performance management.

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Headteacher appraisal

See handout:

true or false?

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Setting HT objectives

Consider:

–How many objectives should be set?

–How high level e.g.

•Primary: boys in Y3 make better than expected progress in writing

•Secondary: geography results improve by 10%

•The improvement strategy KPIs have been met

–What evidence will be required?

–Who will advise the GB?

–The HT has reached the top of the pay scale but has met all her/hisobjectives: should s/he get a pay rise?

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Monitoring objectivesand appraisal outcomes

•Must be a mid year review

–GB reviews HT’s progress

–HT / SLT review staff performance

•Progress must be evidenced

•Performance must be understood and reported to the GB

•And pay – in general, anonymised terms

•The GB should be made aware of any issues and how these are beingaddressed

•Ofsted will expect governors to know about the link between performanceand pay and will comment on it

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Appeals

•Appeals are a possibility and should be planned for

•A procedure should be appended to the pay policy

•A panel of three governors should hear appeals

•Governors will need to understand the performance management system

•There may be training implications

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To summarise

The governing body has to:

•Approve the appraisal and pay policy

•Be familiar with the performance management system in the school

•Performance manage the headetacher

•Decide how to find out if performance management is applied consistentlyand in line with policy

•Be able to explain its knowledge of performance and action being taken

•Be sure that the criteria in the pay policy contributes to rising standards

•Establish an appeal process

•Consider its training needs

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Questions GBs should ask

1. How effectively are the staff appraised?

2. How effectively do we appraise the headteacher?

3. What should our pay policy say about performance and progression?

4. What is the correlation between appraisal outcomes, pay and the quality ofteaching and learning?

5. How effective is performance management in improving teaching andlearning?

NGA Knowing Your School: Governors and Staff Performance

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Reviewing the session

We have covered:

–Why performance should be managed

–The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document

–Staff appraisal and pay policies

–Headteacher appraisal

–Monitoring objectives and appraisal outcomes

–What does success look like?

–Appeals procedures

Any questions?