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COMMENTARY ON DRAFT REGULATIONS
Appointment process for Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher posts
Regulation 3 provides that the appointment process for filling any post, other than on an acting basis, of Headteacher or Deputy Headteacher must satisfy the requirements set out in these regulations. However, the Regulations also outline, at regulation 5, circumstances where these apply on a more limited basis.
Consultation with Parent Council
Regulation 4 provides that, when preparing staffing strategies, including recruitment and redeployment etc, or job or person specifications, Education Authorities must consult with the relevant Parent Council of the schools for which the appointment is to be made. We want education authorities to start thinking about the appointment procedures early on in the process. Clearly authorities will have some standard procedures already established. However there will always be times when some more quite job specific issues need to be considered e.g. with regard to specific posts. Authorities should discuss such detailed requirements with the relevant Parent Councils.
Parents, through their local knowledge of the school and community, add a valuable contribution to the development of a job or person specification. Parental involvement should not however hold up the appointments process: it does not mean co-authorship - rather the intention is to enhance communications with parents.
Procedures for short leet
Regulation 5 provides that the Education Authority has a duty to invite parental representation, drawn from the Parent Council of the school to which the appointment is to be made, in any procedures to produce a short leet. The Parent Council can choose to participate or, if it wishes, to use the powers under section 14(3) of the Act to request assistance from a person who is not a member of the Parent Council, whom they might consider better equipped to undertake such duties.
The actual size and make-up of any panel will be a matter for the Education Authority to determine.
It is recognised that employers have statutory obligations to protect existing employees and there will be occasions, for example as a suitable alternative to redundancy, when Education Authorities may require to redeploy existing members of staff without recourse to the short leet and appointment panel procedures set out in these regulations. In such circumstances an Education Authority shall still be required to consult and pay due regard to the views of parents, as set out in their strategies set out under regulation 4.
Appointment panel
Regulation 6 provides that, where an Education Authority decides to make an appointment that they must set up an Appointment Panel for the purpose of considering candidates from any short leet.
We believe that those best placed to determine the size and shape of an appointment panel are those who know the particular requirements of the school. Different schools may require different size of appointment panel and it should therefore be a matter for local determination. Representation should therefore be drawn from the different communities of interest i.e. parents, educational professionals and local authority employers. However we recognise the importance of the parental input to ensure a rigorous process. As we said we would do in our response to the consultation, we have decided that parental representation on the appointments panel should take the form of a guaranteed minimum proportion of membership. We propose that this proportion should be one-third.
Once again the invitation for the Parent Council to participate in the process is obligatory, although the requirement for them to accept is not. Education Authorities will also need to ensure that reasonable time is allowed for parents to prepare for the final selection procedures. Best practice suggests that all the necessary paperwork is received by all members of the Appointment Panel at the same time.
Chairing of appointment panel
Regulation 7 establishes who should chair and have any casting vote, where necessary.
Where the appointment is for a Headteacher post, the Chair of the panel shall be nominated by the Education Authority and have any casting vote where necessary. Where the appointment is for a Deputy Headteacher post the chair of the panel will be the Headteacher of the school to which the appointment is to be made and shall have any casting vote. For deputy headteacher appointments an acting headteacher may undertake the duties of the chair, unless deemed inappropriate by the Education Authority.
Conflict of Interest
Regulation 8 provides that no person who has a material interest in the appointment should take part in the short leet procedure or sit on the appointment panel.
Guidance
These regulations once passed will be supplemented by guidance, as provided for in Section 19 of the Act, in time for introduction of any new procedures by 1 August 2007. Section 19 (3) states that education authorities and Parent Councils must have due regard to any such guidance issued to them.
This guidance will not only cover the key stages for parental involvement as described in regulations, but will also offer suggestions for best practices in recruitment and selection procedures to include:
- Other parental involvement such as what to do where no Parental Councils exist;
- The introduction and suggested use of additional support mechanisms, such as local authority area panels of parents which will add professional rigour to the appointment process;
- Procedures for involvement of parents in temporary appointments;
- Suggested involvement of school based peers or pupils;
- Training for all those involved in the selection process including the importance of the Standard for Headship in the selection procedures.
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