Effective School Management

Figure 6.4
Training – investment and return

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RECRUITING, EMPLOYING, APPRAISING, DEVELOPING & DISMISSING STAFF
9 3
A COHERENT APPROACH
Recruitment, appraisal and training are three activities which should not be
seen in isolation from each other but as part of a comprehensive approach to
developing a proficient, well motivated and effective staff – the key to a good
school. Staff recruitment and development should be largely determined by
the values, objectives and curriculum development plans of the school (see
Chapters 11 and 13). The means of translating school objectives into individual
staff responsibilities are job descriptions, and the techniques for obtaining
and developing staff to fulfil the job descriptions effectively are those of
selection and  appraisal, followed up by development actions including
training.
The procedures advocated in this chapter, are not easy to introduce into
those schools where they do not already exist, for reasons which include
(1) resistance to ideas which appear to come from America and/or industry
and are ipso facto (in the view of some) repugnant to the professional
world of education, which is ‘different’;
(2) fear of being labelled incompetent;
(3) dislike of ‘paperwork’;
(4) discomfort at the idea that learning acquired at university may not be
sufficient for a modern teacher;
(5) a feeling that teachers are by their nature people who have an instinct for
choosing and developing staff;
(6) ‘professional performance should be above judgement’ (a mis-
construction of what appraisal is about); and
(7) a feeling, perhaps caught from pupils, that training and learning are
unpleasant things associated with children rather than mature adults.
For all these reasons, and others which you may like to add, each step forward
has to be taken carefully but purposefully and using the strategies to which