Developing Current and Future Head Teachers – Role of Governors and Head Teachers

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There is a shortage of head teachers so should Governors take a greater interest in developing potential head teachers and if so are there more effective ways? This is the first of a series of articles which will explore:

  • developing potential heads;
  • developing and supporting new head teachers.

New Heads Feel Under Prepared in Key Aspects of the Role

A recent report [1] indicates that new head teachers felt less prepared for these aspects:of a Head’s role:

  • The breadth of the responsibilities of the role;
  • Managing their time and the priorities;
  • Budgeting and financial management;
  • Managing their external accountablity e.g. Ofsted inspections, exam results, relationships with stakeholders;
  • Working with Governors;
  • Their own work/life balance.

Let us unpack the implications of the above. Many Governors believe that when appointing a new head, the focus should be on:

  • raising and maintaining the school’s performance;
  • the attainment of students;
  • injecting new ideas into the school.

That focus is not surpisiing given the scrutiny that Governors find themselves under from: their stakeholders such as the LA or Trustees of an Academy; external monitors such as Ofsted; the school’s reputation amongst parents/guardians. Governors will often persuade themselves that the right candidate will have a track record at a similar school and that a head teacher should have many years teaching experience in various roles and the ability to lead others.

Exposure to Issues not Just Length of Experience

Governors need to reconsider the above beliefs. The accelerated development of potential head teachers has led to a new generation of heads who have gained the necessary skills in 9/10 years compared to an average of 18 to 20 years of previous head teachers. The key is not to be fixated on a set length of teaching experience but what an individual has been exposed to in his/her roles that has led to development of his skills, leadership abilities and adaptability [2]. What counts is the issues that an individual has had to deal with and what he/she has learnt and been able to apply to other situations. Hence, some individuals can gain both deep and wide experience of issues in a relatively short career span while others may spend years without having been exposed to a similar range and depth of issues.

Leadership requires a head to be able to re-invigorate the contributions of staff. That may be because of a period of change or because an individual has lost their spark, so to speak, and needs to find the interest and drive and/or confidence again. Such leadership skills are often developed in the thick of dealing with issues and gaining intuitive approaches to win back individuals. Teasing out whether a potential head has been exposed to such issues and has addressed them effectively is important.

Managing and Leading the School Entity

The role of a Head extends beyond classroom teaching. When I ask Heads about their first appointment, a common concern emerges – they understand what needs to be done about the attainment of the children but have little knowledge about managing the rest of the organisation e.g the premises, financial trends, culture shifts, marketing and PR and compliance issues such as data protection, health and safety, security. Some Governors believe those skills can be provided by the employment of a seasoned business manager or contracting out more specialist skills. Even so, the Head needs to be able to see the bigger picture as:

  • the school is competing for children/students hence the need to have some grounding in marketing;
  • the Head needs to determine the priorities, such as being familiar with key financial trends so that issues can be dealt with at an early stage rather than walk into a major problem e.g. a redundancy situation.

Relating to School Governors and Stakeholders

The Head must be able to provide the Governors with an appropriate level of management information on the finances and attainment levels. The Head should be able to identify trends, anticipate significant questions and be able to accept and address challenges to the conclusions about such information. That will require investment of time by key Governors and the Head in understanding each others’ information needs and concerns.

A Head will need to develop relationships with other stakeholders such as the LA or Trustees according to the nature of the school. Nurturing such relationships is a skill that has to be acquired.

The question is how many potential head teachers will have been exposed to such situations in their careers to develop a wider and deeper range of skills?

The Head – Enabler, Modeller and Intervenor?

Since 2001, Head Teachers have not been required to Hold QTS. In the last few years, the idea of executives leading schools has been mooted. Many Governors would feel such an appointment is too much of a risk as it raises the issue of who would be responsible for modelling teaching practice and driving up attainment levels. Effective leaders are often portrayed as enablers – individuals who can gather a team around them with complementary skills to ensure that the goals of the organisation will be achieved. At times, a leader has to intervene to correct the direction of the organisation or draw the attention of managers to performance and other issues.

Are Governors willing to explore different leadership arrangements? Even so, we should not under estimate the challenge to professional teachers of developing the children/students in the care of the school.. A solemn question to consider is “What should the Governors expect legitimately of a Head Teacher?”

The following qualities of a potential Head are offered as a starter:

  • An enabler who understands the bigger picture of what has to be achieved across the school and can break that down into manageable chunks of actions for others to implement;
  • A questioner – thinking ahead of what are the next steps, challenging the priorities and timing;
  • Managing his and the SLT’s time to ensure that appropriate attention is given to attainment of students as that is critical to the school’s reputation, the lives of the students but also that adequate attention is given to the wider demands of managing any organisation;
  • Exposure to managing complex situations or projects which necessitated construing data correctly, selecting the best team to implement plans and keep both progress and performance under review to ensure effective outcomes;
  • Willingness to take risks in developing others e.g. allowing individuals to have exposure to the wider responsibilities of managing a school.

Our next article will examine ways in which Governors and Head Teachers can develop the breadth and depth of skills of members of their SLT or others with the potential and willingness to become a Head Teacher.

Comments are welcome on this series of articles.

Sources
[1] New pathways into headship? June 2015 National College for Teaching and Leadership © Institute of Education, University of London & Sheffield Hallam University [2015]

[2] Exposure v Experience – the better way to identify capable, adaptable staff – an earlier article on our HR Management Dimensions blog.

Note: some typing errors were corrected on 12/08/2015.

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Casual and Zero Hours Staff – Restrictions on Contracts

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Do you insist that casual or zero hours contracted staff may not work for another employer?

Do you require such staff to obtain permission to work for another employer?

If so, you need to revise your contracts and arrangements as it is now illegal to require such staff to work exclusively for your organisation.

Other changes are also proposed to take sanctions against employers who try to flout the requirement against exclusivity clauses in such contracts. This could affect sessional music teachers, casual instructors and other zero hours contracted staff.

Zero hours contracts are not illegal but you need to understand the principles for such contracts and the practical issues. Read more by clicking on a link to an article (on our sister blog) – Casual/Zero Hours Staff – A Balanced Approach.

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Changes to Spent Periods for Declaring Fines, Convictions etc. *

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Although many roles in a school are covered by an exception order requiring individuals to declare any convictions, there are still a few roles that may fall within the Rehabilitation of Offenders regulations. There are over 1 million convictions per year so it is likely, at some point, that managers will come across applicants or existing staff who have convictions. Are your managers aware of the changes to spent offences including those for which the periods have been reduced significantly?

For a summary of when offences become spent for the purposes of applying for employment or insurance or similar, there is:

Both can be shared with your managers provided the full source is acknowledged.

Primary Schools – Non Disclosure Protection for Others in the Same Household

There is a further point that schools need to bear in mind. Staff who are looking after children (i.e. in a childcare role) do not have to declare spent convictions or cautions etc. of other individuals who live or work in the same household as the member of staff. The proviso is that those convictions are actually spent in which case the Rehabilitation of Offenders regulations apply and disclosure is not required by the member of staff.

This provision is sometimes known as ‘disqualification by association’. The DfE amended its guidance in February of this year [1] to emphasise that disclosure should not be required.

Child Care Staff Covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Regulations

The following roles are protected by the above regulations re non disclosure of spent offences:

  • Early years provision up to and including reception class whether during or outside of school hours;
  • Child care up to the age of 8 provided out of school hours ;
  • Senior leaders or managers directly involved in the management of early or later years child care provision and that includes volunteers or casual workers concerned with the above.

Staff are still required to disclose any one living or working in their household whose conviction is not spent or whose name appears on the DBS Children’s Barred List.

Heads and Governors should note that schools should not retain information about convictions that is not relevant to an individual’s employment or for an offence that has been spent.

Sources: [1] Disqualification Under the Childcare Act 2006 – DfE Statutory Guidance, Feb 2015.

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Are your Contractual Terms your Master or Servant?

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The need to change the working hours of an individual often leads to disputes amongst both teaching and support staff e.g. changing the days of attendance or spreading the hours over more days. This is usually because the school has failed to become familiar with the terms and/or failed to ensure that its terms of employment provide expressly for this in a clear way. This was re-emphasized recently in a court case [1] and the notes below are a useful reminder of key points which schools need to consider in their circumstances. .

Unsuccessful Aims

The school wished to change the days on which an individual attended work so that the working hours were spread across 5 days rather than the current 3 days to ensure that particular core subjects could always be taught in the morning. Consultation took place but agreement was not reached. The school went ahead and relied upon a clause concerning the variation of hours.

The Court held that was ineffective for this purpose for several reasons including the lack of clarity in the contractual terms.

The school in this case was an independent school but there is a salutary warning for academies and maintained schools in the view of the author as explained below.

Familiarise Yourself with Your Terms

In presenting its case, the school did not appear to:

  • understand whether and how their terms addressed varying the hours or days of attendance of part-time staff;
  • what the related terms actually meant.

A lack of familiarity was a major contributor to the adverse decision of the judge.

This is a basic error which can be very expensive. I recall observing a case regarding a NHS employee in which the question of the suitability of alternative employment arose. At no time did the employer’s representative explain that the national agreement on redundancy defined as suitable a role up to 6 miles away. The case was lost on the distance/time to travel issue simply because the presenter was not familiar with the terms.

Clarify Your Terms

Both academies and independent schools have the power to write bespoke terms into employment contracts and thus ensure that hours can be varied including those of part-time staff. Have you recently read your terms and asked yourself, “do they reflect the needs of the school?”

Even though an academy or independent school may follow the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), they can still amend those terms to address issues such as the variation of hours and/or days of attendance on a temporary or permanent basis.

Although maintained schools have to apply the STPCD, it is important to understand what restrictions are placed on the Head and the areas of freedom when discussing working hours [2]

Would you like a review of whether your terms about the varying of hours and/or attendance days could be improved? If so, write to the author via this link.

Breach of Terms an Effective Reason for Resignation

The determination of the school to press ahead with changes to the hours led to the employee resigning and claiming a breach of contract and thus constructive dismissal.

The school argued that there were several reasons for the resignation which were not connected with the change of hours proposed. However, the Judge decided, in line with previous Court decisions, that where there is more than one reason why an employee leaves a job the correct approach is to examine whether any of them is a response to the breach, not to see which amongst them is the effective cause.

Review the Effectiveness of your Terms

To avoid prolonged arguments and expensive tribunal claims, reconsider whether your terms of employment on working hours and days are clear and address the likely needs of the school.

Contact the author as noted above if you would like those aspects of your terms reviewed. As noted above you may be lucky and be offered a free review.

Sources

[1] Hart v St Mary’s School (Colchester) Ltd UKEAT/0305/14/DM

[2] You may also find the following article useful – Teachers’ Working Hours – Governors’ and Head’s Duties

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Loophole Closed on Gaining Access to Criminal Records of Employees

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Some employers try to circumvent the Disclosure and Barring route to assess whether an employee is suitable for a job by requiring the employee or volunteer to submit a subject access request and give the results about his/her criminal record to the employer. Some employers view this method as more advantageous as it is both cheaper (£10 maximum) and fuller details are revealed compared to a Disclosure and Barring return.

Illegal Pressure

From 10th March 2015, using that route is likely to result in a conviction and fine as it will be in breach of section 56 of the Data Protection Act. It will be illegal to require an individual or a third party to supply you with a relevant record or to produce a relevant record to you if that is in connection with the following:

  • the recruitment of another person as an employee;
  • the continued employment of another person:
  • any contract for the provision of services to him by
    another person.

The regulation is cast wide in that if you encourage or incentivize an individual to use his subject access right to obtain such information that will be an offence. For example, making a tentative offer of a job but first requiring to see the results of a subject access request will be illegal. The exception will be if another regulation permits the use of subject access information for such purposes.

Beware False Assumptions

While reading the above, you may have been thinking, “We don’t do that in any case”. Are you sure that none of your managers resort to such measures during recruitment? Do not assume but make it explicit to all your managers that such action is not acceptable. Explain what the acceptable way is to obtain such information.

This article may be shared with colleagues provided the full source is acknowledged as below and copies are not used for competitive, commercial purposes.

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Managing An Additional School – Rewarding the Head and Other Affected Teachers *

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What options does a Governing Body have to reward their Head Teacher for leading an additional school? This is the second in our series of articles about the changes introduced in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2014 (STPCD).

The options differ according to whether the change is a:

  • Permanent arrangement;
  • Temporary arrangement e.g. to evaluate whether a permanent federation or collaboration would be beneficial for both schools;
  • Secondment to a school causing concern.

Maintained schools are obliged to apply the terms of STPCD 2014 but academies have the freedom to create their own reward packages which could differ from the points below.

Leading an Additional School on a Permanent Basis

If the second or additional school is a permanent responsibility then the Governors should recalculate the Individual School Range to take account of the total number of pupils at both (all) schools. The method of calculation is set out in sections 6 and 7 of the STPCD 2014.

That should enable the Governors to set a pay range that reflects the demands of the Head Teacher’s role. See our earlier article about the freedom that Governors have to set the actual pay range. {Editor’s note – link to be updated}

Leading an Additional School for a Temporary period

This may arise when the Governing Body is considering a future federation or formal collaboration arrangement with a second or additional school. The Head may be asked to lead the second school for a fixed period so that the Governors, of both schools, can evaluate whether such an arrangement would be beneficial on a permanent basis.

In a temporary situation, the ISR is not changed as the Governing Body may award a temporary allowance to the Head Teacher of up to 25% of the Head’s annual salary.

The payment of the allowance is subject to several conditions:

  • Responsibility for the additional school must not have been taken into account in any salary or allowance increase previously;
  • The 25% cap does not have to take into account specific allowances paid to the Head Teacher – a residential allowance or an allowance for relocation or housing which relate solely to the personal circumstances of the Head.
  • The overall salary and allowances of the head teacher must not exceed 25% above the maximum of the head teacher group unless there are exceptional circumstances. If the Governing Body believe that this limit does not provide an appropriate reward for the Head’s role, the Governors are required to obtain external, independent advice before producing a business case for the full Governing Body to approve.

Governors should note that:

  • The temporary arrangement should not be for more than two years and
  • If the arrangement proves unsatisfactory or expire, neither Governing Body will be required to protect the ‘higher’ allowance/salary as the salary safeguarding provisions do not apply in this type of temporary situation.

Two years can pass rapidly so the Governing Body should consider establishing progress indicators and reviews during the temporary period. Those will help with the final decision as to whether to become a federation etc. and also help to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for the formalities to be concluded by the end of the temporary period.

Rewarding Other Teachers if a Second or Additional School is Taken On

When a Head takes on the the leadership of another school, that may require other teachers to take on additional responsibilities for the same temporary period. Depending on the staffing structure, it may be preferable to adjust the Deputy Head Teacher’s pay range temporarily to take account of the increased responsibilities in the absence of the headteacher.

In some cases, teachers may be required to perform additional obligations. Those teachers may be paid an allowance on a temporary basis but that will depend on the particular circumstances. Such allowances should only be provided to teaching posts which are affected significantly by the change. Section 11 of the Management Notes states, “This will be based on any additional responsibilities attached to the post (not the teacher), which should be recorded. An increase in remuneration should only be agreed where the post accrues extra responsibilities as a result of the head teacher’s enlarged role; it is not automatic.”

Such an allowance for a teacher would not attract salary safeguarding when the temporary period finishes.

Temporary Secondment of Head Teacher to a School Causing Concern

This is the third scenario and the STPCD is gradually reflecting the various situations that arise in the leadership arrangements of schools.

The Head Teacher may be rewarded by the payment of a lump sum. That is subject to an overall cap as the head’s total salary and allowances must not exceed 25% of the salary maximum. Note that this is defined as 25% of the head teacher’s pay group of the school to which the secondment is made.

Payment of the lump sum is conditional on the sum being awarded to recognise, “sustained high quality of performance throughout the secondments” (Section 24.1 of the STPCD).

A variation to the terms of employment of the Head should be produced and set out what will happen at the end of the temporary period i.e the head will return to his former substantive role and also deal with the other issues that often arise in secondments.

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Revising a School’s Pay Structure

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[Content revised 28/08/2014]

Where do you start with the need to have a pay policy for your school?  The poly should refer to:

  • Salary progression;
  • Performance related pay;
  • Links to the Teachers’ Standards;
  • Improved outcomes for the children;
  • Motivating staff;
  • The issue of affordability.

Reinforcing the School’s Key Goals

The starting point is not writing your pay policy. The first step is to consider the bigger picture as your pay structure should help to reinforce the service needs of your school and therefore should be designed for that context. Ask yourself what improvements does the school need to accomplish over the next three years, especially in outcomes for pupils? The picture below shows the key elements in the design of a pay structure that reinforces the key goals and recognises the interdependence of the key elements.

Designing a Pay/Reward Structure

Designing a Pay/Reward Structure 

Identifying the key goals of the school has two major benefits:

  • It will be easier for you to extract core objectives that the majority of your teachers will need to focus on.
  • Through their involvement, the Governors should be able to track progress against the important goals and know what measures are appropriate for that purpose. This will help to demonstrate effective governance to Ofsted but also ensure that the school is continuously improving

The Governors and Head Teacher should be involved closely in this so they and the Senior Leadership Team are clear about the future direction; what has to be achieved in each year and how progress will be measured.

Objectives for Staff

The core goals that are essential to meet the service needs should be broken down into manageable objectives and sub objectives for the appropriate year. Those objectives will often be complemented with particular objectives for an individual which together will form the teacher’s personal set of objectives.

Staff appraisal is a topic in itself. This article is focused on designing the pay structure and determining an individual’s pay. However, in a a performance related pay structure you should bear in mind the following;

  • When setting objectives you are legitimising certain behaviours to achieve those ends. Does it matter how staff go about achieving those? If it does, you should consider adding qualitative measures to the objectives to minimise any adverse behavioural outcomes.
  • Are there specific performance measures that every teacher must meet to be assessed as effective? That might, for example, refer to a certain level of improvement of learning outcomes across the school.
  • Be careful about using emotional and inflationary terms such as ‘good’ performance. Organisations find that terms such as ‘effective’ are better.
  • Linking back to the Teachers’ Standards is a requirement but that will require you to consider:
    • What expectations do you have of a teacher in say the first half of the Main Pay Range compared to the second half?
    • What expectations do you have of a teacher at the lower end of the Upper Pay range compared to one at the maximum?
    • Holding a reasonableness workshop of ‘assessors’ to examine and chart those expectations in order to clarify the requirements and facilitate a consistent application.

Designing the Pay Structure

A pay structure is part of your reward and recognition strategy. Pay is important but not the sole motivator for professional staff who are also interested in personal development opportunities and other forms of recognition. I make that statement now so it is not lost as I explain below some elements of putting together a school pay structure.

Your context – you need to take account of your context when designing a pay structure including:

  • Your school’s goals
  • The freedom you have to take a flexible approach to rewarding staff. The DfE sets the parameters each year such as the minimum and maximum of the pay ranges but you are able to decide on salary progression and the value of an individual’s contribution.
  • Any strong expectations of staff regarding pay increases. New entrants and those who have not reached the maximum of the range will up to now have assumed their pay will increase along the current scales. Depending on the changes you make, will those expectations need to be reshaped or are those so entrenched that your freedom will be limited in the first year or so? The 2014 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) emphasizes that a teacher who is appraised as good should have an expectation of receiving an increase.
  • Do allowances or other pay supplements form a significant part of staff’s earnings? The Review Body indicated that 27% of primary and 56% of secondary teaches received allowances (1). The 2014 Teachers’ Conditions provides more flexibility for using allowances to reward staff.
  • Can you afford (or not afford) to put more money into the pay budget to focus individuals on important key improvements? Performance related pay assumes a degree of flexibility which is in addition to any general uplift decided by the DfE minimum and maximum of the pay ranges
  • When pay is affected by performance, consistency of assessments is important as staff will make their own value judgements. You should consider training for your assessors of performance and of pay so that objective and consistent decisions are made

With those points in mind let us examine some of the options open to schools for their pay structure from September 2013. We shall discuss the following elements:

  • Progression within pay ranges
  • Putting values to pay markers along the ranges
  • The learning curve and ‘mature’ teaching skills

Progression within Pay Ranges

The current pay scales give individuals an increase of 8% on the Main and 4% on the Upper Scale. Several options are given below for consideration. Some are relatively safe options should you wish to build your own confidence in applying performance related pay.

The DfE will provide the minimum and maximum of the pay ranges. In its submission to the Review Body, the DfE suggested a 1% uplift to the minimum and maximum of the ranges but we shall have to await the conclusions. In the meantime, you can determine the markers (pay reference points) along the new pay ranges. If you wish to develop confidence and balance staff’s expectations of salary progression to which they were looking forward, you may wish to place the markers at similar points to now (allowing for any uplift to the range). That still leaves you with a significant advantage in managing pay and performance as explained below

Main Pay Range – currently your decision is limited to either no rise or a whole one or two point rise. From September, you can adopt one of many options as illustrated below.

Option 1 – You could mirror a similar arrangement to the current pay scales by establishing 4 markers of 8% each between the minimum and maximum of the range. You could adopt a similar all or nothing approach to the award of a pay rise i.e. an individual could be awarded an increase to the next marker (or two for highly effective performance) or no rise for not achieving the required levels. That is a safe option but denies you the flexibility to deal with the many situations you will need to address.

Option 2 – if you subscribe to the view that performance related pay is to encourage and reward those who are demonstrating clear progress on objectives, you may wish to implement a structure that gives you more freedom. As in option 1, you would establish 4 markers of a set % each between the minimum and maximum of the range. If an individual has achieved a significant part of his objectives and is committed to achieving the rest, you could award a percentage of the marker point (e.g. 70%) to encourage him to keep on raising performance. Similarly, those demonstrating high on going performance could be awarded more than 100% of the marker point e.g. 150%. The emphasis in the latter case should be on performance that will be sustained as the Teachers’ terms still state that any rise is permanent while the individual remains employed at your school.

This option is more realistic as it gives you the flexibility to take account of the circumstances in which the objectives had to be performed, the degree of success and the individual’s determination to succeed.

Option 3 – similar to option 1 except that 9 markers of say 4% each.are established within the minimum and maximum of the range This gives the ability to increase salary by two markers (the same percentage as on the current scales) or by one marker if performance falls in less critical objectives. This option may be suitable in some schools but it does reduce flexibility. Be cautious about adopting this type of option in the hope of saving costs by only awarding one marker. Remember staff will have strong expectations for receiving rises of around the same levels as on the current scales and a policy of lower percentage awards over more years will lead to your salary rates becoming less competitive.

The reality is that when assessing performance you often find that the circumstances and achievements vary so give yourself room to take account of factors such as the degree of success and surrounding circumstances. A structure such as option 2 is more suited to a motivational pay structure..

Upper Pay Range – the two year waiting period before the next pay rise was removed. The current promotion award from the Main to the first point on the Upper Pay Range is circa 8%. The pay range used to have three points of 4% each. Now, you are free to determine progression within the range. One option is to allow for an annual award rather than follow the current biennial award. That would require the creation of 3 markers of 2% each on the range between the minimum and maximum. The cost should be the same as now because each year’s rise will equate to 50% of what formerly would have been the two year increase. As with option 2 above, you may wish to award a lower or higher percentage to take account of the performance achievement.

Valuing the Learning Curve and Experienced Teachers

The options above are relatively safe as they are built around the current structure with added flexibility. Now we shall consider different approach. The current salary structure assumes even percentage rises at each point within the range but does that mask the nature of teaching. In the first few years, a teacher will probably undergo a steep learning curve but by year 3 or 4 they are likely to become fairly well rounded and adept at adjusting their teaching style to different groups and behaviours of groups/individuals.

As enthusiastic as new teachers are, the experience of a teacher, like other professionals, will be determined by the situations to which they have been exposed and how they learn from those situations and apply their skills to differing circumstances. Hence, is there a case that experienced all round teachers should be rewarded with a higher percentage rise from say year 3 or 4 onwards? Should those in the learning curve receive a lower percentage but with the flexibility to award more to those who are highly effective performers even if still in the learning curve?

I realise that lifelong learning is a fact for many but is there a case take a different approach and recognise the difference in skills and performance outcomes of those who have gone through the learning curve and now deliver effective outcomes? I imagine that some will say that they would prefer to motivate the ‘learners’ to reach maturity as quickly as practicable to produce effective outcomes for pupils. The key question here, which some leaders may not be comfortable with at this stage, is whether differentials in the level of the markers should be applied to the ‘learning curve’ and thus release some funds to pay more for the experienced teachers from say the 3rd or 4th Year onwards.

Linked to this is the more searching question – what difference do you expect in terms of performance from a teacher on the mid point compared to one on the maximum? Similarly, what difference do you expect in terms of UPR 1 compared to a UPR 3 teacher? If there are significant differences, should that result in higher percentage increases for those upon whom there are higher expectations?

In the first year of operating the new pay structure, you may feel more confident at keeping the pays structure close to the current pay ranges but the issue of affordability is likely to figure at some stage so be prepared to experiment with different approaches to reinforce performance.

Deciding an Individual’s Pay Rise

This is the point at which all the different elements come together but in some ways this should be a relatively easy decision in view of the evidence you should have to hand from the appraisal process and the flexibility that you have in your pay structure. Key points to bear in mind are:

  • A zero pay rise is unlikely to drive out a poor performer. Poor performance will have to be managed directly via direct discussions and if necessary via the capability process.
  • High performers are often lost because they feel undervalued. If you give say a 8% rise to effective performers and a 9% rise to high performers, the latter will see that as undervaluing their contribution as the differential is too small. Designing flexibility into your pay and recognition practices is important so that you can be creative in rewarding highly effective performers.
  • Professional staff seek recognition – money is one factor but so are opportunities for true personal development. Be creative in ways of recognising staff – the value to a member of staff is often far more than the actual cost or time involved. You can read more about this aspect at http://personnel-advice.co.uk/wpeducation/?p=680
  • Use the whole range of flexibility available to you which includes allowances such as the fixed term TLR3 which is not subject to safeguarding, recruitment and retention allowances which are not restricted to 3 years and so on. The differential between a TLR1 and 2 allowance no longer has to be £1,500 so you can adopt more flexibility.
  • If you believe that an effective approach is by motivating staff to continue to improve their range of skills and therefore outcomes for students, then adopt a motivational stance when determining pay increases – encourage individuals to go the extra distance.

Performance related pay will create tensions in applying flexibility and being consistent. You will need to invest time in training your assessors of performance and of pay awards/recommendations to ensure that those are based on sound evidence and consistent application.

One way of encouraging consistency and ensuring expectations remain high is to hold a an annual evaluation session with the Senior Leadership Team. To achieve consistency in rating of top performers, you could ask the assessors of staff rated as highly effective performers to present their reasons to the SLT/Assessors so that a peer evaluation takes place to ensure that across the school a consistent view of highly effective is developed. This helps to check any softer or harder approaches in particular teams diluting the value of a highly effective award.

Appointing New Staff

Your pay structure and pay policy should give you the flexibility to pay new appointees a competitive salary and appropriate allowances.

The draft terms will enable a teacher to be appointed in a different school on the advertised grade and not retain the right to a lifetime UPR salary. What is not clear from the draft terms is whether such a teacher could accept a role on the main pay range, having previously been on UPR, and then apply for the Upper Pay Range again. The draft terms do not appear to have clarified this issue.

Pay Policy

In a later article we shall explain how to avoid the pitfalls of such policies and will produce a template for a pay policy. We shall also note some of the small print contained in the draft terms which may come as a surprise and discuss the additional flexibility available when using allowances from September.

To ensure that you receive alerts to new articles, click the link at the top of the right hand column of this blog page so that you receive updates by e-mail.

Sources

[1] School Teachers’ Review Body Twenty-First Report 2012 page 35; other data quoted is also sourced from the same report.

[Editor’s Note Nov 16 – link to illustration needs updating]

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Marketing the Benefits of Your School

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Focusing on the benefits valued by parents etc. rather than a list of the school’s features is important.  You can read more about that in an earlier article. You should not assume that what you value is the same as what parents value. So how do you find out what those values are?

Small Focus Groups to Establish Parents’ Criteria

Start by investing time in small focus groups. Invite a few parents/carers to a neutral venue to discuss these types of questions:

  • What do you believe it is important to consider when choosing a school for your child or grandchild?
  • Which of those would you view as the most important in deciding which school to select?

Invitees to the focus groups should be drawn from a range of users:

  • parents who have recently had children join the school;
  • those searching for a school;
  • parents whose children are in the last year of the school;
  • estate agents to identify what parents ask them about schools in the area.

The invitees above should provide a cross section of ages and potentially differing perspectives.

In addition, you should hold focus groups for a cross section of children in the school to establish what they value especially those who have joined recently and those who are in the final year and may be more reflective about what they now value about their school.

Avoid Bias in Collating the Feedback

Identifying their views is not easy as they will need help to open up about what they truly value. Collating those views and then establishing the common values can be difficult and carries the risk that you may allow your views to influence the sifting of the data. Remain objective throughout or arrange for a third party to undertake the discussion and collation stages.

A survey may be helpful but that should either be preceded or followed up by focus groups, as above, to explore the issues in more detail and to gain a real sense of which values are more important to parents/carers.

The results can then be used to help you to focus your promotion of the school in brochures, your web site, articles in local papers and in text provided to local estate agents and similar services.

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Marketing Your School – winning hearts and minds

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Schools are in competition for pupils and to gain and retain an effective reputation amongst parents/carers. Whether or not you realise it,

you need to market the benefits of your school to win the hearts and minds of parents so that your school remains well attended and has the commitment of parents to the success of the school and of the children.

Focus on Emotional Benefits

An attractive and informative web site and brochure setting out the features of the school is a help but more is needed.  Other schools will also produce similar materials so what will make a difference?  Listing features such as ease of parking is not a deciding factor.  Service companies have learned over the years that the loyalty of customers is won through the emotional benefits that your service and experience provides to them.  For example, Center Parcs learned that their guests, within a short time of arriving, would unwind rapidly and valued the security of the site.  That was a strong emotional benefit experienced by guests when on site and led to their loyalty.

Marketing Ideas

Emotional benefits are relevant to the marketing of schools as well. What key emotional benefits will parents experience if their child goes to your the school e.g. attainment levels, physical and mental development, character building to make their way in life, a secure environment, catch up teaching time?  Identifying what is important to your current and future parents is important.  Next, you have to consider how best to convey that to those considering your school.  Testimonials from parents who have experienced key benefits is a powerful influence and those parents will also be your ambassadors in the communities in which they live and work.

Beside communicating with parents, what other interested parties should be approached?  Have you identified housing developers in your area as they may wish to publicise the nearby facilities such as schools. Also consider alerting estate agents to the age range and facilities at your school e.g. nursery, 6th form. Produce a leaflet of the key emotional benefits as well as the facilities for estate agents to include in a pack for prospective home buyers. Make sure your web site contains key words that describe the facilities and benefits as this will help your school pages to appear in searches made by parents in the area or thinking of moving into the area.

You could just list your features in a brochure but do no be surprised if the children pass your school by on a bus or in a car with a parent and have no idea as to the benefits that are offered at your school.

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The Price Tag of Continuous Service

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You are sitting with colleagues about to offer a job to an interviewee.  The latter has been advised well as he asks you directly, ” I would like to be assured that you will recognise my previous continuous service in the offer for this role?”  The candidate is very experienced for the role and you are keen to seal the offer.  So you answer, “Yes, once it has been verified”.  What have you recognised and at what cost?

Statutory Continuous Service

Such service builds an individual’s entitlement to rights such as notice periods, eligibility to claim unfair dismissal, redundancy pay.  When you agree to recognise continuous service, you may inherit a long period of unbroken service which could, for example, result in up to 20 years of service being taken into account for redundancy pay.  Thus it pays to be aware of what costs you may inherit.

As it is a statutory principle, most employers have to recognise such service. However, some organisations go further and recognise a wider definition of previous service that will count for benefits etc.

Strict Reckoning of What Service Counts

Statutory continuous service is based on a strict principle. To be reckonable, service must be unbroken. A gap of just one week will break the service record. A week is measured from a Sunday but will count even if less than an hour of work was performed or if no work was performed in a week if the following applies:

  • A contract was in existence even if no work was carried out that week
  • The week by arrangement or custom is deemed to be a period of employment such as a term time worker who is not required to work during the school holidays or a woman on ordinary maternity leave.

Other situations can also arise leading to the recognition of continuous service if an individual is:

  • Incapable of carrying out his work due to sickness or injury for up to 26 weeks and is then re-employed – those weeks will be treated as continuous service.
  • Absent from work due to a temporary cessation of work even if the contract does not continue.

A Break in Service

If none of the above apply and an individual has a ‘gap’ of one week in his employment, he will be treated as having broken his statutory continuous service.

In most cases that means the service before the break will not be reckoned as statutory continuous service. However, there are some situations in which the service will not be broken but certain weeks will not be counted e.g. strikes – those weeks will not count but do not break continuous service.

In many cases, continuous service only with the current employer will count. For example, schools are not regarded as associated organisations and service with another school even within the same LA is not regarded as statutory continuous service but note the points below.

The Hidden Cost

[Author’s update] If the employer is the local authority, then any continuous service with that authority will count which will include working at other schools of the same authority whether in support and/or teaching roles.

An expensive mistake can be made if you contract to recognise service that is not continuous as you will be liable under the contract to recognise such service. Verbal or written offers of employment should make it clear that recognition of service is subject to verification of reckonable statutory continuous service and relevant previous service for particular rights and benefits.

Before answering the interviewee’s question, you should consider the real cost as you may inherit longer service because of an industry wide agreement. For example, if the interviewee has been working for a local authority type of employer, his service may count under what is known as the Modification Order.  The service must be continuous but may have been built up across several employers.  The last employer will inherit the liability for the whole continuous service of the individual

As individuals move between maintained schools and academies, you will need to have a policy on whether or not you will recognise their previous service.  Service with an academy counts for redundancy purposes but it does not have to be counted for some benefits.  In deciding your policy, you may need to take account of the thoughts below.

A Beneficial Price Tag

Some managers will be tempted to engineer a break in service to keep costs down or delay an individual accruing the right to claim unfair dismissal.  A more effective mindset is to consider the value of the experience and transferable skills that an individual will bring to the school.  Yes, that will have a price tag if things go wrong but as managers we have to nurture a culture that makes expectations explicit and provides a work environment for individuals to apply their skills to the benefit of the school as well as their own development and satisfaction from the exercise of their skills.

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