The Growing Importance of Probationary Periods in Education

Are probationary periods in education becoming more important? Emma Plane explores how the Employment Rights Bill 2024 and new induction rules present a valuable opportunity

With the introduction of the Employment Rights Bill 2024 and the statutory induction period, has the sometimes-overlooked probationary period become one of the most useful tools we have at our disposal for effective people management?

Whilst the inclusion of a probationary period has been standard for support staff in education, no such probationary period exists in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). It has become increasingly common for this addition to contracts for teachers employed in multi-academy trusts but still does not remain standard practice.

Onboarding and Induction

An effective probation procedure should be used to assess whether the new recruit is suitable for the role, both in terms of skills and conduct. This should run alongside providing support and training to ensure that the individual is onboarded and inducted into the role and the organisation. When done well, research has shown that employee retention is increased by 82% due to a good onboarding process.

It has too often been the case in education that the probation process has only really been a focus with new starters when there are issues – understandable given the time constraints we all face. However, where probation is an integral part of the process for a new starter, we become empowered as the employer to define the culture of the organisation and set out our expectations for what success looks like in the role.

What Does Success Look Like?

If we focus our attention on providing support, training and development for new recruits, we not only manage their probation period effectively, but we also increase our chance of retaining the individual. Have we been guilty of missing an opportunity to ensure all new recruits are supported to be fully engaged with us as their employer by celebrating their success in those early days?

Arguably, for those in the academy sector that have not chosen yet to introduce a probation period for teachers, now is the perfect time to introduce it. Some might suggest that as we are amidst a teacher recruitment and retention crisis, the introduction of a probation period for teachers will just exacerbate this. I would counter argue that where the process is implemented properly, with the focus being on supporting the individual to perform at their best, then why should it? For any teacher who is confident in their ability, has kept their knowledge and practice current and has chosen the right school that fits with their own values, a focus on their development and wellbeing in the first few months can only be a benefit. This will also provide a parity with support staff colleagues.

Probationary periods work on the basis that there is a reduced notice period on both sides. This might be considered problematic where a teacher can then leave their role in a much shorter than usual timeframe. Nevertheless, if we invest in our new recruits and support them and their wellbeing, the risk of this is significantly reduced.

Get Ahead of the Curve

Whether we like it or not, the statutory probation period is coming, alongside day one employment rights. Why not get ahead of the curve and ensure that our practices are gold standard, with a focus on support for the recruit? Where we value the process as part of our people strategy and develop our practices accordingly, they support us in developing an engaged, effective and happy workforce.

So, what will make the difference between simply having a procedure that is used as a ‘tick box’ exercise that HR insists we do and having an effective procedure that really supports our new recruits? The key to this lies in developing our line managers to also value the process and deliver it effectively. If we teach our line managers how to have good quality developmental conversations with their teams and provide them with easy access to the tools that they will need to support their recruit, we will facilitate their buy-in to the process.

In conclusion, alongside our recruitment, onboarding and induction practices, probation looks set to be a critical element of our talent management processes, which is worth developing now.