The Role of the External Adviser
Many appointed governors will need to be supported in developing this role and in carrying out their responsibilities.
In order to support the effective implementation of the process, external advisers will need to:
- Provide high quality and focused advice to appointed governors on the setting of performance objectives. The objectives must include the statutory areas of pupils' progress and school leadership and management, as well as other areas where objectives might be set, such as professional development for the headteacher or other important school specific issues. In setting objectives, consideration should be given to evidence such as school targets, benchmarking data, the school development plan, post-inspection action plan, pupil performance data and the school's professional development strategy.
- Give advice to the appointed governors, following the performance review of the headteacher against agreed objectives, on the overall quality of performance. It would then be up to the governors to consider whether the overall performance of the headteacher, taking the objectives into account, was of sufficiently high quality to merit a performance related salary point.
In order to achieve successful outcomes, the external adviser will be required to undertake a series of tasks at each stage of the process. Advisers will need to:
- Review the documents provided by the school and analyse the contextual data, in order to understand the context in which the headteacher works. On the basis of this documentation, the external adviser will write preliminary advice for the appointed governors which reviews the progress made towards the previous objectives and suggests areas for future objectives.
- Offer to have a pre-review meeting with the headteacher at the beginning of the visit, in order to have a discussion. This is an option rather than a statutory requirement for the headteacher. It provides an opportunity to clarify any issues, to discuss the preliminary advice and, where relevant, complete the optional self-evaluation form and collect further evidence prior to the meetings with the appointed governors.
- Offer to attend a pre-review meeting at the school with the appointed governors to advise on the setting of performance objectives and discuss how governors might approach the process of monitoring and measuring progress. The meeting will cover issues identified in the preliminary advice, clarify outstanding issues and provide an opportunity for governors to discuss the process of performance review in more detail.
- Attend the formal review meeting to review with the appointed governors and the headteacher the overall performance of the headteacher and achievement against current objectives. The review meeting should also move towards agreement on the setting of further objectives for the following year.
- Advise the appointed governors on the preparation of the performance review statement for the headteacher.
In all cases, governors need to be aware that the role of the adviser is to give advice. The ultimate responsibility for agreeing objectives with the headteacher and reviewing performance lies with the appointed governors.
The process of achieving successful outcomes described indicates the nature and scope of the interactions between the external adviser, the headteacher and the appointed governors. The quality of these interactions will be the key to success. The external adviser will need to be sensitive yet rigorous and robust.
Every school will receive a core entitlement to the equivalent of one full day (eight hours) of funded adviser time.