All About the Training and Development of Southwood School.

All about the training and development of Southwood School.

caSe StUDY NarratIVe

Introduction

Southwood school administrators realized that a newly designed performance

management system for their support staff 1 would require a formal training

program. Designing and implementing the new performance management system

was a challenge for the organization; the last system was unpopular with employees,

and negative feelings about the value of performance management linger.

Case Overview

As discussed in the fi rst Southwood case study, some of the issues identifi ed with the

previous performance management system included:

Annual deadlines to complete the process were missed b  y many staff members.

 Some staff members were confused about what exactly needed to be completed and

when.

 There were complaints that the previous system was a “waste of time” and that

there were no measurable outputs.

 A trade union representative felt the system was not appropriate for all staff

members.

 Criteria on the forms were irrelevant to support staff. For example, support staff

could not set objectives in pupil progress or have lessons observed.

 There was little attention on identifying training needs, and where needs had been

identifi ed, there was no follow-up with appropriate actions.

 Appraisals were led by teachers with little knowledge of their appraisees’ jobs.

 Performance meetings were a one-way process; often, performance goals were

identifi ed before the meeting and without the appraisee’s input.

1. Examples of support staff jobs include: administrative positions (secretaries, administrators); student support

positions (learning mentors, learning support assistants, special needs assistants, computer technicians);

teacher support positions (teaching assistants, departmental assistants such as science technicians);

and strategic/management positions (HR manager, fi nance manager, director of administration,