A meeting of the Executive Member Decisions - Children, Families & Education Committee of Torfaen Council was scheduled to take place on Friday, 6 December 2024 at 10.00 am to consider whether to circulate a new policy document to school governing bodies in the borough.

The meeting was also scheduled to consider whether to note that no declarations of interest had been received.

Professional Development Review Policy for School Based Staff

Councillor Richard Clark (Deputy Leader) (Executive Member for Education) was scheduled to be asked to approve a new Professional Development Review policy for circulation to school governing bodies.

If approved, governing bodies would be asked to formally approve and adopt the new policy.

The report prepared for the meeting explained that the new policy had been developed in collaboration with other councils in the EAS region and had been negotiated with Trade Unions:

The policy has been produced in collaboration with other Council’s in the EAS region and negotiations have taken place with trade unions on a regional and local basis. (Report to the Executive Member for Education 06 November 2024 ¹ )

The report pack for the meeting also stated that the policy had already been presented to the Primary and Secondary Joint Consultative Committee and that no issues were raised.

The new policy would supersede one adopted in December 2021, and would update the Council's guidance to reflect new advice from the Welsh Government. In particular, the new policy would change the language used to describe performance reviews, and encourage schools to move away from the concept of performance management toward a new approach based on the professional development of school staff.

You can read the agenda for the meeting here: Agenda 06th-Dec-2024 10.00 Executive Member Decisions - Education and the reports pack here: Public reports pack 06th-Dec-2024 10.00 Executive Member Decisions - Education.