In the madness of school life, teacher appraisals can easily become something of an afterthought – yet another thing for teachers and leaders to have to think about. However, they play a crucial part in not only encouraging, recognising, rewarding and developing good performance, but also in challenging marginal and under-performance.
To ensure the time for teacher appraisals is used most effectively, it’s good practice to bring some formality to the reviews process. But what does that look like exactly? Well, if you adhere to the following rules, you won’t go far wrong:
1. Align performance objectives to the school improvement plan
Every school has an improvement plan – even those who are considered ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted will have identified areas where they can do better.
In order for progress to be made, however, it’s crucial that all teachers are playing their part in working towards the common goals – with performance targets which are built around the improvement plan.
For example, if there is a school objective to narrow the gap between pupil premium (PP) students and non-pupil premium students, teachers could be given the performance target of providing extra support and intervention for their PP students.
2. Conduct mid-year reviews
Ensure that you are checking in on teacher progress periodically throughout the year via measures including observations, book checks, informal conversations and data inspections.
Then, make sure you’re sitting down with teachers midway through the year in a more formal capacity to understand how well they are working towards their performance targets and where they might need some extra support.
This helps to keep teachers on track to meet their objectives and, where necessary, to develop action plans ahead of the annual review.
3. Integrate an online CPD portal
To make the appraisal process as smooth as possible, you should identify and integrate an online CPD portal – for example, BlueSky Learning – into your school’s systems.
An online portal acts as a depository for evidence and comments, making it easier to track teachers’ progress towards their goals – ensuring everything is in one place for when the mid-year and annual reviews come round.
4. Enable teachers to actively participate in their appraisal
At the start of any appraisal, it’s important that teachers are given time to reflect on their performance. This is an opportunity for them to put forward/add context to why they might have fallen short on some of their objectives.
It also encourages them to take some responsibility and ownership over the process. That way, it becomes more of a partnership – teachers and staff members feel accountable for their own performance.
5. Give teachers an opportunity to look to the future
An appraisal shouldn’t all be about reflection – teachers need to be given the opportunity to include their own aspirations in the discussion.
This will probably come at the end of the appraisal when it’s natural to look to the future. For example, teachers will probably have a career path in mind – by verbalising this, they can begin to understand what they need to do to achieve it. This will lead into target setting for the next academic year.
The pandemic may have caused significant disruption to the education system and to your school, but teacher appraisals shouldn’t be neglected as a result. They are a key way to engage and motivate your staff, and to encourage them to grow, develop and flourish in their role.