Review Summary: Appointment Procedure

It’s great to see the level that boards are engaging with policy reviews. Clearly boards are looking at the topics for review, and suggesting improvements, querying points and examing how it all works at their school. Exactly what a review should do.

It’s great to see the level that boards are engaging with policy reviews. Clearly boards are looking at the topics for review, and suggesting improvements, querying points and examing how it all works at their school. Exactly what a review should do.

Most reviewers were happy with the topic and felt that the appointment procedure worked well. We’re pleased to hear that our forms and guidelines are appreciated and useful.

A few reviewers pointed out that the school specific material on their site was no longer current. This is out of our control and we urge schools to check these details. Have a look at the Appointment Procedure topics on the Model site (http://model.schooldocs.co.nz – use your admin username and password) to see where the school specific content is. Check what you have on your site. You can email us changes which we can action almost immediately. We have alternative topics for Catholic Schools which can be seen on the Demo site (http://demo.schooldocs.co.nz/1978.htm). Usually schools choose these when they fill out the tailoring questionnaire, but they can be added to sites at any time.

You’ll see from Upcoming Changes that we have made some small changes to the Appointment Procedure topics. Some of these are to acknowledge the use of the internet and email in the process, and some are to clarify or expand on a point. For example, we have made it clear now that the board ratifies the appointment committee’s decision before the successful candidate is notified.

Other review comments that we’ve discussed at SchoolDocs are:

• Time frames – a reviewer suggested that an outline of time frames for the complete appointment process would be helpful. We think that there are many variables that can affect time frames, such as the position advertised, the school size, circumstances of the position becoming vacant, etc. This is something schools decide on when considering advertising the appointment, and there is a bulletpoint in the appointment package topic that refers to “the timeline” of the procedure.
• Keeping interview notes in case an applicant requests them – we’d be interested to know if this situation has arisen in any schools. As we understand it, schools can refuse requests for the interview notes on the grounds that it breaches the Privacy Act. (Specifically, Part 4 Good reasons for refusing access to personal information, 29 (1) b and (3). ) To summarise (sort of), it states that releasing evaluative or opinion material gathered to “determine the suitability, eligibility, or qualifications” of a job applicant breaches the express or implied promise of confidentiality of the person who supplied the material.
• The 90 day employment clause – there is no mention of this clause in the Collective Employment Agreement, and NZEI has told us that they don’t think it applies to schools. We are still checking this, but at this stage have decided to leave it out of our document.
• Right of Appeal – once again, we’d like to know how often this happens in schools – NZEI tells us that it is very rare. It would come under Personal Grievance in the Collective. We haven’t mentioned it in our document.
• Reimbursement for interview costs – in the topic Shortlist Applicants, we say “Negotiate in advance any travel expenses incurred by the candidate”.  That’s as detailed as we want to get, the negotiation bit is school specific. However, there are mileage rates in the Collective…
• Board members involvement in the process – a reviewer suggested that board members be given the opportunity to “sit in” on appointment committee meetings and even interviews as a learning experience – to observe, and understand how decisions are made. Sounds like a great idea and something schools could consider for particular board members and appointments.

As always, we invite your comments on this blog entry. We are interested in your thoughts and experiences and think you should share them with the SchoolDocs community.