Skills Audits Pack - Complete Set

A comprehensive pack to support any headteacher, MAT leader or person responsible for staff development to audit the skills and competencies of your entire school team. The pack contains guidance to support you in effectively utilising the skills audits plus fifteen different skills audits for the following roles:

• Headteachers
• Senior leaders, e.g. deputy or assistant heads
• Middle leaders, e.g. heads of phase, key stage leaders, EYFS leaders
• Subject leaders, e.g. English leads, Maths leads
• Teachers
• Support staff, e.g. teaching assistants, SEND support staff, EYFS practitioners, lunch-time staff
• SENDCos (including other staff working in SEND or inclusion leadership roles)
• DSLs (including deputy DSLs and other staff working in safeguarding roles)
• School business managers (including other roles where the post-holder supports with budget management)
• Administrators, e.g. school office staff, clerical assistants, secretaries
• Premises caretakers and site managers
• Attendance co-ordinators (including other roles with responsibility for managing school attendance)
• Pastoral and mental health roles, e.g. pastoral leads, nurture teachers, family liaison workers
• Outdoor learning roles, e.g. Forest School leads, outdoor education teachers

Each editable skills audit template ranges between 10-20 pages in length (depending on the nature of the role) and is packed full of questions that cover the skills, competencies and expertise that staff need to effectively perform that role. As a leader, this allows you flexibility in selecting questions to focus on key aspects of a person's roles or use the full document to get a wider overview of each staff members' skills.

Each skills audit document is editable and re-usable, allowing you to compare the skills of staff in similar roles to develop peer support or plan for group professional development. (The reusable nature of each skills audit is budget-friendly too!)

The completed skills audit surveys will also help you plan for wider school improvement and development, including:

• planning effective and targeted CPD
• setting targets for during performance management meetings or appraisals
• gathering information when preparing for change to allow those with the needed skills to lead on key areas
• creating and reorganising teams based on need
• supporting staff wellbeing and workload by valuing the skills they have and developing the skills they need
• retaining staff through tailored PD programmes
• informing recruitment strategies so you're hiring staff who can fill a skills gap

The pack is aimed at supporting anyone with responsibility for line managing a team of staff in a school, such as a headteacher, deputy head or assistant head, or for those with responsibility for staff development, such as a CPD lead. Because the skills audits can be re-used for each staff member, those with responsibility for multiple schools, such as a MAT leader, CEO or executive head, will also find this pack useful to build consistency across the schools they have responsibility for.

Whether staff members are new-to-role or have vast experience in their area, skills audits are a valuable self-evaluation tool. When a staff member reflects on their competencies and expertise, they’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the strengths they bring to their role while identifying opportunities for growth or next steps. This self-awareness can boost confidence and self-belief, as well as enabling individuals to articulate their unique contributions to the team.

When skill gaps are identified, performance targets can include specific objectives aimed at addressing these gaps, allowing those with line management responsibilities to support the staff member through professional development and further training. Skills audits can also help school leaders to create balanced teams, prepare for change, support staff retention and assist in succession planning. 

Key questions answered:

• What are skills audits?
• Which school roles do skills audits suit?
• Why is it important for staff to utilise skills audits?
• How should a skills audit be conducted?
• How can skills audits inform performance management targets?
• How can leaders identify individual staff training needs?
• In what other ways can skills audits be used?

If you're a school leader looking to carry out skills audits for multiple roles, this pack offers best value for money, but each skills audit is available individually too:

• Individual Skills Audits

Skills audits can be used as a valuable part of the induction process when a new staff member joins your team. Find out more about how to craft staff induction procedures that allow staff to get off to a flying start in your setting with the following pack:

• Staff Induction Pack

If you know that your staff have training and development needs, and are looking to enhance your CPD planning, this pack will support your thinking:

• CPD Planning and Preparation Pack