HR planning contributes to the performance of WHS, good HR planning means that WHS can predict how many teachers are going to needed if any and if so which subjects need teachers. This effective planning helps ensure that the right numbers of staff are employed to cover all lessons. Which means that resources will not be wasted by employing to many staff. If WHS failed to have the right number of staff at a time this would have devastating effects as class will not have teachers to cover lessons, grades will slip, affecting the reputation and league table of WHS. This would discourage students to come to WHS also less applicants will apply for posts in the school living WHS with a bad reputation and less competitive. So good and effective HR planning is vital to ensure that WHS attracts as many students and applicants to the school as possible. This will improve its competitiveness.
Recruitment and selection
There are a number of reasons why WHS might need new staff one of the main reason is that due to the shortage of schools places in the borough. The school has had to take on more students in each year, to cope with these high numbers of students entering the school; WHS has had to employ new staff. Other reasons for a vacancy to be filled include, a new job is available because of expansion of the organisation this was the case when WHS introduced a six-form, and they had to employ more teachers to work in the six-for. Some in the school retiring lives a vacant job that needs to be filled. Some times teachers live because they do not like the school or have found a better job in another school that pays better money.
Before the school can recruit and new staff a post has to be available, teachers are required to hand in notice if they are planning to leave the school a term in ahead. The school then decides which method will be most suitable to advertise the post if a longer period of notice then the school puts the adverts in the educational press and if it’s a short notice then other recruitment methods are used. For example local newspapers, teachers recruitment agencies, and the Internet. The cost for the adverts comes out of the school’s budget.
Recruiting and selecting the right person for the job is vital for WHS because if an inexperienced teacher is employed, this could have devastating effects on the performance of the students, which might spoil the reputation of the school. Having the right employees means that resources are managed effectively. If the school does not recruit staff it means that there wont be enough teachers in the school, which means that class will suffer, have no teacher or have teachers to cover that don’t have the knowledge of that particular subject. Because WHS gives priority to year10, 11, 12, and 13 to have teachers because they close to taking public exams, the remaining of the years will suffer most. It would also have an impact on the school’s performance and the exam results reputation will be damaged. The remaining staff will be put under pressure doing more work than they should do. Recruiting the right number of staff is important because WHS want to teach their students well in order to achieve good exam grades and create a good image and keep the good reputation of the school.
There a number of constraints affecting the number of teachers WHS can employ at a time. The major one that all schools in the country are faces is the number of teachers available. There has been a shortage of teachers this may be because of the standards that new graduates do not want to entire the teaching profession. Also the property prices in the south east has contributed to the shortage of teachers in the area, it costs twice as much to buy a house in the south east than in any other area in the UK.
The school’s budget for staff is also a major factor that effects recruitment of new staff. The local authority gives the school a budget and the school is expect to use it effectively to last for the all year but with the number of students the school is carting for it often find that it needs more staff.
The equal pay act 1970 requires employers to pay the same rate to men and women if they are doing the same job. This means that if WHS recruits a male and female head of department they should pay them the same rate because they are doing the same job.
Another legal requirement is the sex discrimination act 1975 which sates that employers like WHS can not discriminate on grounds of gender. This makes it illegal for WHS to discriminate against a particular sex when advertising to fill vacant places, appointing employees for the job, promoting staff, determining the terms and conditions of the job and when offering employees training & development opportunities.
The race relations act 1976 applies to WHS when recruiting new staff it states that employers can not discriminate on grounds of race however since WHS is a specialist language collage it can advertise for a French or Spanish teacher. However if WHS made any discriminations it could face legal prosecution.
Recruitment and selection contributes to the competitiveness of WHS through a number of factors, employing the right qualified staff for the job is vital as under qualified staff will not be able to teach the subject to the best of their ability and deliver the same quality of material to the students. This will lead to students getting unclear information and not getting the right data for their subject, leading to poor grades. Poor grades lead to some students choosing not to come back to WHS and new applicants choosing to work in other school it also damages the reputation of WHS.
Training and development
Training is ‘the acquisition of a body of knowledge and skills which can be applied to a particular job’. Training is very important to WHS as it motivates their staffs, which leads to good exam results. Training at WHS depends on the type of job and status within the school.
New staff are give induction training which introduces them to the job and the school and the way thing work. They are shown round the school and where to report. Also support is given to beginning teachers from their line managers and also the school runs a training program scheme once a week for beginning teachers. The head of department acts as a mentor for new staff. There are also inset days were teachers get training. The school has been awarded an investor in peoples a ward, for training non-teaching staff.
Good training in WHS will always motivate staff as they feel they have a worth in the school and enjoy their job, this means they are more likely to staff at WHS for a long time, which again means students don’t have to change teachers all the time.
It is important that WHS has well trained staff who can deal with all the difficulties the job has to offer them. Training staff also motivates them which leads to increase performance.
Good quality trained staff will deliver the best knowledge and material to the students in a clear and understandable manner, which leads to the students passing the exams. This attracts new staff and students.
Performance management
Performance management is an assessment of the employee’s performance to ensure that they are fulfilling their potential. At WHS every member of staff is allocated a colleague to talk about performance, between them they will set up targets relating to;
-Pupil progress
-Work in school
-Professional development
During the year the team leader monitors the teachers’ progress towards achieving the above targets. This is done through lesson observation and one on one discussion. If the teachers meet the above then pay rises are awarded, this motivates them. Performance management leads to the skills of the teachers being improved and it raises teaching standards in the school, which may lead to improved results and school performance. It also increases the schools competitiveness with others in the borough for students and teachers.
Performance management leads to better communication between senior management and staff for example through appraisals deputy heads recognise the teachers achievements, which gives recognition and increases motivation resulting in better exam results and teachers working harder all leading to WHS becoming more competitive and adopting a good reputation.
Also by carrying out appraisals problems in WHS can be found and sorted out quickly, this can be seen by potential employees as very efficient and safe and an appealing place to work.
Performance management contributes to the effectiveness of WHS as if employees meet targets, this increases efficiency of WHS as every one is achieving their potential. This improves the competitiveness of the school.
CONFLICTS
The main conflict with in HR management is financial; the school is given a budget to spend on physical resources, teaching materials and teachers. This budget also includes employing supply teachers, for example last term WHS needed more supply teachers because most of their staff were off on educational trips because of the limitation of the budget this term WHS can not afford supply teachers. So senior staff have to leave their work and cover classes. WHS should be told in there contracts that in case there is a class that needs a teacher they could be called upon to cover lessons during there free time.
The government fund are not always available to fund pay raises for teachers, for example WHS carries out performance management and teachers are awarded a pay increase but the government only funds 50% of this pay raise this leaves the school with a conflict, and questions like do you make staff redundant to fund the remaining 50% of the pay raise bearing in mind that with out the right numbers of teachers, it affects the school’s performance and exam results reputation.
The relation between governors and WHS head teacher this is vital for the schools performance and the success of the school.
The other conflict is between training and development and the budget, HR might want to train or improve the skills of the staff at WHS but the limitation of the budget will not allow this therefore causing a conflict and affecting the quality of teaching at WHS. Because the skills of the teachers are limited meaning that they are not keeping up with the changing world. The school should bid for money from the government to offer its staff training; this will resolve the problem of not having enough money to train staff.
The HR department at WHS wants to recruit more teachers but the finance department and budget do not agree as there is know money to employ any more staff.
The other conflict is between the HR management and the teachers themselves, due to the shortage of teachers WHS does not have enough staff to cover all the lessons so the HR management at WHS wants teachers to cover lessons during there free periods bearing in mind that teachers only have a few periods free a week. Teachers don’t get time to finish there work since there free periods are take up, they have to work at home and on weekend this could cause them to leave the school or it might have an effect on the way they teach as they never have enough time to plan and prepare the lessons. All these will have a divesting effect on the performance of the school. To resolve this problem WHS should get supply teachers to cover lessons this will mean than teachers are not asked to cover lessons in there free periods.
A conflict could arise from HR management at WHS when the government sets an aim to train all teachers in key stage three numeric, the HR department will have to make sure that all its teachers attend the insert day. However some teachers might feel that this training is not relevant to the class they teach e.g. sixform science teachers.
Also there is potential conflict between HR and the head of departments, the HR department wants to recruit staff on a temporary basis but head teacher’s wand to recruit staff on a permanent contract.
Benefits of a good HR department
A good HR department recruits good teachers with the right qualification and excellent experience, good teachers mean good subject knowledge, they will be familiar with specifications, examination questions and there are able to help the students effectively which leads to good exam results. Good teachers will always be approachable, set and mark home work and also help students were necessary with their home work, this improves the relationship between teachers and students. Recruitment and selection is the HR function that contributes to the above, with out this function WHS HR department would not be able to recruit good teachers.
If the HR department recruits good teachers they will be able to promote class discussions. Class discussions are vital to the student’s performance as they improve the student’s confidence and knowledge of the subject, which leads to better performance. Good teachers will help students improve their social, cultural, oral and ethnical skills.
Training and development is very important as teachers always need to upgrade their skills a good HR department will promote this. The HR department will provide insert days for teachers training, carry out regular performance appraisals this will help the teachers to keep up in line with the skills required by the teaching industry and its changing demands. Because training and development the school is able to remain competitive with good and high teaching standards. Also because teachers are trained to deal with students behaviour problems, it promotes the school with in the local community helping WHS gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.
When it comes to dealing with conflict in the school a good HR department will discipline and dismiss inappropriate actions by the teachers. For example if a teacher had a fight with a student they would have to face the disciplinary team and issues would be discussed fairly. And the out come would be fair depending on what caused the teacher to fight back, if there was no reason for the teacher to fight the teacher might be given a warning depending on his teaching record or they could sacked.
Good HR management will notice problems early before they occur and solve them, defending teachers and supporting them in difficult times. This will attract more staff if they feel that the school acts in their interests and helps them out in difficult times. For example if a student made fails accessions of being sexual assaulted by a teacher a good HR will defend the teacher and help them in these difficult times. Sometimes this can make a great difference between a teacher losing their job and going to jail or being cleared. If teachers see that the see HR actual supports them in difficult times this will attract more and more teachers meaning that WHS will not have a problem of storage of staff. This will mean that no member of staff will have to do other job apart from what they are required to do by the school. Also staff will have more time to spend with students helping them out with their work, this will greatly improve the grades of the students leading to good results and a good reputation for WHS.
This will help the competitiveness of WHS making it a better working and help it retain good teachers.
