Self Evaluations

[Guest]

Hi

Just before we broke up for the holidays our new committee handed out self evaluation forms for staff to complete - we were given 24 hours to complete and return them. There was also an accompanying letter explaining that our contracts were to be updated and that any potential pay rise would be decided by the committee after discussion of our evaluations.

We should have been told of the outcome by the end of term but will find out when we go back in Jan.

I dont have a problem with the evaluation part but I am a bit concerned that any wage increase, or lack of it, will be decided on the basis of a few short answers on a hastily filled out form.

Is this how other settings work?

[Guest]

I wouldn't do that. Wages are not used as part of an evaluation. Performance and money shouldn't be linked, at least I wouldn't. I would think its not good practice to link the two.

 

If someones performance is not good then talk to them about it but don't hold money as an incentive to make people perform better.

 

Good luck when you go back

[Guest]

Thanks for that Steph. Much the same as I thought. It has caused some tension between the other members of staff - they are all on same higher rate but I only get minimum wage. It certainly is not good for morale, committee have also hinted at changes they want to make to pay scales & job titles - all other 3 members of staff are currently equal so there is not one supervisor/manager. Committee want to change this. At least one of the other staff has said she will leave if they do. Doesnt really affect me as I have only worked there for a year the others have all worked together for more than 15 years. Would be nice to be paid above min wage with a level 3 though! Will let you all know what happens when I go back to work. Should be fun!!

[Guest]

Hi mustangsally

 

The way the self-evaluation forms and evaluations were announced, does not seem fair. I don't know what sort of setting you work in but in UK schools, staff undergo annual performance management reviews, set targets to be worked towards and reviewed at the end of the year. This is usually linked to incremental increases in pay - to cross to threshold payments at point 6, teachers need to prove that their teaching has had a positive impact on children's learning (and have gathered evidence in a file).

 

We have a management committee (in a non-profit making overseas British primary school) who have been very supportive - we have UK teacher's pay scale (but not threshold payments or LTR points - not so far anyway). We have perfomance management and the whole process is transparent and clear.

 

I hope your situation is worked out fairly and a range of supporting evidence is used for each staff member. I would want to know why the changes are being made and how decisions they make have been agreed.

 

Take care,

Louise.

[Guest]

Hi Louise

I work in a committee run preschool. I think the new committee are trying to introduce something along similar lines to what you have described. Problem is, the first we knew about it was when we were handed big brown envelopes with instructions that they were not to be opened until we finished work - very James Bond, this package will self destruct in 10 seconds. The committee is new and I think they are trying to stamp their authority - unfortunately it has made us all feel a bit left in the dark and wondering what is coming next. They have failed to grasp the fact that we all work well together as a team and I really feel that they should have at least had a meeting with the staff to explain what changes they would like to see/intend to implement.

[Cait]

Absolutely - and it's one of the reasons why I think committee-led doesn't work in practice. In principle it's a nice idea, but how can an autonomous group of parents which changes almost annually in some cases possibly run a Preschool? It's nonsense!

[Guest]

Hi - I work in a committee run pre-school and probably the committee have been advised by their PLA development worker that they should hold appraisals for the staff. There is a lot of pressure put on new committee's as they are told they need to do all these things and they might be a bit gun ho. Mine are alaways told they need to take charge, make all decisions and control the staff!!!!

 

You really need a leading member of staff to work with the committee - in fact the new pla constitution allows staff on the committee and this will really help the working relationship between the two sides. The committee need a lot of help to understand how things work, the priorities, and how they can work with the staff - and they need to value their staff as they are qualified and have loads of expertise (but don't say it like that)

 

I would advise that the staff leader (bit confused about who runs's your pre-school from your message) needs to talk to the committee about how appraisals are done - they may have had experience of doing them in the business world - sales targets, performance etc.... bonus's etc., could the lead practitioner not do the appraisals for the staff in setting as they can discuss learning and development needs and reflect on current practice suggesting ideas, the appraisal needs to be of value to the setting and identify areas of good practice and those that need work.

 

If committee not keen on this ideas, I would recommend that a leading staff member and a committee member do it together, this would be to support the committee member - who might be confused by the terminology legal requirements and as staff you would hate to confuse them with jargon.

 

Good luck .... hope that helps

[Inge]

our appraisals were always done by a named manager who was the liaison between the committee and staff, and advisor to the committee.. in practical terms with regular changes they were the one who tended to run the group, and get committee support... the committee did the managers appraisal with help if they felt they needed it..

 

who is named as person in charge of day to day management of setting.. .. A committee who are the registered persons......two different roles, but both need Ofsted approval. They would probably be the one to deal with this.

 

we had a pay scale for levels of qualifications, rather than years of service, which was not linked to appraisals..

 

PLA in our area have been 'advising' committees to take charge too... and unless you have a committee who realise their limitations in their knowledge it can cause problems. They have also said committee should take advantage of the training offered.. great .. but by the time the have it they are gone.. and who wants to spend evenings doing the training whne they are only in the post fro a few months anyway...

 

Inge

[Guest]

I would advise that the staff leader (bit confused about who runs's your pre-school from your message) needs to talk to the committee about how appraisals are done

I think this is part of the problem that the committee wants to address - the other 3 members of staff have always been an equal partnership in terms of pay and responsibilities so there is no one person who is in charge. As I said they have worked like this for 15 years and I have only been there for a year but I do feel that it would be better to have one manager or supervisor, call them what you will. One of the others is very resistant to this and has already said that she will leave unless she is the one appointed manager.

As you can imagine, I'm sort of stuck in the middle. There has been some tension between 2 of the members of staff due to this and quite frankly I think the timing and way the committee have done this is ill advised - we were all stressed enough in the run up to christmas without adding more pressure.

[Motherclanger]

Hi all ! Just been reading all the threads and I can say its not just the PLA our county advisors have been saying the same things to our committee ! I do sympathise with parent run committees as I think they just want everyone to think they are doing a good job and sometimes this comes from pressure outside the group ie: advisors. They are obviously going to follow advice given as they haven't a clue most of the time how the pre-school is run and rely heavily on the advisors and staff to try and explain what is expected of them and thats when it gets difficult. The committee often ignores the staffs input and relies solely on the advisors and I know its has caused huge problems at the pre-school I work at, with staff resigning and bad feeling between the staff and commmittee. I just hope this new year will start on a better front as last year was full of termoil !