Applicants' appraisals opened up to heads
Union fury over regulations change ‘madness’
Heads will be allowed to view confidential HR records about teachers’ previous performance before appointing, as part of Government attempts to end the recycling of “incompetent” members of the profession.
In future, all reports of appraisals will be available to school leaders employing a new member of staff.
Department for Education officials have said the change in regulations will stop the practice of heads providing good references for incompetent staff as part of a “compromise agreement”.
Teaching and heads’ unions have branded the reforms “madness” and “misguided and ridiculous”.
They have warned that appraisals could become meaningless because teachers, fearful of not being able to get a new job in future, might not admit to failings.
The reforms, announced by education secretary Michael Gove this week, are designed to get rid of “bureaucracy” in the systems for dealing with poor teacher performance. Other changes allow heads to “remove poorly performing teachers” within one term. The changes will come into force from September.
“We want to do all we can to help headteachers and employers to make well- informed decisions about teacher appointments,” says a consultation document on the changes.
“We propose that regulations should require employers (and former employers) to provide copies of a teacher’s previous appraisal statements to a potential employer when asked by them to do so in support of an application for a teaching post.
“We believe this could helpfully supplement the information provided by references and may also have the effect of limiting the extent to which compromise agreements between teachers and employers can subvert the reference process.”
The changes mean any head who provides a “dishonest or misleading” reference which does not “tell the whole story to another school” could face legal proceedings.
Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Mary Bousted said the proposal to share appraisal records was “outrageous”. She wants a meeting with Mr Gove to protest.
“This will completely distort the appraisal process; it will make it a charade. Teachers won’t want to admit to needing any extra training,” she said.
“This is so misguided and ridiculous, it’s laughable - but we are not laughing. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what appraisals are all about. It’s corrupted, iniquitous and wrong-headed and it will destroy professional development.”
Heads’ union the NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby supports the reforms overall, but told The TES that allowing employers to view appraisal records was a “single moment of madness”.
“At the moment the danger is for bland references - this will create bland appraisals instead,” he said.
Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said there was not a “big demand” from heads to see appraisal records.
“It’s been quite a surprise to see that proposal and we are considering the implications of this,” he said.
“Appraisals should be honest and rigorous. Nobody should skirt around the truth and they should show how things really are.
“If everyone is aware someone else might see it then they might be less, or more honest - it could work both ways.”
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said the changes risked “jeopardising the fundamental purpose of performance management, which is to engage in an open and respectful dialogue to assist teachers in the continuing development of professional skills”.
KEY PROPOSALS: WILLING AND ABLE?
Abolition of many performance management regulations, including the number of hours heads are allowed to spend observing a teacher in the classroom.
Systems for performance management and capability proceedings will be scrapped, and replaced with a single “model policy”, which will not be statutory.
Teachers involved in capability proceedings will no longer be able to stall action because they are on sickness absence or have made a grievance complaint about a colleague.
Original headline: Job applicants’ appraisals are opened up to heads
Comment (34)
Quote: 'Heads will be allowed to view confidential HR records about teachers’ previous performance before appointing, as part of Government attempts to end the recycling of “incompetent” members of the profession.'
Which bit of the word 'confidential' is it that GOVE and his mates don't understand?
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11:13
27 May, 2011
Brooke Bond
Correct. It seems that 'confidential' in this context means everybody can see what is written about you - except YOU.
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16:46
27 May, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
So, when the recession is over and teachers leave the profession in droves because of frozen pay, increased pension contributions and poor working conditions...............
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22:54
27 May, 2011
maynardsmith99
That's why he wants overseas teachers to be allowed to teach without any transition training, to teach in our schools immediatley. Sounds more like a mission to destroy rights so teacher bashing can commence.
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8:44
28 May, 2011
MABAGGLEY
All these proposal do is ensure that teaching becomes a sycophantic profession where, unless you make the head look good your career is over.
What is needed for recruitment and selection is a root and branch reform. All this nonsense of pressurising people on the day leads to poor recruitment and mistakes being made. Heads should understand that recruitment is a two way process, where prospective employees should also be able to interview the school.
OK if heads get to see my confidential appraisal records, before I accept a job under them I want to see their appraisal records of their management skills and figures on staff turnover, complaints made about poor management. Then we will have a level playing field with both sides fully informed.
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9:11
28 May, 2011
Plato
This is madness. Can't you see?
Heads should have complete freedom to run their schools.
The parents should have complete freedom to choose their schools.
Lousy and suspect teachers empty schools very quickly. Very quickly.
Parents should be in control, not the DfE. Not the County. Not the Unions. Not the Political elite. Certainly not "educational experts" who have never entered a State School classroom in their lives.
Ordinary people should have the same rights of choice as the very rich and as the very rich "working class" people on the BBC and in the Education "profession".
The political party that actually works for the ordinary people of England will romp home at the next election.
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9:13
28 May, 2011
Mike Stallard
"Heads should have complete freedom to tun their schools"
Only if you can guarantee that such heads are of the highest quality and will actually run the school properly. I've seem far to many heads who think they are Gods and make life hell for staff riding roughshod over their rights and abusing their power. Who will check that the Heads are doing what's right - the parents? Then whe have chaos as parents demand that Miss X is sacked as she picked on poor litlle Johnny.
"The parents should have complete freedom to choose their schools"
Fine - so parents all want school X and nobody chooses school Y - shut down school Y? Spend millions making school X bigger - then parents change their mind because the head leaves. Then what? they all complain that there is no choice and demnad a new school. Perhaps if you removed choice it would be better. You wouldn't get sink schools that only get the kids who are disriuptive and whose parents don't give a toss. You'd actually have nice kids in the school for a change with sup[portive parents.
"Parents should be in control not the DfE"
So parents decide that because emily doesn't like physics then we won't bother to teach it and we'll add in horseriding lessons instead beacuse that's what she would rather do. And then a group of parents want to ban teaching about religion and only teach religion and insist that creationism and Bible study is the best curriculum. That will really help the pupils succeed in life eh? Parents don't always make the right choices! Look at some of the loony free school proposals coming in - that's parental choice!
What that leads to is parents only letting in kids that are nice and parents they like to their school - let the chavs go elsewhere.
I'm with you on educational experts especially professors of education who aren't and never have been teachers. They should all be made to teach in a challenging school befire they can proclaim expertise!
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17:46
28 May, 2011
Plato
Plato, you're a genius. My thoughts exactly, but much more eloquently put. For a long time I've distrusted the absurd assumption that heads can do no wrong. Some display all the diplomatic charm of a bull in a china shop and ram through their initiatives and vanity projects with more concern for appearance and image than for substance and results.
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19:24
28 May, 2011
Siegen81to82
You have to ask yourself what training Heads had to do their job. Most were teachers who applied for more senior positions and were given them because they had applied and put on a good show at interview. Once they had entered the ranks of SLT they would have had to had to cock up pretty spectacularly for it to affect their careers. Their "record" wasn't made available to any new schools to which they applied.
Ever since Chris Woodhead was given a platform to air his views, the agenda for improving state schools has involved the creation of an oppressive regime of bureacracy and scrutiny for classroom teachers (micromanagement). This hasn't worked. I have seen schools which have tried to improve their teaching standards by micromanaging the teachers (e.g. making teachers produce highly detailed, written lesson plans for every lesson and to submit them for scrutiny at the start of each week). This approach hasn't worked, primarliy because good teaching isn't about producing lesson plans. In fact, most of the best teaching I have ever seen has been done without a written lesson plan because it emanates from someone who really knows what they are doing.
I would like to see the focus shift towards the management of schools and, in particular, the ability of a Headteacher to organise and motivate their staff. You've all seen the Apprentice. When somebody has been given the job of being team leader, the first thing Sir Alan and his associates do is to ask the people in the team how good the team leader was.
I have often wondered why Ofsted never produce a staff questionnaire so that they can get a heads up on the culture which exists within a school. When Ofsted come to a school they seek the views of parents and governors. They speak to the SLT. The one group of people they don't speak to is the classroom teachers. Why is this? One theory is that they are, themselves, drawn from the ranks of retired SLT and believe that people should do the job as they used to do it. If ever there were a recipe for ensuring that things don't improve, this would be it.
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7:25
29 May, 2011
Billybong
Billybong, you are a genius as well. There are heads whose double cock-ups haven't prevented them having another go: third time equally unlucky for those on whom they' re inflicted.
Your point about lesson plans hits the nail on the head. I haven't supervised an ITT student for 3 or 4 years but when I did I was appalled to learn that they were supposed to script the entire lesson and not deviate from the script at all.
Some of my best lessons haven't been in my subject but in General Studies, where we start with whatever's been in the news and look at the issues behind it. Discussions, brilliant input from students and lively even passionate essays have been the result - and no lesson plan anywhere in sight.
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9:52
29 May, 2011
Siegen81to82
The above two comments and their associated observations accord fully with my own experience. Over the past 30 years, I have encountered heads and their deputies who couldn't run a winkle stall on Margate sea front - let alone run a school. But then again - they didn't have to run a winkle stall - did they? It is nothing short of audacious to have this miserable crowd appraise your performance as a classroom teacher! And sadly it goes beyond mere incompetence. I have come against mendacity on the part of heads who will promise much to achieve their temporary goals but later (when the problem has been resolved or just gone away) break their word with smile. And yes - some of the best lessons that I have ever seen and taught have been without plans or even notes. This does not mean that there should be no planning but rather the clear recognition that good teaching is both dynamic and interactive and should not be fettered by some sort of rigid planning script. Having now retired, I am glad to be out of it.
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10:47
29 May, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
I think the point about OFSTED surveying the views of teachers on the SLT is good, of course there will always be the odd teacher with an axe to grind. But if they require a high percentage return rate from the staff this could be factored in. After all, there will be parents with the odd axe or two.
Management is about people and many heads don't know this, they think it is about results. Heads like to be known as strong managers, but they get this completely wrong and end up as bullying managers confusing strong and bullying.
If you manage people then you will get results, if you try to manage results, you get poor people.
I do mentor trainees from a large provider in the South and they are told by their tutors that plans can and often are deviated from. The purpose of planning as a trainee is so that it ones se.cond nature and as you gain experience you have less written planning to do. But you have to start by making detailed plans otherwise you'll never gain the experience to make do with less planning. The university I work with (science trainees) is excellent, they understand what teaching is all about and w,e have employed a number of their students. At the moment in my department of 12, 10 were trained by this provider including the HOD. The two who were not are also excellent teachers, one was a GTP (also assessed by the same provider) and only one teacher came from elsewhere.
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12:28
29 May, 2011
Plato
By the way, I 'm the one who came from elsewhere!
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12:30
29 May, 2011
Plato
Plato refers to 'bullying managers'. Correct. The sort of powers handed out to heads can all too easily be turned into a charter for bullying - all carried out from behind the safety of a desk. In my locality there are at least three heads who are bullies - two of them being women. It is said of one of the women that once she gets her claws into you the best thing to do is to get out fast!
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13:43
29 May, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
Don't know where you lot have been for the last few years, but OFSTED DO! send out a questionnaire to teachers before an inspection, and I am always suspicions of teachers on forums like this that generally have a go at all Headteachers. They are usually bitter because they can not rise to the challenge of headship themselves, then become bitter and twisted then retire early (eh Dr David). I do not wish to view teachers past performance records, its madness and most H/Ts think Gove is a lunatic - asleep at the wheel. But for him to introduce a policy then for us to start attacking each other is playing into the DfEs hands - Divide and conquer. But then if you could see this (the bigger picture) you might have made headship yourselves.
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15:39
29 May, 2011
wattie54
I have been through three Ofsteds in the last five years and have never seen a questionnaire. Perhaps it only went to selected individuals?
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16:46
29 May, 2011
Billybong
I think different teams have different methods, but every primary inspection in my area has had questionnaires sent to parents and teachers, mine just six weeks ago. We discuss inspection processes at H/T meetings - but it is an impossible situation, where ever there is an issue to take up with a teacher or a parent, there is a disgruntled individual with an axe to grind and H/Ts are at in the middle. Luckily I got a 100% approval rating from staff, because I try to look after, resource and challenge them in a good way. And I know that there are bullying, autocratic heads, ive met them. But saying all H/Ts are like this is nonsense, most are not in fact, its like saying women can’t drive or Irish people are thick, insulting and unfair. Most successful H/Ts I know (that’s a lot) work as a facilitator at the centre of a team, and if that team is well motivated, happy and appreciated it affects standards - big time.
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17:14
29 May, 2011
wattie54
Hi Wattie,
I don't think I was having a go at all headteachers. I was just pointing out that we cannot assume that they are all competent, because the same systems which have supposedly allowed 20,000 incompetent classroom teachers to keep their jobs have allowed incompetent teachers to become incompetent managers. In fact, there has been a strong incentive for incompetent teachers to get themselves into management because they don't, then, have to face the ordeal of trial by observation.
If we are having a witch-hunt to find the 20,000 incompetent teachers, surely it is equally (maybe more) important to have a witch-hunt to find the incompetent headteachers. Then, we need a witch-hunt to find the incompetent Ofsted inspectors because they are frequently "retired" members of the SLT. Once we've cleaned up these areas of education we should turn our attention to local authorities, school governors, examination boards, civil servants and politicians. How many incompetent people are working in each of these areas? I can see a lifetime of work for the new Witchfinder General and his (or her) associates.
P.S. There is an alternative.
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17:32
29 May, 2011
Billybong
'They are usually bitter because they can not rise to the challenge of headship themselves, then become bitter and twisted then retire early (eh Dr David).'
In my case, this assumption (intended to neutralise my comments) is quite unfounded. For me, there was no challenge to 'rise' to the challenge of a headship - I just wanted to be a teacher. I retired just before the age of 60 - wanting instead to teach in India as a visiting professor of my subject. I do not see that this accords at all with the 'bitter and twisted leading to early retirement' picture that was painted . . . .
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18:39
29 May, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
I went through OFSTED 18 months ago and no questionnaire - indeed we were as a whole staff 'briefed' on what the school story was should an OFSTED inspector talk to us at any point:
no troublesome kids have not been sent offsite (yes they had)
yes we all planned lessons to this format (no we didn't)
Staff morale was at an all time high (it wasn't)
We all were in favour of government initiatives (no we were all weren't)
If we didn't follow this briefing, then, as the head said it would make our school look bad and that would mean that we as teachers would be under more pressure and scrutiny. If we complied and all went well and we good outstanding then the SLT would ease back...
We got outstanding and guess what - the pressure has been increased to mainatin this in any new inspection and now the Head wants to make us a training school and deliver ITT - with no extrat time we simply have to do what we do now, but the school gets all the money instead of the university. God help us - if it wasn't for the training and support the university provide now we could not prepare trainees to the same level - we know we have done GTP and it is hard. He thinks that we could do this for 4 or 5 trainees in our department - no extra help or support!
Well done to any head that is decent, honest and working for all children and staff, but while I agree that not all Heads are evil there are an awful lot of them out there that need their horns trimmed if not removed!
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18:46
29 May, 2011
Plato
"I think different teams have different methods."
I'm interested in this comment. Ofsted operates what is supposed to be a national framework of inspection. How much flexibility do they have in how they approach their task? If they don't gather the same evidence from one school as another, how can comparisons be justified?
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20:17
29 May, 2011
Billybong
Billybong - There are a number of methods that can be used depending on your pre-inspection briefing and what "trails" the team is following so there is scope among the methods. There is incompetent employees in all genres and professions, and why stop at education and politics. But there are few public positions that execute public servants like in the event of a headteacher departing there job. Local newspapers, national on occasions, community, children etc etc.
Plato- I am sorry your head does not take you along with him/her on that journey. But did no one explain that he/she is right - huge pressure on you, macro-management of the organisation, pressurised sad horrible place to go to work. Teachers should enjoy going to work; a lot of recent research tells us that it shows in performance if where you work is a nice place to be. For goodness sake it's a school - they are supposed to be places children experience good things. Hard to do if every one is depressed.
Dr David - you seem like a very experienced man and I don’t mean to offend, but the point you put forward was a very generalistic view of a part of your profession, that - quite frankly, belies a man of your stature and years. There is nothing wrong in wanting Just to teach, however someone has to manage and direct the organisation. No one is stepping into that roll, there is a national shortage of heads and billybong is right we are starting to appoint anyone that will put their hand up. But having a "go" at every opportunity really will exacerbate the situation.
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22:48
29 May, 2011
wattie54
Sorry Wattie, I'm confused, so you think that the Head's lies were fine. He wanted us to lie to OFSTED so that we got outstanding which we did, the instead of keeping his promise to relax and place us under less scrutiny he did the exact opposite and increased the micromanagement, the snap observations, the volume of test data we had to submit. His logic was, well, we are an outstanding school now and we have to maintain this and we all n
Know that as a staff you are not outstanding, so we had better ratchet up the pressure to make you so. He forced a perfectly good NQT in history out because they failed two snap observations and didn't achieve outstanding in both, just goog. That is criminal and we all tried to urge her to take action, but of course she wanted a job in the same LA and was told to leave with a good reference and no challenge or find it difficult to get another job in any LA school.
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10:21
30 May, 2011
Plato
Re: This is madness - can't you see?
Heads don't have complete freedom to run their schools - the local council puts out the budget and the conditions - heads have to put up with them, then look at the Union rights, then get on with the job.
"The Parents should have complete freedom to choose their schools..."
"Yes, is that working parents or those on benefits who can't be bothered to work and sponge off the government? How far should parents be given access to discuss fully the aims of their child's education? There's already Rate My Teacher.com which in the UK is a bitch fest for both the pupil and parents. I can't wait for the day when ratethepupil/parent.com comes along. Pay back then - teachers have enough stress in the day dealing with kids from different catchment areas and what happens to the back log of pupils whose parents don't care about what school they go to?"
"Lousy and suspect teachers empty schools very quickly.."
No they do not. A lot of schools keep teachers in regardless of their quality of teaching not just for the fact that they are ingrained in the school system, but given the opportunity to pursue CPD and other programmes of development, your so-called lousy teachers can improve. Ignore the CPD and the development possibilities and you get schools that have teachers who are apathetic and just work for the money.
"...Not the County, Not the Unions.."
It is the unions where, when accessed ensure teachers have their rights at the end of the day. Faculty departments where there is no separate PT for merged subjects ends up being run by subject teachers which then increases the work load and the working day. Faculty PTs are not normally equally proficient in all the subjects they are in charge of. It is the Union that can alleviate the stress of extra work that the Faculty PT is supposed to cover.
"Ordinary people should have the same rights of choice as the very rich and etc.."
Please change the record! Ordinary people are the rich, the poor, the working class - it's what you make of your life and what you save that determines the "class system."
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11:49
30 May, 2011
R S
What is Mr Gove thinking of?
I don't think that he has thought this out and I cannot believe that the Unions will allow this to happen.
There are Headteachers who are honest, diligent and trustworthy, and hopefully, they would use this information in a professional manner.
Unfortunately, there are some Headteachers who are bullies and this is just what they rerquire inorder to rid themselves of staff, who stand up to them or are unliked by the Headteacher.
In my authority, there are sveral cases that have reached the local press involving Headteachers bullying staff, which has resulted in them being suspended for at least a year.
I hope that this means that we will have access to the Headteachers evaluations, so we can decide if they are suitable for running our schools?
We are all aware of people who have been promoted to Deputy and Head positions so that they can cause minimal damage.
Some are even lucky to make it to advisers position in the county!
Perhaps, we should be allowed to read the performance reports of Mr. Grove and of the Health Minister and we could ask them to go as they have been less than competent.
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19:08
30 May, 2011
dai the scot
In what I can only describe as a somewhat patronising response to my remarks about headteachers - what I had to say was dismissed as a series of unwarranted, unrepresentative and damaging potshots aimed at school management. Like other commentators, what I have said actually points to only the tip of the iceberg (my apologies for the cliché) of a national pattern of mismanagement in our schools. During the course of 30 years, I have seen almost the A-Z of abuses: arrogance, bullying, dishonesty, favouritism, greed, incompetence, ineptitude, laziness, mendacity, passing the buck, ruthlessness and unfairness. Plato’s description of certain OFSTED inspection shenanagins is in keeping with some of this. I have vivid memories of a very serious disagreement that I once had with a certain headteacher in Kent. I was told that I was entitled to my point of view and that he was entitled to his viz. the divine right of headteachers to do as they please. I was also advised that it would be prudent to order my own personal copy of the Times Educational Supplement. He refused to repeat any of this in front of witnesses. I am sorry to say that this pattern is entrenched and there is the scope for it to get even worse. As a teacher who simply wanted to teach and who has tried to emulate Chaucer's description of the Clerk: 'And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach', I find all of this very sad indeed.
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21:52
30 May, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
Having been the victim of a Head who used thier 'power' to bully and discredit staff in order to cut costs and remove a members of staff that did not fit their own 'personal agenda' - this move just opens up the situation even more!
Heads paid just to save money, not improve the education of students, or are put in place to close a school, are now open to do as much damage as they wish to hard working staff that are there for the sole purpose to education and raise standards! The future just makes teaching a very unhappy place to be and this will only impact on the students who will not have excellent dedicated staff anymore - only the staff that have their own personal financial agendas not because they are excellent dedicated teachers!!
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20:26
31 May, 2011
smithjan07
If your appraisals are going to affect your future that significantly, I can see - I very much hope I shall see - many more of them being challenged, especially in terms of the suitability of the person doing the observing, and the effectiveness of the disciplinary procedures of the school in the behaviour of the children in the lesson.
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22:37
31 May, 2011
Lilyofthefield
Teachers arent born. They are created over time through patience, hard work and reflection. If this system is allowed to go ahead it has the possibility to undermine the authentic learning of teachers everywhere.
We discuss with students the importance of learning cycles. By making appraisals available we will encourage a culture of non authentic learning.
Teachers would be reluctant to admit short comings and this would be the real disaster.
We have all made big mistakes over time but does this mean that they should be able to dog us for the rest of our careers? I for one have made mistakes in the past and was branded a satisfactory teacher. I reflected on my short comings and am thankfully now considered an outstanding teacher. This has taken a lot of hard work and 15+ hour days!
Do we toss aside the work of those such as Kolb? When he stated that "the workplace is a “learning environment” or perhaps we remove Schon's idea of "Reflection in action".
I agree with the views of others in this thread when they fear the revenge of HT's. Most HT's out there have made it to where they are through hard work, persistence and experience. However there are others that can be vindictive and downright nasty. Can we trust them to give a fair account of a member of staff they have a grudge against?
We must stay true to the very principles that we have used time and time again with students; making mistakes is part of learning.
An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.
Niels Bohr
If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.
Mary Pickford
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1:45
1 June, 2011
andy82
It's my considered opinion that in most schools it will lead to what some have already predicted, i.e. the blandest of bland performance management statements (with, consequently, reduced levels of support, training etc for those who want or need it). In a few schools, it could easily be used as an instrument of terror and enforced compliance. Well done, Gove - another crappy idea to follow all your others. He thinks it's all SO simple, doesn't he? You could give this idea to a class of Y8 kids and they'd find the gaping holes in it within minutes.
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9:31
1 June, 2011
Middlemarch
There is no doubt that there are indeed high calibre headteachers who are upright, honest and support their staff - in what is increasingly a difficult job. This calibre of leader is perhaps known as 'The Teachers' Headteacher'. Unfortunately, there seem to too few of them and what we have in so many of our schools (according to the pattern) are so-called 'leaders' of a much lower calibre whose habit it is to exploit any power (and new power) to their personal advantage. Many years ago, one old timer (who trained just after the war) told me that it was as if the air in a headteacher's office attacked the brain of the current occupant. Another older man said that it was simply delusions of grandeur. Who knows? What I can say is that it is a far from pleasant experience to be personally (and privately) threatened by one of these characters with 'Watch it - I'm a headteacher . . . .' Frankly, what we have now is bad enough - and only a complete idiot would seek to make it worse. But then again, there are complete idiots and there are politicians.
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10:16
1 June, 2011
DrDavidNicholls
The first paragaph of the article refers to incompetent teachers. In education, incompetence is not the monopoly of those who work in classrooms. It is at best misdirection to assume that every head or anybody else in education must therefore be competent and as a result fit to judge teachers.
An incompetent or inadequate head is immeasurably worse than any underperforming teacher. The damage inflicted by such a head is much more widespread and often permanent.
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14:02
1 June, 2011
Siegen81to82
In my opinion, if there is such a thing as a pandemic of "Incompetent teacheritis", I believe the one thing to blame is the lack of support and training offered to these teachers. Just as the cholera epidemic was over come through a clean water supply, the "incompetent teacher" can be made competent or (shock, horror) even outstanding through a decent support structure. My experience of the English education system is that of semantics, sycophancy and rhetoric. It is like being surrounded by sales people (SLT) who have no product to sell. Yet the underdog (the teacher) gets shafted. Perhaps the factory owner should fire the factory worker for creating a product badly with insufficient training. - Would that be legal? I genuinely don't understand why the teachers are not out on mass - demonstrating a unity that would defy any government ruling.
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17:09
3 June, 2011
Maria Murray
I find this artical and the thread confusing. I came into teaching from an engineering management role looking after teams of 20-40 individuals. The company I worked for did not let you become a manager unless you were trained in giving a reveiving appraisals. If I was every asked to show the personnal records of any individual to another prospective employer I would have told them where to go.
The appraisal system only works when both sides feel it is a confidential contract between them. It should, if working well, show the feelings and asperations of both sides. To use it any other way will distroy the trust inherent in the process.
What possible purpose can be served by showing previous appraisals to a new employer. Teachers do not often leave a school unless they are having 'issues' with their SLT and middle management or they are following the 2 year rule and leaving for a higher position in another school.
Anyone who teaches in a target lead school knows that school management can and do put pressure on teachers that do not fit in by giving poor appraisals, targets which are made impossible to reach, and given classes from hell to teach so observations cannot reach outstanding in any cercumstances. This is a form of institutionalised bullying.
Teachers are not robots and have good days and bad days this does not mean they are incompetant but that they may need support or traing .
Personnaly I have not had any training for 3 years other than INSETS dispite requesting it. Apparently I am to valuable to the school to be missing for 4-5 days a year.
??Since when has OFSTED sent out a questionaire to teachers?? I have been in a school that was inspected last year and no questionnaire was issued.
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21:43
6 June, 2011
shalligo