1. HEaTED’s Competency Assessment Toolkit for Technical Staff (CATTS)

2. Working to be the lead organisation supporting professional development of the technical workforce

3. Setting the scene

4. Received many requests for help with organisational and individual performance assessment In response to these requests, and a wider UK need, we have developed a new resource exclusively for HEaTED members Background

5. CATTS has been designed to change the way that the professional technicians in HE (and FE) explore performance It provides a benchmark for all professionals (regardless of specialism or discipline) of their current competencies, development areas, and future direction Background

6. To align HE with the national technical skills agenda and support the Professional Registration programme for science, engineering and ICT techniciansnational technical skills agendaProfessional Registration programme To provide an overarching set of inclusive, quality, professional standards for all HE technical staff so that all professional and specialist disciplines can be recognised. Aims of CATTS

7. To ensure recognition of the crucial contribution made by technical staff towards the achievement of a high quality student experience by providing a HEaTED ‘kitemark’ To provide an evidence base and planning mechanism for technical staff within higher education to meet the changing and challenging nature of demands within the sector To facilitate the mapping of technical skills as part of an integrated organisational workforce plan to meet institutional (and UK wide) business plan objectives. Aims of CATTS

8. Resource pack/Toolkit to help Managers assess current competency and plan for future demands and needs It requires a shift in thinking from the traditional annual appraisal process to more of a continuous review process which aims to deliver excellence through an ongoing conversation around performance, capability and capacity What is it?

9. How CATTS works

10. The toolkit addresses 5 key competency areas as modules: 1.Professional Practice 2.The Student Experience 3.Leadership and Management 4.Planning and organising resources 5.Governance and compliance (including H&S) Within each module there are 5 levels of competency for the reviewee to be matched against: 1.Learner 2.Experimentalist 3.Practitioner 4.Specialist 5.Expert Using CATTS

11. Using CATTS – The Process Reviewer and reviewee agree date for review Reviewee assesses him/herself against the competencies and levels against the appropriate modules for the post Reveiwee completes form and sends to reviewer Reviewer adds comments to form Review takes place Action plan agreed - learning needs captured An on-going process means that the plan needs to be regularly updated

12. Practical Example

13. Module: The Student Experience Competency: Providing information and advice about procedures for using equipment/ resources Scoring:  matrix approach  need to be consistent across a level  your final score will be at the lowest level  identifies development needs as you progress  probably have some higher scores in some areas and lower scores in others Practical Example

14. Reviewee: Using the HEaTED framework please rate yourself from levels 1 - 5 for the Student Experience module competence ‘Providing information and advice about procedures for using equipment/ resources: 5 choices from Learner – Expert listed Please add comments and evidence on how you came to make this judgement Reviewer: Please add your score and make notes based on your decision in the comments box below 5 choices from Learner – Expert listed Practical Example – Record sheetsRecord sheets

15. The coming months…

16. Raising awareness via the regional networks Looking for pilot sites / volunteers to evaluate the toolkit For sale from December / January, £250 member organisations and £450 non members Workshop at HEaTED ConferenceHEaTED Conference

17. Contact us HEaTED Central Team admin@heated.ac.uk 01904 328173 Dr Rachel Crossley HEaTED Programme Manager r.crossley@slcs.ac.uk Tel: 07772 341510