LSE Staff Development Policy

This policy was put together to provide clear advice to all our staff on the School's commitment to, and support for, staff development activities, and to take up some of the main issues staff may have over:

• what staff development is all about
• who does what and where responsibilities lie
• what funding is available to support you

All comments, questions and observations are genuinely welcomed, the aim being that we develop it further and in time generate the clearest, most relevant and accessible staff development policy for the School.

Definition

Staff development is a term used to describe a wide range of programmes, practices and approaches designed to help support School staff perform their jobs to the best of their ability now, and to be aware of and cope with future change.

It can support learning aimed at enhancing:

• skills
• knowledge
• attitude

It can include events organised locally or by central teams, formally or informally, at the School or off-site and covers all forms of personal and professional development and training.

General Principles

Staff development is taken seriously at the School, with significant funding and specialist staff resources now available to help staff learning.

These include the Staff Development Unit and the Teaching and Learning Centre, both of which provide information and advice, and co-ordinate provision for staff, offering appropriate certification and accreditation routes, where possible.

Our whole-institutional commitment to becoming an Investor in People is a further way of promoting a work culture that values continuous learning and improvement.

The School is aware that as an educational provider it has a special responsibility to support and encourage the learning of those people working as staff, and of the critical role staff development can play in building a skilled, reflective and motivated workforce able to offer the best possible services to students, colleagues and any other external clients/customers/users/partners.

Our commitment to staff learning extends to all levels, grades and types of staff, at Houghton Street and off-site, full time and part time.

Levels of Responsibility for Staff Development

The School commitment to staff development is evident through:

• its recruitment of specialist staff to structure staff learning services
• its provision of adequate central funding
• its subscription to national agendas such as Investors in People, as recommended by both major recent national reports into higher education - namely BETT and Dearing.

The Head of the Staff Development Unit and the Teaching and Learning Centre Director are responsible for co-ordinating specific services/provision and for marketing and internal liaison.

Specifically, this means:

• developing, marketing and running a central programme on development activities
• advising all levels of staff on accessing and maximising the value of this provision and generating additional new options where necessary
• working with divisions/departments and teams on local, closed and 'bespoke' options using an internal consultancy model
• monitoring and evaluating the impact of all local provision
• liaising with external providers to source specialist provision in areas that might not run internally - for example, technical and trades training/ academic programmes not offered at the School
• supporting a central programme of new staff induction activities and training for local induction champions
• assisting managerial and other staff make most effective use of the various appraisal models in operation
• monitoring and publicising internally appropriate national developments and changes in learning and training policy and practice
• processing and funding agreed external development options
• maintaining clear accounts and seeking to obtain best value for the School
• producing an annual staff development review for the School Secretary and senior management team

Heads of division/departments/convenors have overall responsibility for all staff development matters within their department.

Specifically, this means:

• activating regular staff reviews/ appraisals
• collating and recording staff learning needs identified in this process
• monitoring action on these needs and communicating details of new and unmet local staff development needs to central providers
• maintaining a high profile for staff development locally, using meetings and briefings to feedback and reflect upon its utility

Managerial and supervisory staff are responsible for identifying/encouraging appropriate development amongst their staff teams.

Specifically, this means:

• helping their staff identify development needs through the review/appraisal cycle and regular development discussions, the aim being that all staff are encouraged to generate clear and agreed personal development plans
• supporting their staff set clear objectives and outcomes for any development activity and for offering opportunities to apply that new learning back into the workplace
• evaluating development provision undertaken and assessing its impact on performance with staff members

Individual staff have a responsibility for their own personal development and are encouraged to identify appropriate needs to local managers/supervisors, act upon them and apply learning.

Where support for more formal/certificated programmes is agreed, the staff member is also responsible for organising attendance, producing necessary assessed materials to deadline and for providing feedback on the impact of this provision.

If difficulties arise, the individual staff member is responsible for flagging those issues with local management and/or the Staff Development Unit/Teaching and Learning Centre in the first instance.

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