STAFF CAREER DEVELOPMENT
1. AIMS
to encourage individual members of staff to enhance the development of their professional and technical skills;
to encourage individual members of staff to plan their careers and to identify new or different career opportunities;
to make the fullest use of the interests and abilities of all staff;
to enable all members of staff to feel satisfaction and achievement in their work.
2. PREAMBLE
There is a number of ways in which the school offers opportunities to its teaching and non-teaching staff to develop their skills and, where applicable, further their careers.
Teachers are encouraged to take advantage, where possible, of team teaching, secondments, exchanges and visits to other schools and colleges.
Team teaching offers a positive form of developing teaching skills. It helps overcome anxiety about the presence of a colleague in the classroom, and it inculcates co-operation rather than competition. It is an opportunity for new members of the teaching staff to observe good practice, and for senior and experienced staff to be introduced to new ideas.
Secondments are becoming increasingly difficult to finance; however, the school will look favourably on any practicable proposal where the benefits to the students of the school are clearly seen. Any secondment, though, must be dependent on a suitable replacement teacher being found.
Teaching staff will be supported in exchanging posts with other schools and colleges, though teachers joining St Peter's as part of such an exchange must accept whole-heartedly the Roman Catholic ethos of the school.
It may be more practicable for teachers to arrange short-term visits to other schools and colleges, as an opportunity to broaden experience and see new or unfamiliar ideas in practice. It is perhaps particularly important that long serving staff at St Peter's see a fresh perspective by exploring the ways in which similar rôles to theirs are filled elsewhere.
The school's senior management team will encourage the use of rôle changes where they can be seen to have a beneficial effect on the staff concerned and on the school.
Non-teaching staff are similarly encouraged to take advantage of visits to other school or colleges.
All staff are welcome to join working parties to discuss newly proposed policies or policy amendments.
The school will continue to offer internal INSET. Some of the school's training days
will be made over each year for departmental, or job-specific, INSET, (though SMT may make particular requests about specific items being included on departmental agendas).
Other training days will be used as 'whole school' INSET, where all staff are free to suggest themes and content. Where finances allow, visiting speakers and course leaders will be invited to join staff on INSET.
Both local and national courses will be made available to all staff; all staff should feel free to seek admission to courses whose content allows further development for them. The school will look favourably on applications from staff to join such courses, though SMT will have to consider the benefits of an individual attending a course against the possible disruption resulting from consequent absence. A rolling programme of release may be necessary for more expensive courses.
A full appraisal programme has been instituted within the school; an annual timetable of appraisals is published at the beginning of the school year. The essence of the scheme lies in staff development and support. The appraisal will combine self-appraisal with an appraisal by a (mutually agreed) senior member of staff. All aspects of a person's rôle in the school will be considered in the appraisals.
The staff disciplinary procedure will be in line with the code of practice issued by the Catholic Education Council. The grievance procedure operates in tandem with that issued by Gloucestershire Local Education Authority, a copy of which is on the staff notice board.

3. OBLIGATIONS REQUIRED BY POLICY
i The Headteacher should
conduct an annual interview with every teacher, where there will be a frank discussion of career prospects;
offer the opportunity to any member of staff for a discussion of promotion prospects;
act as a referee for staff applying elsewhere for posts;
organise and monitor the school's appraisal programme;
manage the INSET provision of the school, handling all requests for specific LEA or HMI or other courses;

convene and chair meetings of all the staff, where all members of the school staff can contribute to discussion of agenda items;
ensure that all non-teaching staff are aware of which senior member of staff they should regard as their primary 'manager';
meet termly each newly qualified teacher.
The member of staff appointed to oversee newly qualified teachers should
see newly qualified teachers prior to the start of the new school year, twice a term on a formal basis and informally at regular intervals.

iii SMT/ 11-16 Management/ 16-19 Management should
convene appropriately constituted working parties to discuss new or amended policy documents;
oversee rôle changes within the school;
organise school training days.
iv Heads of School should
ensure that non-teaching staff attached to them or to their areas of responsibility have an annual interview to review the year and to comment on career development and responsibilities, etc.
v Heads of Department should
recommend staff for internal promotions where appropriate;
ensure that non-teaching staff attached to them or to their areas of responsibility have an annual interview to review the year and to comment on career development and responsibilities, etc.
vi All staff should
contribute helpfully to school INSET and to the discussion and development of school policy;
inform the headteacher if a reference may be requested as the result of a job application;
keep their own files and cvs up to date, to facilitate both job applications and references.

vii Teachers should
accept appropriate responsibilities under the appraisal scheme as requested by the headteacher.
4. The execution of this policy shall be monitored by SMT.