Surrey UCU Appraisals/PDR Guidance 2024

Each year we offer some advice to members as we head into the Academic Appraisals – now called Professional Development Review (PDR).

This year, PDRs are being used against a background of significant staff cuts under Phases 1 and 2 of the Financial Resilience Programme, with confidence in our senior managers at an all-time low, and no assurances that we are not heading to “Phase 3”, with more cuts. Note, we have not received an answer to our request to know which areas of the University still have financial savings to make, or how such savings will be made. 

Please see below some detailed advice for this year, updated to account for the significant changes to the process.

Excerpt from page 2 of Academic Professional Review Guidance:

Who is going to be my Reviewer? Your Reviewer is the person completing your PDR. Most academic staff are members of a School; however, we have wide variants of academic areas (Departments, Centres, Institutes) which are best described by the generic category of Academic Operational Units (AOUs). The Head of your AOU will decide whether they undertake your PDR or, more likely, which senior colleague will be appointed to undertake the review. The term that we use for an appraiser who is not the AOU Head is ‘Reviewer’ (hence the use of the Head/Reviewer shorthand elsewhere in this document). The process of delegation will vary according to the scale of the AOU. Updated 08/07/24 Page 3 Please note that if your Reviewer is not your line-managing Head, then the Head will also need to sign the completed form so that they are across what has been written by both by the staff member and the Reviewer.”

Excerpt from page 4 of Academic Professional Review Guidance:

I’m on a Research pathway, why does the PDR form include Teaching? If your contract is deemed to be ‘research’, it is likely that you will undertake some Teaching and/or more broadly to contribute to the educational aims of your School/Department; in which case, this is an opportunity to have this rated by your Reviewer as well as encouraging you to set goals in the ‘Education and Student Experience’ domain for the following year. However, if you are engaged as a researcher and the funding rules prohibit you from contributing to Teaching, then you would not be evaluated in this area.

Similarly, staff on teaching contracts will normally engage in Scholarship/Research activities and these should be evaluated in the PDR and appropriate goals will also be set in the ‘Research, Innovation, and Impact’ domain.”

Excerpt from page 4 of Academic Professional Review Guidance:

“How am I going to be rated in the PDR?

Heads/Reviewers will identify evaluations for activities that have been undertaken in each of categories.

The Ratings are:

1. Exceeds expectations and objectives

2. Successful in meeting expectations and objectives

3. Partially meets expectations and objectives

4. Unsatisfactory. Not meeting expectations and objectives.

What happens if I do not get the rating I am hoping for? Academics at Surrey are high achievers and will likely aspire to be rated exceptional in all respects. It is important to note that performance among a large cohort of staff is always going to be distributed; it may be more important for your career to have an open conversation about where you may be able to improve. The test of a mature institution is whether we are able to have courageous conversations about what has gone well (and be recognised for that) and where improvements can be made (and be supported for that).

Excerpt from page 7 of Academic Professional Review Guidance:

“Colleagues are reminded that Learning and Teaching Objectives are as follows:

Achieving MEQ scores of 85% in overall satisfaction

75% in assessment and feedback

80% in organisation and management in modules being taught.”

Universities drop student teaching evaluations | Times Higher Education (THE)).

Module Evaluation Questionnaires – Education – University of St Andrews (st-andrews.ac.uk) -leading to  how-to-interpret-and-use-meq-feedback.pdf (st-andrews.ac.uk)

Closing the loop – evaluating the use of student feedback to enhance teaching | University of Hull

UCU invites members to get in touch if you have any concerns about your PDR, and/ or if you need advice about any of the following:

1. you do not want to sign your PDR due to a misalignment/disagreement in either ratings or content, and you are not provided with a mechanism to register this disagreement

2. You are a line manager and have concerns about the pressure this altered process places upon you. Please also report any targets that you are set regarding giving people low ratings.

3. You have any other concern/s related to the PDR process

Remember:

  • Do not sign your PDR if you are not happy with what your review and your rating says. You can add a line stating any reasons why you do not think it is appropriate for you to sign.
  • Do not commit to targets that are not SMART
  • If you are identified as needing to improve in any area, ensure that the support, time, and resource you will receive from your managers is clearly documented

All feedback will be handled in strict confidence, and anonymised and collated before being forward to the Surrey UCU Committee.