Establish clear expectations using Standards and Competencies

Effectively setting staff expectations is key to successfully leading and managing staff in any education organisation. All staff should be aware of what is required in their role and their performance measured against these expectations. It is important that, during the year, the expectations are frequently reviewed, to provide clarity to staff and to establish a baseline regarding performance.

Some organisations assume that staff are clear of what is expected in their roles, but unfortunately these roles and responsibilities evolve over time and expectations have a tendency to become blurred if they are not regularly revisited.

Everyone has a part to play within an organisation, with some having larger roles, with greater responsibility and accountability, than others. Staff are able to easily identify when they feel others are not performing, and not ‘pulling their weight’ in their role. They expect, in the interest of fairness and the education of students, that poor performance will be dealt with swiftly and effectively.

It is therefore important that careful consideration is given to the expectations of a role, its responsibilities and the experience. Do you expect the same performance for all leaders, teachers and support staff?

To address this issue nationally agreed Standards/Competencies were introduced. An example of these were the teachers’ Standards/Competencies that came into effect in September 2012. These were intended to be used for a range of purposes that included assessing the suitability of those in initial teacher training, assessment of the competence of newly qualified teachers, the appraisal of qualified teachers and by Ofsted, to provide a consistent benchmark, when assessing the quality of teaching.

As well as teacher Standards/Competencies, there were a range of nationally recognised Standards/Competencies introduced that included post threshold teacher, SENCO, Headteacher, TA, HLTA and business manager.

Some education organisations, in consultation with staff, have also adapted and created their own expectations based on the details outlined in job descriptions.

The reasoning is, in many cases, linked to fairness. Is it fair, for example, to expect the same performance from a teacher in their second year of teaching as for someone who has been teaching for fifteen years?

In a school for example, there is a significant difference in salary between an M1 and an M6 teacher, depending on location. Further salary increases, can be added, for a being a leading practitioner, whose role is to model excellent practice and sharing knowledge and skills. Additional increases in salary can also be awarded for other areas such as Senco and curriculum development. These salary differences are not taking into account the leadership and support staff roles and salary.

Setting clear expectations also provides guidance for staff who potentially want to progress in their careers. Examples being TA to a HLTA, main scale to post threshold teacher and a DHT to a HT. It allows the staff to clearly understand the expectations of their future role and collect the required knowledge and skills to make them ready to take their next steps in their career.

By setting out clear expectations empowers and unites staff, allowing them the freedom to act more autonomously with the common goal of driving up standards and improving the outcomes for our children and young people.