Supervision & Staff Meetings

[trekker]

Hi

 

I am fed up with waiting for our committee to get around to appraisals and I desperately want to bring up some issues / suggestions with staff that I dont want to do in a staff meeting. I dont feel I have been able to support / develop staff at all and although I have loads of ideas and bring them up at staff meetings I don't feel I am getting through to staff and I want to make sure we are all understanding each other and supporting children consistently.

To be honest it often feels like Im there in the staff meeting talking to myself and after they finish I feel it was a pointless excerise. I get the feeling that some of them havent even read the eyfs yet.

 

I have heard / seen mention about supervsion meetings and I was hoping for some info on exactly what they are, how to conduct them, what should be included and how often etc as Ive never done this before. I can then go ahead and do his without committee and I'm hoping it'll ensure I can set some firm goals for staff and that the discussions will feed into appraisals anyway when they do come up.

 

Also does anyone have any advice about running more productive staff meetings?

[Guest]

Oh we have all sorts of meetings. Informal staff meetings to discuss nights out, brands of wine and chocolate- these normally take place over lunch or in the local pub! We have staff planning meetings, formal committee meetings, select committee meetings (supervisor/manager/chair/treasurer)- these are to discuss personal things like staff issues. Staff appraisals are done by supervisor/manager. i find these a lot more productive done this way. the staff don't like being appraised by people that don't actually have the knowledge of day to day session.

[Guest]

Hi. I hold monthly one to one meetings with my staff where they have my undivided attention for about 15 minutes. I write down what we talk about and we give eachother actions. I find it really helps get through to them - it's a chance to ask them 'have you read the EYFS pack....where are all the observations you're meant to be doing.....etc!' Then the following month I have the evidence written down and can say'well, we talked about this last time, why aren't you doing it?' I also ask them what training they want to go on etc. Very useful both both me and tha staff.

[hali]

i do 1:1s with my staff each term - just me and each individual staff member - ideal for bringing things up with them

[blondie]

as a lead practitioner i do staff appraisals as most of the committee wouldnt know many of the staff anyway and are certainly not aware of what the staff should be doing and why. staff feel this is a fair way to do appraisals as i work with them and am able to evaluate their work strengths and weaknesses and areas for improving.

my chair person does my appraisal as my line manager.

appraisals are an annual requirement and you should put it forward to your committee that you want to do the staff appraisals asap and make a date for your appraisal with your chair person.

[Inge]

I also did the appraisals and committee did mine..well sort of

 

I always made sure I started and ended on a positive note... we planned training needs to help staff develop, as well as how they felt they were doing, found some good ideas and suitable forms to us on the forum.. but cannot remember where.. perhaps a forum search may bring something and more info for you... it is always worth looking though past topics and posts.

 

we were small and had developed the group together so it was never a problem for me to raise issues at any time and they did the same with me , I know it is more of a problem for others

 

Inge

[Guest]

Hi There

 

Can't add much - Just typing for the joy of it !!!!

 

I do supervision meetings when I can. The aim is once per term plus the annual appraisal.

Staff have the opportunity to let me know what they think (!), what they need to do their job effeciently and effectively, any problems (work and / or personal) and how they would like the rest of term to go.

I listen, note down salient points and we aportion action points.

In turn I talk about objectives - individual and team, statutory and those relevent to the Pre School.

 

Whole thing takes about 45 - 60 mins

 

I have an appraisal once per year !!!!!

[HappyMaz]

Welcome to the Forum sympathy (I didn't welcome your earlier post in a different thread which was very remiss of me! )

 

Sounds like you have a good system there!

 

Maz

[Guest Wolfie]

Here's a copy of a Supervision Contract that I drew up if it's of any help....

Supervision_contract.doc

[Alison]

I know what you mean about formal staff meetings feeling a waste of time

 

when it comes to staff meetings I cheat!!! we chat over coffee at the start of the session for about 10 minutes 50% of the time we are talking none preschool stuff but if we do need to discuss anything then this is the time we do it, then periodically I write up a list of things that we have be discussing as if we had sat in a formal meeting and discussed it ie minutes, its not that the staff dont have meetings but Ive noticed that when I organise a formal meeting we all seem to act different and some staff clam up, dont know why? its like if you put a tape recorder on a table and say I want to record what you say.... silence!

 

as for appraisals I hand out a form each term Self_appraisel.doc

if after completeing the form staff feel they want to talk about any issues raise then I would arrange a time. it seems to be working quiet nicely.

 

the questions on the self appraisal form are the same questions I would ask in a supervision meeting and as I understand it you can have supervision with any other colleague whatever is practical in your setting so that each member has a chance to sit down and talk to another member of staff about all aspects of their work.

 

I was under the impression that supervison has variety of special rules of conduct ie if you have a problem you should be able to rant without fear of loosing your job.?

 

hope that helps and while you are waiting for supervision to be organised dont forget theres always the foum