CPD for support staff can sometimes feel like something of an add-on to a process developed and deployed for teaching colleagues. Since the introduction of workforce legislation, the number of support staff in schools has risen steadily to a point where non-teaching staff numbers are growing to match those of teachers in many larger schools. A CPD process designed for teachers will rarely meet the needs of support staff due to the huge diversity of roles that support staff, as a body, encompass.

Support staff are experts in their own fields and need training that is just as precise, tailored and targeted as that offered to teachers. But they cannot be treated as a cohesive group of people; they are, in fact, made up of a number of discrete, specialist teams, with often little in common other than the fact of not being teachers.

CPD for support staff cannot be effectively rolled out in a single plan due to the diversity of roles, skills required, contractual working hours (cleaners, shift workers, part-time staff, etc), plus the huge range of abilities and training needs within the various groups.

Freedom to explore further training

The part of effective CPD is to establish the need. Appraisal, induction, effective line management and a culture of positive training are the first steps in establishing training needs. Support staff can sometimes feel disengaged with performance management where the process is not delivered well, and can feel like admitting to their training needs is almost an admission of a lack of capability - something that you’re not able to do, rather than something you would like to develop. Ensuring that staff feel able to explore and lead their own professional development will benefit many who see their role as backstage or back office and, therefore, of less importance. Getting that culture right is essential.

Owning your own CPD

Once this culture is in place, staff will feel more able to control their own CPD and that, in itself, will make it impactful. There is little worse than wasting a day sitting in a training session that has little relevance to you.

If you look at the varied roles you must cater for - administrative staff, site staff, canteen and cleaning staff, the reprographics team, the ICT support department, teaching assistants, etc - there will be few training activities that will be relevant to this wide group of people as a whole. Instead, effective CPD for those people must be specific to the roles they carry out, and be bespoke to each school’s own context.

Then consider the practical implications. It’s not as easy to place all these professionals into a school hall - as we do with groups of teaching staff - and deliver a CPD session. Support staff need training in small groups, sometimes individually, and perhaps varied workshops that staff can opt in and out of, delivered during their normal working hours.

There must be a clear link to their own role in order to get buy-in from staff. Over the years, I’ve heard many comments from staff who have attended training, however interesting it might have been, for whom there has been no practical application of the topics covered.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the Personal Development Plan, or of any type of CPD structure that results in the end-user feeling an obligation to complete and partake in training activities, or where a person feels a process is being applied to them - good appraisal and line management should lead the appraisee to want to take part, to feel excited about their own learning journey. Without this buy-in, the training is unlikely to be productive or impactful, regardless of the certificate of completion it might generate.

Task-based training

For support staff, it’s all about practical application - whatever the course or training is, it needs to come with the message that this will make life better, and it should come with practical and specific examples of where life/tasks/performance/support can be improved as a result. Many support staff will not have any dedicated training time in their schedules and will have a list of “things I’d like to find out when I get the time”, but that time rarely comes. So when it does, it’s about time-saving tips, more efficient models, peer advice and focused, specific task-based training.

Links to school improvement

One area that is often a struggle for support staff relates to their role in the school improvement priorities. When asked, many support staff will be unable to explain to you their school’s key objectives, improvement strategies or, indeed, its vision. This disconnect is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to school improvement outside of the classroom. Outstanding schools exist where the entire staff body is striving towards excellence in all things. In order to do this, support staff must be able to understand and demonstrate how their role can link to student outcomes.

For some staff, such as TAs or pastoral support staff, this is an easy jump, but for finance staff, cleaning teams, site and catering staff, it’s more of a challenge. In line management and training, I will always make a point of referring back to student outcomes. In finance, effective financial controls are needed to protect public money and ensure all available resources are effectively used to support teaching and learning. In site meetings, the need is to ensure a safe and welcoming environment and a literal “climate for learning”. Referring back to students in all things will ensure a conscious and collective focus on our young people.

What school business leaders (SBL) can offer

Many school business leaders (SBLs) will have worked in a number of schools in varying roles and settings, and have a wide experience of supporting and training other staff. They may have developed and trained aspiring business leaders, finance staff, exams officers, premises staff, marketing, admin and data professionals; from those starting out in their first school role, to more experienced professionals looking to develop their careers. The role of the SBL incorporates such a large variety of disciplines that it gives the perfect platform from which to identify talent in staff that can be developed and nurtured. Leading most of the non-teaching areas means that SBLs will have expertise in almost all support staff roles. If there is no SBL in your own school, contact the SBLs in other local schools; they may well be able to deliver or source training for you.

SBLs are also able to support schools with the rollout and implement of new initiatives, advising on, for example, the in-housing of catering, cleaning and grounds contracts, payroll and HR procurement, financial reporting, budgeting, health and safety and staff deployment. Many can also advise other schools on the recruitment and training of SBMs, on rebranding, premises management, academy conversion, major building projects, collaborative working across schools, multi-academy trusts and centralisation of back-office functions.

In times of financial constraint and reduced training budgets, schools must look to deliver collaborative CPD that is targeted and specific. Gone are the days of the departmental day out and those general reflective inset days of yesteryear. Schools should be joining together to share and deliver best practice through the use of in-house expertise, brokered through alliances, partnership and a common desire for best value and local school improvement.

Hilary Goldsmith is director of finance and operations at Varndean School. She tweets at @sbl365