MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Staff development
members to set up our own little group to see how we all got on.
We had that meeting recently, three months after the course,
and very few on the course had done anything at all. So it is very
slow. (Interviewee O)
This is confirmed at regional level:-
I know we have tried a number (of development review
schemes), none of which have got off the ground. What I try to
centre it around is that the meeting is primarily about how we
can enhance your skills and, in talking about how we enhance
your skills, what are we trying to achieve in the next six months
or so and how can we look at that six months and beyond in
terms of how we can develop your skills. And then if we have got
a pro forma, we fill it in. It is a year’s plan in terms of
development for the individuals. Which I get the impression that
not many people are filling in yet. (Interviewee M)
The rationale for a development reviewing system is that staff training
and development is provided in response to needs identified as part of
the scheme, as the last citation suggests. Certainly, the first
interviewee quoted above saw that as her responsibility:-
Some of the team, when we opened up our new print and
distribution in Wandsworth, had already been on a visit there so
that they knew how other parts of PCS worked. It was entirely up
to them. Someone wanted to know about finance. So I
organised a day in finance. Another wanted to know about
research so I organised that so it is not just training courses. I
would describe it as development work. We have plans for trips
to the trade union side, where the elected members tend to be,
to see how they work. So there is all this encouragement. That is
how I see my job. (Interviewee O)
There are certainly things going on:-
I'm sure that you were aware of some other things that are going
on in PCS at the learning centre. I sometimes get the
terminology mixed up but I know that there is lots of training and
education resources and staff development resources being
made available (Interviewee E)
However, there is no evidence that career development training is
being provided. It is an aspiration:-
We're trying to encourage them to train and to get qualifications.
We do not have a training policy as such. We have a draft one
which we work to in that it is not been formally accepted yet and
that is encouraging people to get on and do qualification
courses. (Interviewee J)
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