Staff Development Policy

Staff Development Policy

Policy statement and vision

 

Newcastle City Learning recognises that its staff are vital in meeting its strategic objectives and in delivering the highest quality learning experiences for learners.  Learning and continuous professional development are essential to the professional practice of each member of staff and will enable the service to deliver its vision of providing high-quality learning experiences for all Newcastle city residents.

 

Scope and purpose of policy

 

Newcastle City Learning believes that staff are key to the success of the service and that their commitment and expertise is at the heart of the quality of our provision.

 

This policy applies to all staff within the service.

 

Quality standards at Newcastle City Learning

 

Newcastle City Learning has minimum qualification standards for all staff:

 

Student Experience front line staff are required to achieve at least level 2 in Information, Advice and Guidance within two years of taking up their post.

 

Learning and Skills Tutors are required to achieve at least level 3 in Teaching within the first twelve months of taking up their post and level 5 within the first three years of taking up their post.

 

In addition, all tutors are required to ensure that they maintain their credibility to teach by keep up to date in their specialised vocational area/subject specialism.  This may require updating within the real working environment for a short time each academic year.

 

Learning Support Assistants are required to achieve at least level 2 in Supporting Teaching and Learning within the first 2 years of taking up their post.

 

Where appropriate staff are required to achieve subject specialisms (level 4/5) in English, maths, ESOL and LLDD within an individual agreed timescale.  To be discussed and agreed at yearly appraisal.

 

All staff will be responsible for their own personal continuous professional development.  However, this will be in conversation with their direct line manager.

 

All staff are required to complete mandatory training in some subjects/areas of their practice.

 

Information and training on Health and Safety Procedures will be provided to all staff on induction and regular updates will be given through internal communications.
 

Information and training on British Values, PREVENT and how to raise student awareness of how to keep themselves safe in modern Britain will be provided to all members of staff.

 

Staff development for curriculum delivery staff

 

All staff will receive a lesson visit by a member of the management team at least once a year.  In addition, their practice may be seen through Learning Walks which will indicate what is going well and offering suggestions, where appropriate, of how learning might be even better. 

 

All substantive staff will receive an appraisal through the Council’s “My Conversation” process which includes meetings with their line manager.  The outcomes of the annual My Conversation record will detail the individual targets for each member of staff and details of any personal development plans required to help them meet those objectives.  A key focus of any My Conversation discussions with practitioners will be around their practice and in particular teaching, learning and assessment practices.

 

All staff have a duty to complete mandatory training, for example to update their knowledge around PREVENT, health and safety, safeguarding etc.  However, all staff also have a duty to maintain their practice at a high-standard and undertake relevant development on a regular basis.  This should be reviewed at ‘My Conversation’ meetings to identify targets for appropriate further training and development.
 

Financial support -The service has a capped staff development budget which needs to be managed.  However, the Service will endeavor to support all applications which will have a direct impact on the quality of the service we can deliver to students.

 

Access to professional development is available to all staff, based on an assessment of employees’ training needs and operational priorities irrespective of their sex, age, marital status, race, colour, ethnic or national origin or sexual orientation.

 

All training will be evaluated individually by staff and the impact on the service measured through observation of professional practice.

 

Supporting documents

 

Appendix 1- Lesson Visit procedures

Appendix 2- Staff Development Financial Support Application Forms.