University of Warwick
ACADEMIC STAFF APPRAISAL (NON_PROBATIONARY)
GUIDANCE NOTES FOR APPRAISEES
These notes should be read in conjunction with the guidance notes prepared for appraisers and available at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/resource/appraisal/
1. The Appraisal Process
(a) What is appraisal?
Appraisal at the University of Warwick is intended to support individuals’ personal and professional development. It is not linked to systems of promotion or remuneration, although individuals may, if they so wish, use part of the Appraisal Record as evidence to support a case for promotion.
Appraisal incorporates a mix of self-assessment, informal but structured interviewing and directive counselling. The purpose of appraisal is to encourage staff to reflect upon their own performance and take steps to improve it; to facilitate staff career development; to support the Annual Review procedures; and to assist the University and Departments to maximise the use of staffing resources.
(b) What is the Appraisal Record ?
The Appraisal Record is the documentation used to support the appraisal process. The Appraisal Record applies to all academic staff who have completed probation – Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Readers or Professors - appointed on academic conditions of service, employed full-time or part-time on permanent or fixed-term contracts (new or extended) of two years or more.
The ordinary Appraisal Record comprises the following sections:
Part I - Self Assessment
To be completed by the appraisee and forwarded to the appraiser at least ten days before the appraisal meeting.
Part II - Appraiser Comments
A response to the self-assessment, to be completed by the appraiser and forwarded to the appraisee at least three days before the appraisal meeting.
Part III - Previous Appraisal
To be completed by appraiser and appraisee at the beginning of the appraisal meeting only where the appraisee has been appraised previously and to serve as a review of the objectives agreed at the previous appraisal.
Part IV - Record of the Appraisal Meeting
To be completed by the appraiser and appraisee at the end of the appraisal meeting and to provide a summary of the main points discussed. The appraisee may choose to submit Part IV, Part V and Part VII of the form as part of a case for promotion.
Part V- Agreed Objectives and Action Plan
To be completed jointly by the appraiser and appraisee and to be reviewed and ratified by the Chair of Department.
Part VI – Staff Development to be provided outside the Department
To be completed by the appraisee and forwarded directly to the Centre for Academic Practice
Part VII – Concluding Remarks
To be signed by the appraiser and appraisee and signed off by the Departmental Chair or Professor Responsible (if the Chair is not a Professor).
Part VIII – Third-Party Opinion
To be completed by a third-party should there be a difference of opinion between the appraiser and appraisee in completing the Appraisal Record.
The Abridged Appraisal Record is a truncated version of the ordinary Appraisal Record. It may be used if both appraiser and appraisee deem it to be appropriate, although not more frequently than once every six years.
(c) Who will appraise me ?
Appraisers are:
- nominated by the Departmental Chair (in consultation with the Professor Responsible if the Chair is not a Professor)
- usually senior staff, but not necessarily Professors
- not usually Chairs, except in very small departments
An appraiser should be someone that commands your respect and trust. There will be some room for negotiation to ensure that your nominated appraiser is acceptable to you. All appraisers must be formally trained by the University before they can undertake appraisal.
NB. If you are a Professor your appraiser will normally be a Professor, selected, as far as possible, from within the Department or from a related department. If this is not possible the Chair may consider asking current or Former Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Chairs of Faculty Board, or the Vice-Chancellor.
If a Department prefers, the appraisal may be conducted by more than one appraiser, Reciprocal appraisal, where two individuals appraise each other, may also be permissible in some circumstances.
(d) When will I be appraised ?
If you have undertaken a period of probation with the University you will be appraised once every three years once probation has been completed. If you join the University as a non-probationary lecturer, you will be appraised after two years’ continuous service. Appraisals may be held at more frequent intervals if this is the wish of the appraisee and is supported by the Chair of Department.
The appraisal process normally takes place during the Spring and Summer Terms of each year, to be completed by 30 June.
(e) What should I do in preparation for appraisal ?
Having been informed that you are due for appraisal in the current year, you should obtain the appropriate Appraisal Record from the Chair’s Office. An electronic version can be downloaded from the Chair’s Handbook, available via the Centre for Academic Practice website:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/
You should complete Part 1 of the Appraisal Record and submit it to your appraiser at least 10 days prior to the appraisal meeting. It would also be helpful to make a list of areas for discussion at the appraisal meeting.
(f) What is the purpose of the self-assessment?
The purpose of the self-assessment is to:
- provide you with an opportunity to highlight your achievements and the particular strengths that you bring to your job.
This can be useful in preparing a case for promotion. You need to provide evidence to support your claims wherever possible. Your appraiser will seek to verify your claims, both prior to and during the appraisal interview. He/she may also gather further evidence, although you should be informed beforehand if he/she intends to do this.
- encourage you to reflect upon how you might improve your performance
An appraisal interview focuses on your own performance. You may sometimes feel that your performance is influenced by factors that are beyond your control. An appraisal interview offers an opportunity to make constructive suggestions about how the factors that are militating against high performance might be addressed, either at departmental or institutional level. As previously mentioned, action aimed at improving your performance should be agreed by yourself and your appraiser and written into your personal and professional development objectives.
- encourage you to reflect on your current and future career goals and plan how you might achieve them
The appraisal should provide a forum for constructive discussion of your long-term career plans and how they might be addressed, taking departmental and institutional considerations into account. As part of the appraisal process you are invited (with your appraiser) to produce a list of objectives for your personal and professional development. These are then reviewed and ratified by the departmental Chair, subject to departmental priorities and constraints. This provides you with the opportunity to obtain departmental commitment to and support for your professional development.
(g) What will the appraiser do in advance of the appraisal ?
In advance of the appraisal meeting the appraiser will review your self-assessment, identify any supplementary evidence that he or she needs to gather and draft a proposed list of areas for discussion at the appraisal meeting. Normally the appraiser will consult you regarding appropriate sources of information, prior to eliciting comment from members of staff. They should inform you of sources of information that they have consulted. If they seek opinion from your work colleagues or students, the appraiser should relay comments to you accurately. However, in order to protect the rights of the individuals that have commented they are not obliged to attribute comments to particular individuals.
Your appraiser should send you Part II of the Appraisal Record at least three days before the appraisal meeting.
(h) What will happen during the appraisal meeting ?
The appraisal meeting will be conducted in a room free from interruption and with due regard to confidentiality.
At the beginning of the appraisal meeting you should agree and prioritise an agenda with your appraiser, based on the list of areas for discussion that you prepared in advance of the meeting.
If you have been appraised previously, Part III of the Appraisal Record, which provides for a review of action agreed as a result of the previous appraisal, should be completed.
At the end of the appraisal meeting a summary of the major points arising from the meeting, including achievements, areas of strength and areas for improvement, should be jointly agreed with the appraiser and Part IV of the form should be completed.
An important outcome of the appraisal meeting is Part V, the agreed objectives and action plan. The objectives are intended to underpin your personal and professional development and should represent short-term goals, usually achievable in the period before the next appraisal. It should be clear what action is needed to achieve the objective, who is responsible for undertaking the action and what the proposed deadline is. Part V of the form is reviewed by your Chair of Department and his/her signature in Part VII of the Appraisal Record indicates his/her commitment to your plan and to the associated resource implications.
If, as a result of the appraisal meeting, you have identified any staff development needs that cannot be met by the Department you should complete Part VI of the Appraisal Record and forward it directly to the Centre for Academic Practice.
The appraisee, appraiser, Chair of Department and Professor Responsible (where the Chair is not Professor Responsible for the Department) should add any further comment in the space provided at Part VII. The Chair of Department should sign and date Part VII of the Appraisal Record only once they are in agreement with the agreed objectives and action plan. If initially submitted objectives are deemed unacceptable the Chair should i) provide the appraisee with an explanation of his/her reasons for not supporting the objective(s), ii) attempt to negotiate more acceptable objective(s). Where the Chair of Department is not the Professor Responsible, the form should also be signed by the Professor Responsible. The appraisee should complete the process by signing and dating Part VII in the space provided, after all other parties have signed and dated Part VII.
(i) What will happen if my appraiser and I do not agree?
In the case of a serious difference of opinion between you and your appraiser, a third party acceptable to both of you should interview both parties to identify the source of the disagreement. If agreement cannot easily be reached, the nature of the disagreement should be summarised in Part VIII of the Appraisal Record along with the third-party recommendation about how the appraisal process should be taken forward.
2. Annual Review
You may wish to use your appraisal as part of the case for promotion. If so, you should submit Parts IV, V and VII of the Appraisal Record to the Promotions Committee.
If you are a Professor, your Chair of Department may, exceptionally, raise matters relating to your performance directly with the Vice-Chancellor, since professorial staff do not fall within the scope of the Annual Review Procedure. In such cases Section B of your Appraisal Record may be submitted to the Vice-Chancellor by your Chair, or be called for by the Vice-Chancellor. If the appraisal identifies areas of concern, any such action should be taken only after the Chair has attempted to deal with the situation by initiating a programme of career counselling for you.
3. Monitoring of the Appraisal Process
The Academic Staff Development and Appraisal Committee monitors, reviews and reports to the Academic Staff on the operation of the Academic Appraisal Scheme.
At the end of each academic year the Chair of Department is required to submit a report to the Academic Staff Development and Appraisal Committee. This report will consist of a register of all those members of staff in the Department whose work has been appraised during that year, and a general statement on the operation of the scheme.
4. Storage and Access to the Appraisal Record
The original Appraisal Record will be held in the Chair of Department's Office and access to it will be granted only to you, your Chair of Department and/or Professor Responsible. A copy of both sections will be given to you. At the time of subsequent appraisal reviews, your appraiser will have access to only your immediately preceding Appraisal Record.
A copy of Parts IV, V and VII of the Appraisal Record may be submitted to the Promotions Committee by you, or by your Chair of Department/Professor Responsible (with your consent), as part of any submission under the Annual Review procedure.
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Amended by Marie Garnett 5.08.04