Effective School Management

6
Recruiting, Employing, Appraising, Developing
and Dismissing Staff
Contract between
Superior/
Parent/
Master/
equal parties
subordinate
child
servant
Slavery
Figure 6.1
Attitudes to employment

---

RECRUITING, EMPLOYING, APPRAISING, DEVELOPING & DISMISSING STAFF
7 5
performance of their ‘superior’? How do we view the caretaker and ancillary
staff? Should our relationship to them be different from our relationship to
our professional colleagues and, if so, how?
It is important to know where we stand and to behave in a coherent way
which is consistent with the realities of power. In the teaching profession it is
sometimes more difficult than elsewhere to invoke sanctions against the
incompetent. We are therefore almost entirely dependent on the recruitment
of good staff, and the creation of open relationships in which staff at different
levels will work together to make themselves, each other and the
organization more effective.
RECRUITMENT OF STAFF
Standard elements in the recruitment process are
(1) the job description;
(2) the personal profile;
(3) attracting suitable candidates;
(4) application forms;
(5) references; and
(6) the interview.
The person under whose immediate direction the new recruit will work should
be involved in all stages of the process. Increasingly, it is also the practice to
take the views of those with whom the recruit will work and also of those
whom the recruit will lead. At the earlier stages this allows for creative input
(e.g. a readjustment of roles within a school or department) and at the interview
stage it builds staff commitment and helps the candidate to assess the
environment in which he or she will have to work.  It is also common for
candidates to be asked to teach a lesson, or to undertake an in-tray exercise or
similar task. Some schools also find that the views of a specially convened
pupil panel offer additional useful information.