HRAS023-Performance Management Policy for Schools Version 1 - Uncontrolled when printed
05/06/2007
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR SCHOOLS
INTRODUCTION
This Performance Management Policy for schools in Bradford has been prepared with regard to the model policy prepared by the Rewards and Incentives group (RIG), and is recommended for schools to use to support the implementation of the revised performance management arrangements set out in the Education (School teacher Performance Management) (England) Regulations 2006
These regulations come into force on 1st September 2007 with the first performance management planning statement under the revised arrangements needing to be completed by 31st October 2007 for teachers and 31st December 2007 for head teachers. The revised regulations will apply for pay progression purposes from 1st September 2008. Schools should ensure that all teachers are briefed on the performance management arrangements.
Regulation 7(9) requires that each Governing Body shall establish a written policy that shall:
It may also set out the procedures for moderation.
The regulations require that the Governing Body shall ensure that the performance of teachers and the head teacher is managed and reviewed in accordance with the regulations and the school’s performance management policy. Before establishing or revising the school’s performance management policy the Governing Body shall seek to agree the policy with the recognised trade unions, having regard to the results of the consultation with all teachers.
As the school is required to demonstrate the link between performance management, school improvement and its development plan, it is good practice to consult all teachers on the school improvement plan and self-evaluation process.
This Performance Management Policy has been drafted in accordance with the regulations and the ‘Performance Management for Teachers and Head teachers Guidance’ published by the RIG. The regulatory requirements are stated clearly and where Governing Bodies are able to exercise discretion, the options available are also identified. In drawing up their performance management policy, schools will need to decide for each area of direction which options to choose.
| In the model policy text in BOLD is required by regulation. Text in BOLD ITALICS identifies issues which are required by regulation but where there are options on the way they are interpreted. Text in ITALICS is good practice guidance recommended for inclusion. |
This Performance Management Policy applies only to teachers and headteachers. There are no national performance management regulations which apply to support staff and there is no national agreement on performance management with support staff unions.
This Performance Management Policy does not duplicate everything that is covered by regulations and guidance, rather it sets out what are considered to be the key points for school policies. For this reason the policy should be read in conjunction with the regulations and the guidance.
Copies of the regulations and RIG guidance are readily available for reference to all teachers. Copies can be downloaded from
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/payandperformance/performancemanagement
Hard copies can be ordered from Prolog (08456 022260) quoting the reference 03984-2006BKT-EN
This model policy has been written in the context of schools but the same principles apply equally to the performance management of unattached teachers covered by Part 3 of the regulations and Local Authorities will want to consider this when reviewing their performance management policies.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT POLICY
The Governing Body of ……………………………………………………………… School adopted this Performance Management policy on …………………………………………………………….
APPLICATION OF THE POLICY
The policy applies to the headteacher and to all teachers employed by the school except on teachers on contracts of less than one term, those undergoing induction (i.e. NQTs) and those who are the subject of capability procedures.
PURPOSE
This policy sets out the framework for a clear and consistent assessment of all the overall performance of teachers and the headteacher and for supporting their development needs within the context of the school’s improvement plan and their own professional needs. Where teachers are eligible for pay progression, the assessment of performance throughout the cycle against the performance criteria specified in the statement will be the basis on which the recommendation is made by the reviewer.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the school’s pay policy which provides details of the arrangements relating to teacher’s pay in accordance with the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
LINKS TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT, SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION AND SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
To comply with the requirements to show how the arrangements for performance management link with those for school improvement, school self-evaluation and school development planning and to minimise workload and bureaucracy the performance management process will be the main source of information as appropriate for school self-evaluation and the wider school improvement process.
Similarly, the school improvement and development plan and the school’s self-evaluation form are key documents for the performance management process.
All reviewers are expected to explore the alignment of reviewees’ objectives with the school’s priorities and plans. The objectives should also reflect reviewees’ professional aspirations.
CONSISTENCY OF TREATMENT AND FAIRNESS
The Governing Body is committed to ensuring consistency of treatment and fairness in the operation of performance management.
To ensure this the following provisions are made in relation to moderation, quality assurance and objective setting.
Quality assurance
The head teacher has determined that s/he will:
Option 1 be the reviewer for all teachers |
OR
Option 2 delegate the reviewer role for some or all teachers for whom s/he is not the line manager. In these circumstances the headteacher will: EITHER
OR
OR
|
The Governing Body will:
Option 1 nominate the Chair of the Governing Body, who will not be involved in the head teacher’s performance management or any appeal regarding the head teacher’s performance management to ensure that the head teacher’s planning statement is consistent with the school’s improvement priorities and complies with the school’s performance management policy and the regulations. |
OR
Option 2 nominate (up to three governors – state the number), who will not be involved in the head teacher’s performance management or any appeal regarding the head teacher’s performance management to ensure that the head teacher’s planning statement is consistent with the school’s improvement priorities and complies with the school’s performance management policy and the Regulations. |
OR
Option 3 choose not to quality assure the planning statement. |
The Governing Body will review the quality assurance processes when the performance management policy is reviewed.
OBJECTIVE SETTING
The objectives set will be rigorous, challenging, achievable, time-bound, fair and equitable in relation to teachers with similar roles/responsibilities and experience, and will have regard to what can reasonably be expected of any teacher in that position given the desirability of the reviewee being able to achieve a satisfactory balance between the time required to his discharge his professional duties and the time required to pursue his personal interests outside work, consistent with the school’s strategy for bringing downward pressure on working hours. They shall also take account of the teacher’s professional aspirations and any relevant pay progression criteria. They should be such that, if they are achieved, they will contribute to improving the progress of pupils at the school.
The reviewer and reviewee will seek to agree the objectives but where a joint determination can not be made the reviewer will make the determination.
In this school (choose as applicable):
all teachers, including the head teacher, will have no more than three (3) objectives
teachers, including the head teacher, will not necessarily all have the same number of objectives
all teachers, including the head teacher, will have a whole school objective
all teachers, including the head teacher, will have a team objective as appropriate
Though performance management is an assessment of overall performance of teachers and the head teacher, objectives cannot cover the full range of a teachers role/responsibilities. Objectives will, therefore, focus on the priorities of an individual for the cycle. At the review stage it will be assumed that those aspects of a teachers roles/responsibilities not covered by the objectives or any amendments to the statement which may have been necessary in accordance with the provisions of the regulations have been carried out satisfactorily.
Reviewing Progress
At the end of the cycle assessment of performance against an objective will be on the basis of the performance criteria set at the beginning of the cycle. Good progress towards the achievement of a challenging objective, even if the performance criteria have not been met in full, will be assessed favourably.
The performance management cycle is annual, but on occasions it may be appropriate to set objectives that will cover a period over more than one cycle. In such cases, the basis on which the progress being made towards meeting the performance criteria for the objective will be assessed at the end of the first cycle and will be recorded in the planning and review statement at the beginning of the cycle.
APPEALS
At specified points in the performance management process teachers and head teachers have a right of appeal against any of the entries in their planning and review statements. Where a reviewee wishes to appeal on the basis of more than one entry this would constitute one appeal hearing.
Details of the appeals process are covered in the school’s pay policy.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The whole performance management process and the statements generated under it, in particular, will be treated with strict confidentiality at all times. Only the reviewee’s line manager or, where s/he has more than one, each of her/his line managers will be provided with access to the reviewee’s plan recorded in his/her statement, upon request, where this is necessary to enable the line manager to discharge his/her line management responsibilities. Reviewees will be told who has requested and been granted access.
TRAINING AND SUPPORT
The school’s CPD programme will be informed by the training and development needs identified in the training annex of the reviewee’s planning and review statements.
The governing body will ensure in the budget planning that, as far as possible, appropriate resources are made available in the school budget for any training and support agreed for reviewees.
An account of the training and development needs of teachers in general, including the instances where it did not prove possible to provide any agreed CPD, will form a part of the head teacher’s annual report to the governing body about the operation of the performance management in the school.
With regard to the provision of CPD in case of competing demands on the school budget, a decision on relative priority will be taken with regard to the extent to which: (a) the CPD identified is essential for a reviewee to meet their objectives; and (b) the extent to which the training and support will help the school to achieve its priorities. The school’s priorities will have precedence. Teachers should not be held accountable for failing to make good progress towards meeting their performance criteria where the support recorded in the planning statement has not been provided.
APPOINTMENT OF THE REVIEWERS FOR THE HEAD TEACHER
Appointment of Governors
In this school:
Option 1 The Governing Body is the reviewer for the head teacher and to discharge this responsibility on its behalf may appoint 2 or 3 governors. |
OR
Option 2 (for schools with a religious character The Governing Body is the reviewer for the head teacher and to discharge this responsibility on its behalf appoints 2 or 3 governors of which …….. (at least one)will be a foundation governor. |
OR
Option 3 (for voluntary aided schools) The Governing Body is the reviewer for the head teacher and to discharge this responsibility appoints: EITHER Two governors of which ………………… (at least one) will be a foundation governor. OR Three governors of which ………….. (no less than two) will be foundation governors. |
Where a head teacher is of the opinion that any of the governors appointed by the governing body under this regulation is unsuitable for professional reasons, s/he may submit a written request to the Governing Body for that governor to be replaced, stating those reasons.
Appointment of School Improvement Partner or External Adviser
Option 1 The Local Authority has appointed a school improvement partner for the school who will provide the governing body with advice and support in relation to the management and the review of the performance of the head teacher. |
OR
Option 2 A school improvement partner has not yet been allocated to this school and the Governing Body will appoint an external adviser to provide advice and support in relation to the management and review of the performance of the head teacher. |
APPOINTMENT OF THE REVIEWERS FOR TEACHERS
In the case where the head teacher is not the teacher’s line manager, the head teacher may delegate the duties imposed upon the reviewer, in their entirety, to the teacher’s line manager.
In this school the head teacher has decided that:
Option 1 The head teacher will be the reviewer for all teachers in the school. |
OR
Option 2 In this school, the head teacher has decided that the head teacher will be the reviewer for those teachers s/he directly line manages and will delegate, as appropriate, the role of reviewer to the relevant line managers who are in the leadership group or who have teaching and learning responsibility payments. Where the headteacher has chosen Option 2, then: EITHER Line managers will be the reviewers for all those teachers they line manage. OR The recommended maximum number of reviews that any line manager will be expected to undertake per cycle is three (3). |
Where a teacher has more than one line manager the head teacher will determine which line manager will be best placed to manage and review the teacher’s performance.
Where a teacher is of the opinion that the person to whom the head teacher has delegated the reviewer’s duties is unsuitable for professional reasons, s/he may submit a written request to the headteacher for that reviewer to be replaced, stating those reasons.
When it becomes apparent that the reviewer will be absent for the majority of the cycle or is unsuitable for professional reasons the head teacher may perform the duties himself/herself or delegate them, in their entirety, to another teacher. Where this teacher is not the reviewee’s line manager the teacher will have an equivalent or higher status in the staffing structure as the teacher’s line manager.
The performance management cycle will not begin again in the event of the reviewer being changed.
All line managers to whom the head teacher as delegated the role of reviewer will receive appropriate preparation for that role.
THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CYCLE
The performance of the teachers must be reviewed on an annual basis. Performance planning and reviews must be completed for all teachers by 31 st October and for head teachers by 31 st December.
The performance management cycle in this school, therefore, will run from ………. to ………
for teachers, and from …… to …… for the head teacher.
Teachers who are employed on a fixed term contract or less than one year, will have their performance managed in accordance with the principles underpinning the provision of this policy. The length of the cycle will be determine by the duration of their contract.
Where a teacher starts their employment at a school part way through a cycle, the head teacher or, in the case where the teacher is the head teacher, the governing body shall determine the length of the first cycle for that teacher, with a view to bringing his cycle into line with the cycle for other teachers at the school as soon as possible.
Where a teacher transfers to a new post within the school part way through a cycle, the headteacher or, in the case where the teacher is the head teacher, the governing body shall determine whether the cycle shall begin again and whether to change the reviewer.
RETENTION OF STATEMENTS
Performance management planning and review statements will be retained for a minimum of 6 years.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The governing body will monitor the operation and outcomes of performance management arrangements.
The head teacher will provide the governing body with a written report on the operation of the school’s performance management policy annually. The report will not contain any information which would enable any individual to be identified. The report will include:
The Governing Body is committed to ensuring that the performance management process is fair and not discriminatory and the following, monitoring data should be included in the head teacher’s report because they represent the possible grounds for unlawful discrimination:
The head teacher will also report on whether there have been any appeals or representations on an individual or collective basis on the grounds of alleged discrimination.
REVIEW OF THE POLICY
The Governing Body will review the performance management policy every school year at its summer meeting.
The Governing Body will take account of the head teacher’s report in its review of the performance management policy. The policy will be revised as required to introduce any changes in regulation and statutory guidance to ensure that it is always up to date.
The Governing Body will seek to agree any revisions to the policy with the recognised trade unions having regard to the results of the consultation with all teachers.
To ensure that teachers are fully conversant with the performance management arrangements, all new teachers who join the school will be briefed on them as part of their introduction to the school.
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTATION
Copies of the school improvement and development plan and SEF are published on the school’s intranet and/or can be obtained from the school office.
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOL
All classroom observation will be undertaken in accordance with the performance management regulations, the associated guidance published by the Rewards and Incentive Group and the classroom observation protocol that is appended to this policy in Annex 1.
ANNEX 1 – CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOL
The Governing Body is committed to ensuring that classroom observation is developmental and supportive and that those involved in the process will:
The total period for classroom observation arranged for any teacher will not exceed 3 hours per cycle having regard to the individual circumstances of the teacher. There is no requirement to use all of the three hours. The amount of observation for each teacher should reflect and be proportionate to the needs of the individual.
In this school ‘proportionate to need’ will be determined by: ………………………………………
The arrangements for classroom observation will be included in the plan in the planning and review statement and will include the amount of observation, specify its primary purpose, any particular aspects of the teacher’s performance which will be assessed, the duration of the observation, when during the performance management cycle the observation will take place and who will conduct the observation.
Where evidence emerges about the reviewee’s teaching performance which gives rise to concern during the cycle, classroom observations may be arranged in addition to those recorded at the beginning of the cycle, subject to a revision meeting being held in accordance with the Regulations.
Information gathered during the observation will be used, as appropriate, for a variety of purposes including to inform school self-evaluation and school improvement strategies in accordance with the school’s commitment to streamlining data collection and minimising bureaucracy and workload burdens on staff.
In keeping with the commitment to support and developmental classroom observation those being observed will be notified in advance.
Classroom observations will only be undertaken by persons with QTS. In addition, in this school classroom observation will only be undertaken by those who have had adequate preparation and the appropriate professional skills to undertake observation and to provide constructive oral and written feedback and support, in the context of professional dialogue between colleagues.
Oral feedback will be given as soon as possible after the observation and no later than the end of the following working day. It will be given during directed time, i.e. not at lunchtimes or in PPA time, in a suitable, private environment.
Written feedback will be provided within 5 working days of the observation taking place. If issues emerged from an observation that were not part of the focus of the observation as recorded in the planning and review statement, these should also be covered in the written feedback and the appropriate action taken in accordance with regulations and guidance.
The written record of feedback also includes the date on which the observation took place, the lesson observed and the length of the observation. The teacher has the right to append written comments on the feedback document. No written notes in addition to the written feedback will be kept.
Observations outside the Performance Management for Teachers Procedure
A head teacher has a duty to evaluate the standards of teaching and learning and to ensure that proper standards of professional performance are established and maintained.