Headteachers’ Appraisal: Performance and
Pay Review
Name Alan Jenner
Job title Senior Adviser, Workforce Development and Head of Governor
Services
Date
21 October 2014
Intended Outcomes
Governors will:
• Have a better understanding of headteacher
appraisal and performance review
• Consider the issues and implications in carrying out a
review of their headteacher
• Have the opportunity to share problems and
solutions
Performance Management
What you MUST do:
• Have a written policy
• A link between performance and pay
• A link between appraisal and professional
development
• A process that contributes to school improvement
and pupil progress
• A written assessment recording the outcomes
Performance Management
What the GB decides to do:
• the processes involved in establishing the policy and
the timescales associated with it
• who reviews performance
• the detail of the meetings, the arrangements for the
observations; what should be recorded and how
• the arrangements for appeals, how written
assessments should be used and how to report to
governors
Performance Management
The GB MUST:
• Establish the school’s appraisal policy, monitor the operation
and outcomes of appraisal arrangements, and review the
policy every year
• Agree for some governors to review the head teacher’s
performance on an annual basis
• Appoint an external adviser to advise appointed governors on
the head teacher’s performance
• Retain a copy of the head teacher’s appraisal statement
(normally the Chair)
Performance Management
The GB MUST:
• Where the head teacher makes such a request, to action
requests for evidence from the performance management
process if the head teacher transfers mid-cycle
• Ensure the content of the head teacher’s appraisal statement
is drafted having regard to the need to be able to achieve a
satisfactory work life balance
• Undertake action in relation to appeals in line with the
school’s policy
Role of the External Adviser 2014
S/he will:
• be the school’s Link Adviser or some other external person
• Remind the appointed governors that it is their responsibility
to manage the process
• Ensure governors assess the headteacher against the Teacher
Standards first
• Ensure the headteacher’s objectives reflect the main
priorities in the school development plan
• Not advise the governors on pay progression
Task 1:
• What do you think the objectives for your
headteacher could be?
• Share with a partner
• Feedback to the whole group.
The Ofsted Framework 2014
Key changes regarding appraisal
Quality of Leadership and Management
Inspectors should consider the school’s use of:
• performance management …… and effectiveness of strategies for improving
teaching ……. This is demonstrated through:
I. Effectiveness of procedures for monitoring the quality of teaching …. And how
underperformance is tackled
II. Strong link between performance management, appraisal and salary progression
III. How well the headteacher …..are managing staff performance and using budget to
differentiate between high and low performers
IV. The coherence and effectiveness of the programme of CPD and the opportunities
provided for promotion
• Where performance is less than good inspectors will seek evidence that this is
rigorusly managed and that appropriate training and support is provided. Where
performance is good, inspectors will seek evidence that this is recognised through
the performance management process
Quality of Leadership and Management
Inspectors should consider whether governors:
• provide challenge and hold the headteacher and other senior leaders to
account for improving the quality of teaching, pupils’ achievement and
pupils’ behaviour and safety, including by using the data dashboard, other
progress data, examination outcomes and test results; or whether they
hinder school improvement by failing to tackle key concerns or developing
their own skills
• monitor performance management systems and understand how the
school makes decisions about teachers’ salary progression , including the
performance management of the headteacher, to improve teaching,
leadership and management
Task 2:
• As an individual consider the implications of the new
Ofsted Framework
• Decide what it means for your governing body? For
the school? and for you?
• Share with a partner – feedback to the whole group.
Headteacher Appraisal
The Performance Review
Planning and Review Meeting
Recommended good practice is that at the planning meeting the
appraiser and appraisee will:
• seek to agree the objectives, the observation (if appropriate)
and any other evidence;
• Agree on the success criteria for each of these objectives
against which the totality of the teacher’s performance will be
assessed at the end of the cycle
• Assess the headteacher against the National Standards and
other relevant standards as determined by the Secretary of
State
Task 3:
• Look again at setting objectives. What would you
change?
• Where would you take the success criteria from?
What do they look like?
• Feedback – share.
In Summary….
• Annual process but can be done at any time
• Pre-meeting with the external adviser for
headteacher
• Pre-meeting with external adviser for governors
• An in-the-round evaluation of the previous year’s
work, based on the discussions with external adviser
and then with the headteacher
• A judgement on the degree to which last year’s
objectives were met
….Continued
• Set new objectives, making sure they are written in such as
way as they will be measurable at the next annual review
• Ensure training needs are recorded and actioned
• Consider a mid-year interim meeting to consider progress
against objectives
• Make a pay recommendation and RECORD IT ON THE
FORM. Governors must do this themselves since the external
adviser should not get involved with pay recommendations
• The external adviser CAN advise on technicalities of pay scales
and ISRs.
Headteacher Appraisal
Determining the right salary range
The School Teachers’ Pay Conditions Document 2014;
The Main Changes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Revised framework for setting pay for leadership positions.
Simplified leadership pay arrangements – including bringing leadership allowances into base
pay, save for exceptional, time-bound payments e.g. for relocation/housing.
Removal of prescribed differentials between allowances.
Removal of existing requirement for pay differentials between roles.
Closure of the Chartered London Teacher scheme, with a two-year transition period.
Consolidation of the existing safeguarding provisions.
Removal of the detailed list of 21 administrative/clerical tasks.
Amendments to ensure that unattached teachers are treated in the same way as all other
teachers with regard to non-portability of salary between schools.
Section 3 is now significantly shorter than the 2013 version.
Removal of the non-statutory Section 4 guidance.
A small number of revisions to reflect necessary updates which have arisen since the
Document was last published, in September 2013.
To determine the headteacher’s salary range….
• First
– Work out the school’s group size
• Secondly
– Look up the group salary range
• Thirdly
– Consider and decide on the Individual School
Range (ISR)
– Take into account the recruitment situation
Working out the school’s group size
1. Work out the total unit score, based on pupil
numbers in each key stage
2. Use the total unit score to find the school’s
group size
Step 1: Total Unit Score
Key stage
Units per pupil
EYFS
7
1
7
2
7
3
9
4
11
5 (VI form)
13
Worksheet
A
B
C
Key stage
Number of
pupils
Units per
pupil
EYFS
1
2
3
4
5 (VI form)
7
7
7
9
11
13
Total
D
Unit score
(B x C)
Look the group size
Total Unit Score
School group
Up to 1,000
1
1,001 to 2,200
2
2,201 to 3,500
3
3,501 to 5,000
4
5,001 to 7,500
5
7,501 to 11,000
6
11,001 to 17,000
7
17,001 and over
8
Group sizes in Special Schools
• In special schools, the calculations are
modified
• The calculations are too complicated for this
course, but the full instructions are included in
the School Teachers Pay and Conditions
Document
School Group Size and Pay Ranges (2013)
CHECK
Group
Range of spine
points
Inner London
Salary Range
1
L6 – L18
49,961 – 64,667
2
L8 – L21
52,128 – 69,059
3
L11 – L24
55,656 – 73.780
4
L14 – L27
59,287 – 78,853
5
L18 – L31
64,667 – 86,238
6
L21 – L35
69,059 – 94,386
7
L24 – L39
73,780– 103,319
8
L28 – L43
80,364 – 113, 303
The School’s ISR
• Headteachers must be paid on an Individual School
Range, or ISR
• The ISR must be set by the relevant body
• The ISR must have SEVEN CONSECUTIVE POINTS
• The ISR is an issue for governors to decide WITHIN
THE GROUP
• Remember, what you pay the head teacher should
be fair. It should not be over-generous!
Rules about setting ISR
• The ISR should not normally exceed the top of the
group range
• The headteacher’s salary must be paid in line with
the ISR. It is not possible to pay more than the ISR –
or less
• The ISR for the headteacher must be set at least one
point higher than the ISR for a deputy headteacher
or the equivalent salary of the highest-paid
classroom teacher.
Flexibility over ISR (up to 31 August 2014)
• A school may fix its Individual School Range (ISR)
above the Group Range if:
– The school is a school causing concern
– The governing body considers the school would
have substantial difficulty in filling a vacant
headteacher post
– There is evidence that the school would have
difficulty retaining the current headteacher
– The headteacher is head of more than one school
Determining the headteacher’s salary (from 1 Sept. 2014)
Pay ranges for headteachers should not normally exceed the
maximum of the headteacher group. However, the
headteacher’s pay range (where determined on or after 1
September 2014) may exceed the maximum where the relevant
body determines that circumstances specific to the role or
candidate warrant a higher than normal payment. The relevant
body must ensure that the maximum of the headteacher’s pay
range and any additional payments made under paragraph 10
does not exceed the maximum of the headteacher group by
more than 25% other than in exceptional circumstances; in such
circumstances, the governing body must seek external
independent advice before providing such agreement and
support its decision with a business case.
Pay Review
• Pay decisions must be clearly attributable to the
performance of the individual;
• sustained high quality of performance having regard
to the results of the most recent appraisal carried
out in accordance with the 2012 or the 2011
Regulations or the objectives agreed or set under
paragraph 11.2(c) (as the case may be) should give
the individual an expectation of progression up the
pay range;
Case studies
• The headteacher of a Group
4 school has been in post
for twelve years and is paid
at the top of the ISR. The
school does reasonably well
on all performance
measures but has more-orless static results. The
governors think the head
teacher deserves a pay rise,
particularly since he is
coming up for retirement.
What are their options?
• The school has had static
results at about the national
average for four years. This
year, they shot up. Should
the performance review
committee recommend a
pay rise for the head
teacher?
More case studies
• The headteacher took up her
appointment two years ago and
was appointed at point four of
the school’s ISR. Since that time
the school has been bumping
along the bottom of the
performance tables and there has
been little improvement in
results. The headteacher has
been making representations
about her salary, which she says
is lower than most of her
colleagues. What should the
governors do?
• The headteacher is at the top of
his scale (ISR). The school is
doing well and the headteacher is
keen to get a pay rise. He tells
you he has been approached by
another school asking him to
apply for the headship. He tells
you the governing body is
offering at least £20,000 per year
more than he is currently earning.
What should governors do?
The Quiz!
Recording decisions
• The headteacher’s annual appraisal statement should ALWAYS make a pay
recommendation. It could be:
I. to offer pay progression of one (or possibly two) points
II. not to offer pay progression because performance has not been
sustained and of high quality
III. that there is no available pay progression because the headteacher
has reached the top of the ISR
– The external adviser could be asked to record the decision on the
Appraisal Statement but should not be otherwise involved!
• All pay decisions, and their reasons should be minuted formally
• The minutes of the pay committee should be signed as an accurate record
• Any decisions not correctly minuted and explained could be held to be
illegal and not binding
Storing confidential minutes and review statements
• Minutes should be stored securely
• Consider a locked filing cabinet in school
– Consider lodging the key with the Chair of
Governors with a spare held by the school’s
Human Resources provider or other reliable and
ongoing outside organisation
– Make sure the governing body has a formal
minute showing the arrangement…
Useful Website
• School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document
(STPCD) 2014
– This is a much shorter document than previous years and
outlines the statutory position on pay
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schoolteachers-pay-and-conditions-2014
Useful Website
• Appraisal and Capability
• http://www.dfe/aboutdfe/statutory/g00213138/teacherappraisal-and-capability
• Schools must have an appraisal policy for teachers and a policy, covering
all staff, which deals with lack of capability.
• The guidance:
• provides a model policy for schools set out in two parts:
I. covers appraisal; and
II. covers capability.
• gives a limited amount of advice on using the policy.