Human Resource Development Plan For a Nursery in the UK - Assignment Example

Human Resource Development Plan For a Nursery in the UK Introduction It may sound very presumptuous to state that education is the base of all human development, but this fact is nevertheless very true and cannot be denied. Someone has very wisely remarked that ‘Education is what you remember when all that you have learned is forgotten’. Tongue in cheek perhaps, but what is meant here is that the real value of education lies in the wisdom it gives us, that is, the power to think for ourselves and to take action. While higher education is respected for its ability to make us professionals in whatever occupation we choose to follow and make a living, the value of primary education is nevertheless important in imparting us with skills like reading, writing and arithmetic- basic skills that help us understand and evaluate the world around us. The child also learns social skills like sitting together in a classroom, interacting with each other as individuals and groups, and questioning and answering on different topics that are so much an integral part of primary education. Every school needs to have a curriculum that meets certain objectives that are set by the Department of Education in the UK. Therefore focus on a Human Resource Development Plan becomes necessary even for a school. The Need for and Importance of an HRD Plan in a School No organization can function effectively and efficiently without a plan or a vision. A plan takes us from where we are to where we want to be. Point A is a starting point and Point B an endpoint, which is an objective. It is therefore important to set out the objectives first and then make out a plan to achieve these objectives. It may also be quite true that some of these objectives are short term (1 to 6 months or a year), some intermediate term (between 1 to 3 years), and some long term (3 years and more). In fact a little reflection will show that plans are an integral and necessary part of every teacher’s curriculum and workday. We have subject plans and course plans given to students in schools and colleges, with textbooks, reading materials and assignments to be delivered thus known to the students in advance. However at the primary level, a teaching session or course plan falls to the lot of the teacher who is required to give a weekly or daily plan of what was taught and achieved in the classroom. When it comes to a human resource plan for a school, this is usually the responsibility of the person who does the HR and Admin function for the school. It is usually entrusted to someone in the Administration Department of the school, and that person reports to and is usually directed by the head of the school regarding staff requirements and school objectives. Only when a school has achieved its planned objectives on time can it be said to have operated successfully. There must be concern and care for the overall development of the child, at an individual and group level, in every subject and every discipline practiced and every skill learned. That is why the teacher’s remarks about a child form an important part of his or her report card in regard to his or her overall progress and development (www.direct.gov.uk). Identifying Human Resource Requirements The first and most important part of the Human Resource Development Plan for a school would be to plan for the objectives of the school in the coming year. This is usually done just before the start of the school year. It is a good time to reflect on what the school has achieved in the past year and evaluate its successes and weaknesses. It is also a good time for taking suggestions from teachers, parents and the Department of Education in order to incorporate workable requirements in the school curriculum (www.legislation.gov.uk). The Department of Education in the UK has a national curriculum that must be adhered to in preparing and finalizing the syllabi for primary education at all primary schools in the UK. This generally relates to the key subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. Art, Physical Education, Music and other subjects are regarded as additional subjects and the school has the authority to direct the efforts in these areas. In this assignment the scenario is to plan for the requirements of a school having a total of 52 places in a nursery. I have accordingly determined that there should be a minimum of 2 teachers for the key subjects of English, Mathematics and Science- they would alternatively supervise the class in addition to 2 teaching assistants so that leadership and supplementing skills are developed in both of these resources. One teaching assistant is to be attached to one supervising teacher for the duration of the entire session so that he or she knows the course material and how the details are to be imparted to the children and also understands the teaching styles and requirements and objectives of the subjects being taught. In addition to these 4 resources just mentioned there would be the need for 2 bilingual teachers- one from the Urdu/ Hindi speaking community and the other from a Latin American background- because experience has shown that the majority of new immigrants are from Asian and Latin American countries. So by hiring these 6 staff members I think the nursery would be well equipped to handle the needs of the compulsory subjects in a most effective and efficient manner. Of course I think that other subjects like Music and Physical Education are equally important in a child’s overall development but for the purposes of this assignment I would prefer to stick to the key subjects only (www.teachernet.gov.uk). Assessing Ability and Capability to Meet Current and Future Objectives The next question is how to determine whether the staff to be selected has the ability and capability to meet the current and future objectives of the nursery. I find that establishing a vision and sharing it with the teachers, in fact both the current as well as potential staff members- helps them evaluate themselves as to whether they are contributing to- or have the potential and ability to contribute to- the stated objectives of the school. Every skill and class taught should have its own learning objectives and the teachers should relate these to their methods of teaching and evaluate themselves at the end of every teaching session, or at least at the end of every week. In case of any shortfalls or lapses they can then readdress these while the class work learned is still relatively fresh in the minds of the children. That is the best way to address any lapses. Children’s feedback is also very important and I take complaints from parents quite seriously; however I will generally visit and evaluate a teacher or assistant myself a number of times before passing judgment or taking a decision on corrective action (Bowlby, 1988). For the purposes of initial evaluation, I would prefer to look at the work and career profile of any prospective candidate and for this purpose have devised a form which is to be filled and completed by each prospective teacher seeking a job at the nursery. A look at the schools he or she has attended, the locality where he or she lives, the age and work experiences of the candidate so far and the reasons he or she wants to join the nursery and how they would be able to contribute to the goals of the nursery is by far the most important question on the form that gets the majority of the weightage before the candidate is called for the selection process. The Selection Process Most people regard the field of primary education as a glorious pastime that is indulged in by spinsters or unmarried young women looking for a break in the job market just after having completed their education from high school or university. Indeed most of them regard it as a ‘paid internship’ before they can be confident enough to launch themselves into looking for a full time job in the corporate world. For me, nothing could be farther from the truth. I firmly regard and have always regarded teaching as a full time endeavor. It is a labor of love not to be trifled with or taken lightly. It is a joy to be able to teach little minds how to read and write, how to read the alphabet and join alphabets to make words, to see their first efforts at phonetics and pronunciation, to see them adding and subtracting and writing the results in the correct places. Kids are a joy to watch and interact with- and I always find that their ready smiles and enthusiasm is contagious and affects me in a very positive manner. I love kids and their innocence and am willing to take a lot of trouble to see that they get the right type of education even at just this primary level. Psychologists such as Eric Berne have determined that a human’s basic personality has solidified by age 7 or so, this is the ‘life-script’ that he or she grows up and matures with for the rest of his or her life. Too presumptuous maybe, but a lot of work has been done in this context. Lev Vgotsky, John Bowlby, Erik Erickson and other psychologists have also done work in this field and found that the personality of the child is the product of his environment and the values that the caregivers instill in him from a very early age (www.suite101.com). For the purposes of the selection process of the teachers, I have devised a (1) Written Test followed by an (2) Interview and a (3) Group Discussion session, after which the final selections are made. The purpose at each stage is to look for the right candidates and not to hire the wrong ones under any circumstances. I believe that the cost and process of allowing a wrong candidate to get through is far more detrimental to the health and functioning of the nursery than anything else (Read & Patterson, 1980). The entire selection process takes one whole day and we explain this to the candidates well in advance so they know what to expect. We do not believe in disturbing their work schedules again and again, especially if they are employed elsewhere. The written test once again takes the personal details of the candidate but the latter part is more detailed and concentrates on the best and worst performances of the candidate in school, college and university and the reasons for this. The objective is not to embarrass or harass the candidate but to determine their best and weak subjects and an attitude of truthfulness and responsibility for their actions and results. I greatly appreciate honesty and truthfulness and few things impress me more than a person who is willing to admit his mistakes or failure and take ownership for his performances. I usually invigilate the written examination myself and like to clarify points that are not clear to the candidates in the first instance. In this way I can be sure that the candidate and I are on the same wavelength. It will also help greatly in the evaluation process. The next part of the test involves a face to face interview in which a panel of three sits and takes the Interview of each candidate separately. One is myself, the second is the Principal of the Nursery and the third is a Subject teacher expert. We already get an idea of the subjects that the candidate is interested in teaching or has an affinity for, from his or her responses in the first part or the Written Test. After exchanging a few pleasantries to put the candidate at ease, we launch into the nitty-gritty of what we need to know about the candidate’s experiences and personality. The Interview part is usually directed to his or her work experiences and performances and actions taken at various stages in his or her career and the reasoning for the same. We also like to put different scenarios to the candidate and see how he or she would react to them. In this way we find out more about their leadership, thinking and decision making processes. This is the one thing that I regard as the most important in the selection process. You can of course correlate a candidate’s actions and past performances with his or her answers and judge their maturity and suitability for the position. The last part of the selection process involves the Group Interview. At this stage we want to see the motivations and values that a candidate has and his or her feelings about controversies and debates in the field of education. For example, a topic that can be given for Group Discussion would be: ‘The Value of Education Has Really Dropped in the Last Decade- What Do You Think About This?’ Each candidate is evaluated for his speed of response, depth of understanding, relevancy and most of all his or her thoughts on the topic, as they most likely reflect his values and principles. That is what we look for- a person who wants to teach for the love of the job rather than anything else. This is what the best teachers are all about- they teach subjects but relate them to life and its experiences (Welchman, 2000). The final decision is taken in the light of what has transpired for each candidate at each stage of the selection process. Those who are thought unfit are first weeded out, then the rest are evaluated separately and placed in order of merit. Finally the successful candidates are called in at a later date and given a tour of the premises and asked if they would like to join or not. The terms of employment and salary can then be worked out, offer and acceptance letters signed and before you know it, you have a new teacher on the rolls. Fantastic, isn’t it? A Personal Development Plan for an Individual Along with the organizational plans that a nursery makes for achieving its objectives, a personal development plan must also be made for an individual teacher taking into account his or her skills, expertise and aspirations. Typically a new entrant comes to the Nursery as a teaching assistant- they are then groomed into a substitute teacher and finally after about 2.5 years into a full time subject teacher. In the process they are evaluated by their supervising teacher as to their level of cooperation, interest and understanding and leadership skills in taking charge of the classroom for short and then longer periods. At the end of every year, their progress forms part of their evaluation records and also becomes the chart for their career progress. In this way we can be sure that progress is performance and skill based (Spodek & Saracho, 1994). Coordinating Personal Development Plans with the School’s Objectives The evaluations by the subject teacher experts every academic year form the means of feedback and evaluation for the assistant and bilingual teachers. Interest and initiatives are both appreciated. In many cases this is exactly what a primary school expects of its teachers, hence individual teacher goals are seen contributing to the school’s goals (Deasey, 1978). Monitoring and Control of the Plan, and the Use of Feedback In many cases it has been seen that there are two sets of evaluations done for everyone in the nursery. These are done at intervals of six months each- hence there are two evaluations in a year. The first is called an interim evaluation and the second a final evaluation. At the beginning of the period the teaching assistants are explained their role and goals and targets are set with the subject teacher experts in the presence of the HR or Admin representative. After the goals have been agreed upon, performance can be appraised and evaluated at the 6 month and 12 month mark. If a teaching assistant is not performing up to the mark in a certain area, the reason for this is explained in a gentle and supportive manner in the interim evaluation, with a view to give further assistance and support to meet this target by final evaluation date. The feelings of the teaching assistant are also recorded and evaluated, so that correctional action can be taken keeping this in view as well. This is how feedback is used to direct and bolster future performance. Evaluation of the HR Development Plan It is important that every goal or objective decided upon for a teacher is to have a means of measurement. It must be quantifiable so that it can easily be determined not only whether target has been achieved or not, but how close the candidate came to achieving the target, what percentage still remains and why was it not possible. The best evaluation of a successful HR development plan is to have a happy workforce, content with their job roles and career progress, while at the same time meeting the objectives of the school, the children and their parents. A successful HR development plan for a nursery will produce a line of good teachers with enviable skills that are being demanded in the marketplace. References Bowlby, J. (1988). A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. London: Routledge. Education and Skills Act 2008. . Accessed 20 March 2011. Deasey, D. (1978). Education under Six. New York: St. Martin's Press. Donaldson, J. (2009). Vygotsky's Theory of Child Development. Accessed 20 March 2011. National Curriculum teacher assessments and key stage tests. Accessed 20 March 2011. National Curriculum- Aims and Objectives. Accessed 20 March 2011. Read, K. H. & Patterson, J. (1980). The Nursery School and Kindergarten: Human Relationships and Learning, 7th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Spodek, B. & Saracho, O.N. (1994). Right from the Start: Teaching Children Ages Three to Eight. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Stewart, I. (1992). Eric Berne. Sage Publications. Welchman, K. (2000). Erik Erikson: His Life, Work, and Significance. Open University Press. Read More