Education

with Frameworks for Change, engaged through The Training Consortium. Workshops were tailored to meet the needs of
the variety of different workplaces across the department. Specific workshops were designed and delivered for school
principals and senior school leaders, school executive officers, Corporate Services Division managers, LINC managers,
Polytechnic managers, speech and language pathology seniors, senior school psychologists and senior social workers.
Between September 2012 and March 2013, a total of 52 workshops were delivered and total of 1,283 managers
participated – as follows:
Workshop audience
Number of
workshops
Number of
participants
Principals/school leaders – south 10 276
Principals/school leaders – north 6 245
Principals/school leaders – north-west 6 145
School executive officers 17 303
Corporate Services managers 4 63
LINC managers 3 60
Polytechnic managers 4 66
Mixed (mixed groups of managers from above groups, Early Years and Schools Division,
Skills Tasmania, TQA and TRB).
5 105
Social work, speech and language pathology and school psychology seniors 2 20
Principal network leaders have worked closely with
principals across their networks to support the
implementation of the Performance and Development
Framework requirements and the alignment of the
framework with school improvement planning and
processes.
Employees across schools and non-school workplaces have
been provided with support and training to ensure their
full and effective participation in the new performance
management arrangements. Schools and workplaces have
provided information and briefings to employees about
the new arrangements. Data collected indicates over
9,000 employees have been involved in these workplace
familiarisation sessions.
In addition, an online training module for employees was
implemented in March 2013. The module is available to all
employees and is designed for individual access, or to be
used for a facilitated group discussion. The module provides
a training path specific to each employment category,
and takes employees through the PDP process with a focus
on building confidence to prepare for and participate in the
development of their PDP.
Since implementation, the module has been accessed by
2,198 individual employees, as well as being utilised by
managers to introduce the new arrangements to their
employees.
The implementation target for the first year of the
Performance and Development Framework was to ensure that
all relevant employees had a PDP in place by 30 June 2013.
This target has been achieved, with 98% of employees
having a PDP in place at 30 June 2013. The majority of the
remaining 2% are employees who are on long-term leave.
Limited information regarding employee perceptions of
the Performance and Development Framework has been
obtained through the results of the Tasmanian State Service
Workforce Survey. The survey was conducted during the
implementation period and therefore not all employees
had engaged in the PDP conversations with their manager
at that stage. School-based employees did not participate
in this survey and therefore only limited conclusions can be
drawn from the results.
The survey results were generally positive in respect of the
Performance and Development Framework, even at this early
stage. Results showed that 62% of respondents understand
how the department’s performance management
arrangements work. Approximately 70% of respondents
agreed that the conversations they have with their
manager provide constructive suggestions to improve their
performance, and that they are able to raise any concerns
they have about their performance with their manager.
The results also showed a significant improvement on
earlier survey results:
• Approximately 20% more respondents agreed
that performance reviews are focused on business
outcomes compared to the 2011 survey. In addition,
approximately 70% of respondents agreed that
managers clearly communicate the goals and
priorities of the organisation, compared to 58% in the
2011 survey.
• A positive aspect of the results was the high proportion
of respondents who reported a good understanding of
the skills and capabilities required of their role (86%),
the ethical standards required of them (86%), and
knowledge of the Code of Conduct (82%). In addition,
62% of respondents agreed that the performance
management system reinforces the State Service
Principles, and the departmental values.
• One of the negative aspects of the survey results
was that only 36% of respondents considered that
underperforming employees were managed well.
This result should improve as awareness and utilisation
of the managing underperformance procedures
continues to grow.
Overall, the survey results of employee perceptions provide
an early indication that the Performance and Development
Framework is providing employees with a positive
opportunity to work with their manager to improve
performance, and is establishing high levels of understanding
of appropriate ethical and conduct standards.
68 Required Reporting » Employee Performance and Development Programs