Staff information regarding retention, wellbeing, and composition can assist principals in identifying human resource planning and making recruitment decisions. Staff wellbeing has strong links with student wellbeing and can impact staff engagement with professional learning, workplace culture, and staff absenteeism.

Scout provides several reports that can support decisions relating to workplace planning, professional learning, and staff composition.

The Current Staff Profile report can be found in the Human Resources (Schools) app.

The Current Staff Profile report is particularly useful for Principals of large schools. Not only does it show, at a glance, the age and gender distribution across several brackets, but also clearly depicts the employee group (permanent, full-time, temporary, etc.), allowing ease of identification of staff falling into these groups.

Use the report to:

Assist with workplace planning, ensuring that appropriate plans are in place for succession. Principals can also easily identify temporary teachers who need their contracts renewed.

Consider:

• How does the workforce composition impact short/medium/long-term workplace planning?
• Compare the number of teachers on a temporary contract with permanent staff. Are these ratios appropriate, or are there a significant number of temporary teachers? What impact does this have on consistency and workplace culture?

The Subjects Approved to Teach report can be found in the Human Resources (Schools) app.

The Subjects Approved to Teach report is particularly useful for principals of large High Schools. Principals can identify subject areas that teachers are ‘Accredited to Teach’ or ‘Willing to Teach’. This supports high schools when a staff vacancy arises, and there is a need for existing staff members to teach that KLA.

Use the report to:

Check the subject/specialty areas teachers are approved to teach or willing to teach. This may include high school subject areas and library and special education qualifications. This information will help schools identify specific areas of need when entering codes for vacant positions.

Consider:

• Are teachers able to change subject areas to remain upskilled and challenged?
• Are there any notable areas of need highlighted?
• Are there sufficient staff with approval to teach particular courses?

The Professional Development report can be found in the Human Resources (Schools) app.

The Professional Development reports provide principals and executives with an overview of each staff member's Accredited and Elective hours of professional learning. This is useful for monitoring hours to ensure teachers maintain their accreditation, and it can also indicate teachers who are highly motivated and engaged with their teaching careers.

Use the report to:

Monitor the hours undertaken by individual teachers and provide an overall snapshot, ensuring equity of professional learning opportunities.

Consider:

• Are all teachers engaging in relevant and meaningful PL in line with school plans and PDPs?
• Are there teachers who require support in identifying professional learning opportunities?
• How are staff tracking in relation to their five-year maintenance of accreditation?

The People Matter Employee Survey reports can be found in the Human Resources (Schools) app.

The People Matter Survey reports give principals insight into the wellbeing of their staff. Each survey category can be selected individually for school leaders to identify areas for attention and areas of strength. As the survey is an ‘opt-in’ for staff, it is important to look at the number of school responses to ensure the results accurately reflect the whole staff. Moving forward, by promoting and encouraging all staff to participate annually in this survey, Principals can track this data more objectively over time.

Use the report to:

Measure staff wellbeing annually and identify areas that might require attention.

Consider:

• What are the priority areas for your school?
• Is the number of school responses a large enough sample to draw conclusions from this data source?
• How does your school compare to both the Operational Directorate and the local Principal Network?

Scenario: Staff Profile & Wellbeing

You are an experienced Principal moving to a new school. How would the reports in the Human Resources (Schools) app provide you with a snapshot of current staff engagement and wellbeing?

Consider:

• Look at the current staff profile report. Is there an appropriate balance in your workforce characteristics?
• Analyse the current leave patterns. Are there certain times of the year that experience higher leave? What effect could that be having on learning and teaching?
• When looking at the Workforce Composition report, take note of the number of staff on temporary contracts compared to permanent employees. Will employment stability provide certainty in leading and managing the school?
• Look carefully at the subjects accredited to teach. Is the mix of subjects consistent with those offered to students?
• Gauge the overall wellbeing of the staff depicted by the People Matter Survey. If the sample size is large enough, can you identify other links or indicators using the Human Resources (Schools) app?

Triangulating the data:

What other internal data could strengthen your assumptions about staff wellbeing?

Where to next:

• Using Tell Them From Me data to make school improvements – Case studies
• Great Teaching, Inspired Learning: Beginning Teacher support evaluation
• Teachers Health Fund – school staff health and wellbeing grants program