The Way Forward agreement published by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services in 2003 spells out the obligation on schools to establish processes for the performance management of support staff. It specifies that “for training and development policies to be effective, every member of staff must receive a rigorous, constructive annual appraisal leading to the development of an individual plan for development” (page 37, para 4.2).
However, the picture around the country is very patchy and many employers still do not have in place a performance management process for classroom support staff, nor for other categories of support staff.
Local authority schools
Appraisal policies should be negotiated and agreed at LA level. The process may cover all LA staff, or there may be a distinct policy for schools.
Academies
Academies are free to establish their own appraisal policy or not have one at all. This may be the same policy as that for teachers employed by the trust. Any such policy should be negotiated and agreed with the relevant unions at trust level.
What should appraisal look like?
Understandably, some support staff members will have reservations about the notion of appraisal and performance management.
Inconsistencies with the process, lack of transparency from the employer’s side and a fear that it can be used as a tool to misappropriate capability procedures are all legitimate concerns.
The NEU believes that appraisal should be a positive and supportive process, and that support staff members should collectively determine whether they want an appraisal process and what this should look like.
Appraisal can, and should, be used to motivate staff, resolve workload concerns, identify training gaps and encourage career progression.
It is vital that all support staff members have access to professional development, irrespective of whether a formal appraisal process exists.
Career progression
Appraisal can also be used as a mechanism for career progression. With support staff in schools, there is a common misconception and presumption that support staff want to ‘progress’ into teaching. This is not always the case, and the reality is that support staff educators happily carry out a wide variety of rewarding and important jobs. Much like teachers, their main concerns are low pay and heavy workload.
It is also important to note that many support staff members hold no formal qualifications but have become qualified by virtue of long experience. For those support staff members who would like to get into teaching or progress into leadership, the appraisal process can and should be used to help them obtain the qualifications and/or skills required for the roles.
School budgets should not discriminate against support staff professional development and Inset days should consider the whole school workforce.