The Role of Governors in
Teachers’ Performance
Related Pay (PRP)
www.nga.org.uk
1
Who is the workshop aimed at?
 This presentation is aimed primarily at local authority (LA)
maintained school governors. Academy governors
attending will also find it useful, particularly if they are
using the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document
(STPCD) as the framework for their school’s pay policy.
Academy is used to cover free schools, studio schools and
university technical colleges.
Objectives of the session
At the end of the session, delegates should:
 understand the governing body's (GB’s) responsibilities on
Performance Related Pay (PRP) for teaching staff - i.e. what has
changed and what they need to do about it
 have had the opportunity to consider the opportunities and the
challenges posed by the changes;
 have had the opportunity to share policies and good practice;
 be equipped to monitor the implementation of the PRP policy in
order to ensure it is fair and objective; and
 understand what else needs to be done in preparation for any
appeal from September 2014 (although this is not training for
appeal panel members).
Agenda
Introduction to GBs’ responsibilities on teachers’ pay
Table discussion
Report back from tables and group discussion
Ensuring consistent and effective implementation of PRP
Table discussion:
Report back & comment by trainer
Appeal process and the governors’ role
Plenary/Any questions
Core responsibilities of the GB

The governing body (GB) is responsible for ensuring high standards of
performance in the school.

The GB has statutory responsibilities for pay and appraisal – including making
final decisions about the pay of all teaching staff. (School Teachers’ Pay and
Conditions Document (STPCD) 2013 paragraph 2.1 and the The Education
(School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended).

The performance of staff employed at the school will have a significant effect
on the learning of pupils, and therefore their achievements.

The headteacher is responsible for managing the performance of the staff, and
the GB is responsible for performance managing the headteacher.
 The headteacher should provide information to the governing body about the
quality of teaching and appraisal outcomes. If the GB is unaware of staff
performance it will be unable to evaluate the school’s progress.

If teaching is not good, the GB needs to know and to assure itself that actions
are being taken to improve this in order to fulfil its duty.
What is the STPCD?
 STPCD is The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions
Document
 It sets out the arrangements (including the minima and
maxima of pay ranges) for teachers’ pay and other
conditions of employment.
 The STPCD is updated annually on 1 September
 Mandatory requirement for LA maintained schools
 Academies may choose to follow the STPCD – some
teachers’ in academies may have a continuing right to be
paid according to the STPCD.
The STPCD
School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2013 and
guidance on School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions September
2013
‘LAs and governing bodies are required to have regard to the
statutory guidance, and in respect of guidance on
procedural matters a court or tribunal may take any failure
to do so into account in any proceedings. Broadly
speaking, this means that any party not following this
guidance would need to have good reason not to do so and
would need to be able to justify any departure from it.’
In other words …
 The STPCD is statutory for LA maintained schools
 It is contractual for many academies.
Teacher Pay Ranges & Allowances

Main pay range – for teachers not on the upper pay range

Upper pay range – usually more experienced teachers, who must meet the
statutory criteria and those set out by the school

Leading practitioners range - for teachers whose primary purpose is to model
and lead the improvement of teaching skills (similar BUT NOT THE SAME AS
previous designations of Advanced Skills Teachers and Excellent Teachers)

Leadership scale – assistant heads, deputy heads and headteachers

Unqualified teachers range – for non-qualified teachers as defined in the STPCD

Allowances
 Teaching and Learning Responsibilities (additional responsibility award may be
applied to main pay range or upper pay range teachers)
 SEN Allowance (additional allowance with specific criteria relating to working with
children with Special Educational Needs)
What were the main changes to the STPCD
2013?

All pay progression to be based on performance

Main Pay Range (MPR) – removed six point scale and replaced it with a minima
and maxima

Upper Pay Range (UPR) – introduced a single range with minima and maxima

Leading Practitioner Range – new designation – teachers to be placed on an
individual range within the specified minima and maxima

Unqualified Teacher Range – removed six point scale and replaced it with a
minima and maxima

For governing bodies to determine any progression points between the minima
and maxima
 Impacts on pay progression from September 2014
Other changes to the STPCD 2013

Upper pay range – now for GBs:
 to determine when/how often applications can be made
 for GB to clarify criteria within the broad statutory framework

Leading Practitioners introduced as a new designation - teachers employed in
posts that are for the primary purpose of modelling and leading improvement
of teaching skills
 Advanced Skills Teacher and Excellent Teacher designations abolished

Teaching and Learning Responsibilities (TLRs) – new fixed-term TLR 3
introduced
 for time-limited school improvement projects or one-off externally driven
responsibilities

Pay portability – GBs are no longer obliged to pay teachers the same salary
they received for a previous job in another school and have freedom to reflect
this in pay polices.
Implementation
 The new STPCD came into effect from 1 September 2013
 GBs should have made decisions about Advanced Skills
Teacher and Excellent Teacher posts, i.e. to convert or
abolish, by 1 September 2013
 A new pay policy should have been in place before teachers’
objectives were set for the 2013/14 academic year
 Pay progression decisions in September 2014 must to be
linked to assessments of performance.
Teacher appraisal

Revised arrangements for managing teacher appraisal in England came into force
on 1 September 2012.

From 1 September 2013 – appraisal policies should have been amended to include
the explicit link to pay

In LA maintained schools, appraisal of teaching staff (including the headteacher)
 must take into account the Teachers’ Standards
 must include objectives that, if achieved, will contribute to improving the education
of the pupils at the school
 must include objectives that, if achieved, will contribute to the implementation of the
any school plan relating to improving educational provision and performance.
 the GB must involve an external adviser in carrying out the appraisal of the
headteacher
SMART objectives
SPECIFIC
Is the objective precise and well-defined?
Is it clear and understandable to all?
MEASURABLE
Achievement or progress can be measured.
How will the individual know when the objective has been completed?
Is it clear to all how success will be assessed/measured?
ACHIEVEABLE
Is the outcome within the individual’s control?
With reasonable, albeit challenging, amount of effort and application, can
the objective be achieved?
Does the individual have the capability to achieve the objective?
Are the resources available to enable the individual to achieve the
objective?
RELEVANT
Is it relevant to the individual’s role?
Is it relevant to the school’s priorities?
TIMEBOUND
Is there a deadline?
Is the objective achievable within the deadline?
Is there a review built-in?
Good staff development matters
Staff performance and development
Are two of the most, if not the most, important levers for school improvement so it needs
to be done well in order for children and young people to achieve their potential.
Effective self-evaluation
Governing bodies have a statutory responsibility to conduct their schools so as to
promote high standards of education; if there is no formal appraisal then the picture of
the school is incomplete and it will not be possible to set an effective improvement
strategy.
Continuing professional development (CPD) for staff
If there is no formal appraisal process then it is difficult to determine and arrange
appropriate CPD, which again will impact on the standard of education offered.
Good employment practice
The governing body has a duty of care to its staff, and appraisal is part of any effective
organisation’s staffing procedures. All staff deserve to be managed well and, as part of
this, to have an effective appraisal which is carried out properly and informs their CPD.
Pay/appraisal policies:
issues you need to consider

Pay and appraisal policies are linked and need to complement each other

Affordability – the budget must be sufficient to meet the stated rewards

Performance measures – absolute or relative or a combination of both?

What level of performance will be required for progression up the relevant pay
range? This should be defined (in the pay policy)

How is progression differentiated so that the very highest performers can
progress faster?

What sources of evidence will be used to assess performance e.g. selfassessment, peer review, tracking pupil progress, lesson observations, the
views of pupils and parents?

Have all teaching staff been made aware of what they will need to do to
progress up the relevant pay range?
Table discussion
 Why attendees took the approach they did in their pay
policies
 What challenges they think they may face in September
2014
 Report back from tables
How do you know if your policy is being applied
fairly?

All teaching staff must be given an equal chance to progress up the relevant
pay range

The level of expected performance may be different for a relatively
inexperienced teacher compared to one near the top of the main pay range.
 How does the GB know that objectives are consistent and offer all staff equal
opportunities?
 What briefing sessions were arranged for staff to ensure they understand the pay
policy and its interaction with performance appraisal?
 Have you asked the HT to confirm that s/he has carried out a moderation
process to ensure consistency?
 Have you seen anonymised appraisal objectives?
 Have any staff raised any formal grievances about their objectives?
Possible challenges

When did you approve your policy?

Was it communicated to all teaching staff?

If objectives were set before the policy was approved, were teachers given the
opportunity to review their objectives?

Does the governing body seek information about how the appraisal process is
carried out mid-year as well as at the end of year?
Possible challenges


No surprises!

Are you confident that teachers are being managed well throughout the year?

Performance management should be a living process throughout the year – no
individual should get to the end of the year and be surprised by the outcome, whether
that is better or worse than anticipated

There should be informal dialogue throughout the year

Good practice to hold at least one formal mid-year review

Teachers must have the opportunity to address any concerns about their performance
in-year
Issues on which you may need to seek advice from your HR provider

How will teachers on maternity leave be treated?

How will teachers on long-term sick be treated?
Ofsted
The Ofsted Framework (updated September 2013) revised and
increased expectations in relation to appraisal and governors’
involvement in pay progression. Inspectors:

will evaluate the robustness of performance management
arrangements, and consider whether there is an appropriate
correlation between the quality of teaching in a school and the
salary progression of the school’s teachers.

should consider whether governors:
 understand how the school makes decisions about teachers’ salary
progression
 performance manage the headteacher rigorously
Ensuring fair appraisal

GBs must assure themselves that appraisals are as fair and objective as
possible
 What information has the GB received about what briefing those
undertaking appraisals have received
 Have the governors undertaking the headteacher’s appraisal been trained?
 Have anonymised objectives been shared with the relevant GB committee?

Challenges are different in different phases and size of school

What processes does the headteacher have in place to ensure
consistency?
 The more people carrying out appraisals the bigger the challenge to ensure
consistency of approach
 Is the maths department being harsher than the geography department?
 Are certain groups being treated more/less favourably?
Key issues to consider in monitoring
objectives and appraisal outcomes

Inconsistency – has the policy been applied consistency? Were all
objectives SMART? Did staff have equal access to CPD and support? Were
mid-year reviews carried out?

Discrimination – do outcomes show that any particular group men/women,
BME staff have better/worse outcomes compared to the generality of staff?

Staff morale - appraisal needs to ensure good teachers know their work will
be recognised and rewarded, not a mechanism to depress salaries

Recruitment and retention – well-valued staff more likely to stay and the
school be seen as good place to work

Appeals – well-defined system which is properly conducted is less likely to
lead to appeals, but you need to be well prepared to hold appeals if
necessary.
Pay decisions
 Has the relevant committee agreed appraisal/pay
decisions?
 What information should the committee see?
 Can it demonstrate that these were considered carefully and
not rubber stamped?
 How many formal appeals have been lodged?
What would success look like for PRP for
teachers ?
Table discussion:
 What would the successful implementation of PRP look like for
a) teachers?
b) the governing body?
 What do we need to do to ensure this is happening during this
school year and in autumn 2014?
Appeal process and the governors’
role
 The pay policy must include an appeals procedure
 All teaching staff must be made aware of the procedure
 Pay progression purely on the basis of performance means
that appeals are more likely
 Governors must be appropriately prepared to hear appeals
before any appeals are lodged (good practice would be for
the governing body to arrange a training session for these
governors).
Grounds for appeal
Pay policy needs to be clear about the grounds for an appeal
and the process to be followed, e.g.
 Incorrect application of the STPCD
 Failure to take proper account of statutory guidance in the
STPCD
 Failure to follow the school’s own policies (appraisal or
pay) properly
 Failure to take account of relevant evidence
 Or taking into account irrelevant or inaccurate evidence
 Unlawful discrimination against an employee
Objection to PRP is not a grounds for appeal.
Appeal panel
 Panel to be made up of (usually) three governors not
involved in initial pay decisions
 Panel members must be familiar with:
 the pay policy
 the appraisal policy
 Panel members should have received appropriate training
in relation to the conduct of pay appeal hearings.
 There is no mandatory requirement to train but it would be
good practice
 Seek early advice from your HR provider on appropriate
training
 Clerking – any appeal hearing must be properly clerked.
Review of pay policy post September
2014
1. How effectively are the staff appraised?
2. How effectively do we appraise the headteacher?
3. What should our pay policy say about performance and
progression?
4. What is the correlation between appraisal outcomes, pay
and the quality of teaching and learning?
5. How effective is performance management in improving
teaching and learning?
(Source: ‘NGA Knowing Your School: Governors and Staff Performance’)
Information sources
 DfE website – Teachers’ Pay 2013
 http://www.education.gov.uk/g00227186/school-teachers'-payand-conditions-2013
 STPCD 2013
 DfE Advice - Reviewing and revising your school’s approach to
teachers’ pay, August 2013
http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/advice/f00224072/reviewteacher-pay
 DfE Myths and facts teachers’ pay
 The school’s HR provider
 ACAS – www.acas.org.uk
Review of session
 What worked well?
 What could have been better?
For more information
Contact us
NCTL
 By phone: 0345 609 0009
 By email: governors@education.gsi.gov.uk
 http://www.education.gov.uk/nationalcollege/index/roles/gove
rnors-role
NGA
 By phone: 0121 237 3780
 By e-mail: governorhq@nga.org.uk
 www.nga.org.uk