Research from Gartner finds that “when employee goals are aligned with organisational priorities and help employees meet changing needs, coordinate with peers and hold themselves accountable, employee performance increases by up to 22%.”
So, what would be the outcome if individual teacher and staff appraisal objectives were aligned with the school or trust strategic plan?
The golden thread – aligning appraisal objectives with organisation priorities
Aligning individual objectives with strategic plans does not imply a top-down or one-size-fits-all approach. As outlined in the 2020 NFER report 'Teacher autonomy: how does it relate to job satisfaction and retention?', teachers need agency: autonomy within the framework of the strategic plan – to define their own career objectives. Setting professional development goals helps a teacher to enhance their skills as a practitioner and improve subject knowledge, as well as being able to access training that is relevant to the context of their role and the needs of students. Involving staff in conversations about their own performance and professional growth is crucial for creating a sense of purpose and demonstrating their value to the school. Based in the West Midlands, multi-phase Summit Learning Trust uses the Professional Development and People Development memberships from The National College to ensure that individual professional learning is linked through professional objectives to the trust’s overarching priorities.
“To get the best out of our children and young people, we need to make the most of our best resource - our human resource,” says Rebecca Lillington, Director of Professional Learning.
“We make sure that any professional learning across all directorates, including estates and finance teams, contributes to providing the best opportunities for children and young people.” Similarly, at The Avon Valley School & Performing Arts College in Rugby, the school has moved towards an appraisal model focused on professional growth. At the end of each academic year, staff conduct inquiries into what has worked or hasn’t worked in their faculty, which allows leaders to identify areas for development across the school.
Once development areas have been identified, the school sets appraisal objectives which are directly linked to them, demonstrating how individual effort can contribute to overall school improvement and fostering a team mindset. Katie Collins, Assistant Headteacher, explains:
“Appraisal objectives, which are set in July, link directly to these team and wider school priorities. So, today it’s very much like a whole school train, with everyone on the same track, whereas before there was a more fragmented approach and a sense that people were pulling in different directions.” At Watford Grammar School for Girls, this approach is underpinned by an operational strategy that ensures the organisation’s strategic plan is shared transparently with all staff across the organisation, and linked to clear performance criteria for every individual, from Executive Leader to ECT.
“Staff have to base their individual targets, or year group or department targets, on the school development plan. Now it is in the People Development platform – the place where you are
thinking about setting objectives – it is much easier to make that link,” says Chris Whishaw, Deputy Headteacher.
Providing team leaders with a clear overview of the organisation’s strategy and how it relates to different staff roles allows them to guide their staff to develop individual objectives that translate into specific, actionable goals. This helps staff to understand how their work contributes to the wider school or trust strategy.
Using a dedicated online platform makes it much easier for school leaders and staff to map appraisal objectives and professional learning goals to school priorities. “The idea of having everything connected was very important to us,” says Kay McCabe, Director of Learning and Innovation at Nexus International School Malaysia.
“We are very invested in professional learning for our staff, but there were a lot of materials and documents sitting in different places and our appraisal system was in a whole separate system.
“We couldn’t see people’s goals across the whole school; we couldn’t connect the dots and get the big picture of what was going on with appraisal and professional development. The National College has been really useful to help us gain that oversight and make connections with school priorities.”
Teaching is, by its nature, a collaborative and developmental profession. Ensuring that staff, and not just students, have the opportunity to develop is, as we all know, essential for continuous school improvement. Mapping individual teacher appraisal objectives to the school improvement plan encourages staff to buy into a shared vision, values and ethos, and understand the purpose of their role in the organisation. This, in turn, enhances staff wellbeing, retention and recruitment. The first step to engaging staff in the strategic plan is to ensure that the objectives and activity plans are shared throughout your organisation. This makes it easier for all staff to link their own objectives with activities that will contribute to wider school improvement.
Come and see us on stand C50, to find out how The National College can support your school.