Staff meetings are just part and parcel of school life and are the most effective and efficient way of transferring and sharing information and ideas between staff.
Usually once a week, staff meet together for approximately 1 – 1.5 hrs to focus on general school issues or a particular concern or initiative.
In many schools (some medium sized but definitely larger schools) you will also find a daily early morning staff meeting or gathering which lasts about 10/15 minutes where the schedule for the day is shared and any necessary or immediate information is given.
Staff Meeting general structuring:
The focus for staff meetings is decided by the Senior leadership team and if your school is really organised then the main focus for each meeting will be announced at the start of each term and written up on a sheet on the staff room notice board. These items will form the main part of the meeting and all the other bits that have cropped up that need to be considered will be dealt with after the main bit!
This is not always the case and it may be, in your school, that you simply rock up each week and a member of the senior leadership team runs the show!
But let’s assume that your place is organised and you know what’s coming up – in this case there should also be a mechanism for adding to the meeting agenda so that a full agenda can be planned before the meeting takes place – in that way it avoids the meeting becoming bitty and a little disorganised! Obviously emergency or urgent items will be included if necessary.
Staff meetings should always be noted with decisions taken, staff responsible and dates set.
So there are 2 ways in which you can be involved:
- You have been asked to contribute to the meeting by reporting back to staff on something. You may be a subject coordinator and asked to clarify some new initiative or you may be reporting back after attending a course.
- You are leading the meeting on the planned main item.
Reporting back or clarifying information:
Again this is a maybe situation depending on your own school – if you are a subject coordinator and have attended a course you may be asked to give a brief outline of the course at a staff meeting. You will be informed by the SLT at which staff meeting this is to be and make sure you get to know how long they would like you to make the report. I would think the answer will be between 5 – 10 minutes. The things you need to talk about are:
- What was the course title and why you went on the course
- A basic breakdown of the course
- How it affects the school practice (if it does at all)
- What you, as coordinator, will now be doing after attending the course
- Do staff need to know or change anything that they are doing
If there is anything you wish staff to know / do or remember then give everyone a short handout to remind them. If you don’t then they will forget as soon as the meeting finishes!
The approach that you take for reporting on curriculum issues is similar – however this only applies to basic changes or clarifications. If there is any need for training or to respond to major issues with the curriculum then these will either form the main part of staff meetings or be left to training days!
- Nature of the change
- What it affects, if anything
- Do we need to change what we do / record / plan etc
Again, if staff need to remember or implement any small changes then give a handout to remind them.
For both of the above meeting contributions I would not envisage needing any sort of presentation equipment…they are simple reports.
If you have not done this type of thing before and are a little nervous then be prepared. Make a few notes on what you wish to say and make sure you have your handouts if you need them. You will not be expected to stand up to give your report. If you are asked any questions by colleagues answer the best you can – but if you don’t know the answer, say so, but also say you will find out and get back to them. (You don’t have to know everything – so don’t worry!)
You are taking the main focus of the staff meeting:
This means that this is a significant issue and you should approach it as such. To have this included as the main focus of a staff meeting means that it’s a pretty big initiative or change. It may be that this covers a few staff meetings due to its nature.
You can pretty much assume that this will be curricular, behavioural or organisational – in other words one of the big hitters in the school. If it’s staff meeting level then it will not be a huge “throw out the old and in with the new” type level but it will contain significant changes to be made or discussed.
Things to keep in mind are these….
- For this type of meeting you cannot expect staff to arrive having only seen the title of the meeting focus.
- Staff will not be able to either understand or discuss properly without first having read relevant information.
- Don’t give colleagues information to read in the meeting – it should be given at least 1 week prior to the meeting.
I did once sit in on a staff meeting where the HT asked all 8 staff to sit round 1 small computer screen and read a 10 page document – he then wanted to discuss what people thought!….you can guess how well that went!
For items of main focus you will need to be prepared to lead for between 30 – 40 minutes depending on the nature of the item. Staff will have pre – read the information given (thanks to your organisational brilliance!) and you will be able to discuss this in an efficient, effective and productive manner.
However don’t forget that you are leading the discussions and …
- You will need to outline the background as to why this is being considered
- What is this in response to – school or national initiative and why?
- How is any current system falling short or reasons for changes by the government or OFSTED demands?
- State a proposed way forward which you would like feedback on from staff – this gives a starting point from which discussion can arise. Without any starting point things can struggle.
By giving staff the opportunity to have read and thought about the item before the meeting then not only will they understand the issues concerned but will also be able to positively contribute to the discussion. The very process reinforces the value placed on colleagues input and gives, at the same time, a sense of ownership on decisions made.
Be prepared to refer back to the document handed out previously and possibly use a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate any areas of importance.
Again – if you need colleagues to remember anything or take any action then give a short handout as a reminder.
Major initiatives or changes I would not expect to go through staff meetings initially. These would be introduced and outlined at Teacher training days and may be followed up on detail at staff meetings as necessary.
In conclusion – the thing to remember about staff meetings is that you will not be asked to lead on anything you don’t know about. So if you are a subject coordinator then it will be about your subject just as if you are a member of the SLT then you will be asked to front whatever is your responsibility.
As with everything; preparation is needed to avoid mishap. Practice what you intend to say if needed and don’t assume you can “wing it”….it never works.
Good luck and keep smiling
Charles