Effective School Management

Confirming the appointment
Every employee must by law be given a written statement of terms and
conditions of employment. This statement must cover a number of specific
points including salary, periods of notice, holiday entitlement and grievance
procedure. It is good practice to incorporate these into a written offer to the
chosen candidate.
Induction
As soon as candidates have accepted the appointment, they should be sent a
copy of the ‘departmental document’ (schemes of work, departmental
responsibilities, etc.), invited for an induction day and given the job description.
The criteria for effectiveness should be agreed and preferably recorded in
writing. An objective is seldom meaningful unless it is qualified in such a
way that all parties will know whether it has been achieved. Time is the most
important measure. Thus ‘to put on a linguists’ evening in the spring term’
and ‘to arrange an exchange visit to each of France and Germany next summer’
are far more meaningful objectives than ‘to increase out-of-school activities in
modern languages’.
A pack of information, textbooks, school rules, standard forms, etc.,
should await the new recruit, and a guided tour and meetings should be
planned. Form room, locker space, pass key or other physical details should
be discussed. (It is useful to establish for each school an induction checklist.)
Preferably the induction day will start and finish with the recruit’s immediate
manager who will also become the reference point for further enquiries.

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8 4
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYING STAFF
Since this book first appeared, employment legislation has become much more
complex. Most heads will have to rely on professional advice to avoid some
of the pitfalls lurking around. Society is becoming more litigious as the ‘blame
culture’ flourishes. Dealing with grievances and tribunals can devour precious
management time. Problem avoidance is better than cure, which makes
motivation and ‘hygiene’ so important (Chapter 3). Never let emerging human
resources problems fester; they usually get worse! On the other hand, avoid
caving in to buy peace, otherwise your management authority and freedom
of action will be eroded. The following things help and hinder:
Help
Hinder
Keep your ear to the ground
Let work issues oust HR issues
Have explicit policies and procedures on
Sweep difficult problems
important issues and communicate and
under the carpet
keep to them
Spring surprises on staff
Be consistent in your HR decisions and
without prior consultation
recognise when you are creating a
Make strategic decisions in
precedent
the heat of a crisis
Gain explicit agreement from staff about
Play everything close to your
anything potentially contentious
  chest
Document clearly key HR decisions
Take advice from your LEA HR section
Examples of the pitfalls that have been created by legislation such as the
Children Act 1989 and the Employment Act 2002 are as follows:
Staff protection. The horror of an allegation about child abuse has haunted
many a teacher. The Act underplays the propensity of children to tell fibs;
false accusations are sometimes made with malicious intent. Heads should
emphasise that child protection measures have an important secondary
purpose of protecting staff.
Maternity, paternity and adoptive rights. The exercise of such rights can play
havoc with the smooth running of a school and impair children’s education.
Because heads have a duty to all stakeholders, they have a difficult balancing
act. Providing adequate cover for an absent senior teacher is problematic.
However, it can be an opportunity to develop and test young teachers by
giving them more responsibility.
EU Working Hours Directive (48 hour week). There are occasions when staff
have to work long hours, e.g. on a residential trip. It helps if your management
style enables you to draw on a bank of goodwill, but take care not to exploit
this, especially if there may be a risk to health.  (See the section on the workload
agreement.)
Disability Discrimination Act. Employers have a duty to make reasonable

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RECRUITING, EMPLOYING, APPRAISING, DEVELOPING & DISMISSING STAFF
8 5
adjustments to employment and working conditions so that anyone disabled
does not receive less favourable treatment. Discrimination of various kinds
can be challenged.
Employment tribunals. The important thing to remember is to keep written
evidence demonstrating that the school has complied with statutory
procedures though minor procedural errors can be disregarded. Unfair
dismissal is one of the main sources of grievance.
Dispute resolution in the workplace. Written disciplinary and grievance
procedures must be in place and be known to staff. Employment contracts
must refer to them and be up-to-date.
Fixed term employees. Any staff employed on a fixed term contract (limited to
four years) have been given new rights, e.g. to training and sick pay, based on
the principle that such staff have the right not to be treated any less favourably
than permanent staff.
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1999. It is the duty of all staff to take action if they
think they have grounds for suspecting colleagues of fraud, corruption,
malpractice, abuse, harassment, discrimination or legal or health and safety
non-compliance. There need to be open channels of communication with
management for dealing with such concerns, and a whistle-blowing policy
and procedure communicated to staff. This should include a means of by-
passing management to gain access to school governors. By law, there must
be no victimization or recrimination: the information that whistle-blowers
impart, even if inaccurate, tells a story. Concerns must be thoroughly and
dispassionately investigated and remedial action taken if required.
Pending legislation. Watch out for new legislation on discrimination (e.g. on
religious, age or sexual orientation grounds), pension rights, consultation,
temporary workers (e.g. supply teachers) and dignity at work.
THE WORKLOAD AGREEMENT
In January 2003, the DfES and the Welsh Assembly announced that they had
reached agreement with the teacher unions (with the exception of the NUT),
and those representing support staff, on implementing a programme which
will reduce teacher workload. The intention is to phase in changes to the teacher
contract and to employ support staff in greater numbers and in extended
roles. The first phase of the agreement will last until 2006, but it is likely that
there will be further developments beyond that.
School leaders should produce a development plan for the changes to the
workforce which the agreement will necessitate. A major change is the
inclusion in the conditions of service requiring heads to ensure that teachers
have a reasonable work–life balance. Teachers will, over time, no longer be
required to undertake many routine tasks such as bulk photocopying,
collecting money and minuting meetings. They will be required to cover for

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8 6
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
absent colleagues for a maximum of 38 hours per year, and will receive
guaranteed planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA). Invigilation of
exams will also cease to be the responsibility of teachers (although, in
practice, many schools currently employ others to invigilate).
The progress of these changes will, of course, depend on sufficient
funding being available to schools to allow them to employ the additional
support staff who will be needed, but it is clear that school leaders in their
dealings with staff will need to take account of a significant change in the
assumptions of what constitutes a teacher’s job. The agreement emphasizes
the need to raise standards by allowing teachers to concentrate on the core
tasks of teaching and learning. Employing larger numbers of support staff
also raises issues about their training and development and we would
suggest that their needs should be given an equal priority with those of
teaching staff.