Developing and refining a process to improve teacher engagement with the performance management system in a school setting

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to review and make changes to the performance management process in place for teachers in a school for autistic children with learning disabilities. The performance management process consisted of line managers setting targets for their staff and points were given for targets met. Targets were related to improving outcomes for the children in the school. Teacher engagement in the performance management process was measured by the number of teachers reporting their points monthly and the number of points earned monthly. Design/methodology/approach The PDC (Austin, 2000) was conducted to determine changes to the process to improve teacher engagement with the performance management system. These changes to the performance management process consisted of an antecedent and information intervention (flowchart implemented summarising performance management process), equipment and processes interventions (change to graphing requirement, set rolling targets implemented) and consequence interventions (teachers set rolling targets to meet with their line manager regularly and to report on targets met monthly). Findings The number of teachers completing and submitting monthly summary forms increased following the changes made to the performance management process. The average number of points received increased significantly during the intervention. The intervention implemented following the use of the PDC led to increased teacher engagement in the performance management process and thus potentially improved the outcomes for the children within the school. Originality/value The PDC is a fairly simple tool to use to identify solutions to problems in the workplace. The procedure used herein is replicable across many settings and different workplace issues.