New Teacher Appraisal Guidance - Better Communication, Less Administration

Education brings feedback, lots of it. Homework, coursework, exams, and end-of-year reports give pupils information on their progress. But what about teachers? They need feedback too. With so many commitments already taking up their time (teaching, reports, lesson planning, etc.), how can you introduce the new teacher appraisal guidance without adding extra administration?

The teacher appraisal guidance for schools (July 2024) changes performance discussions. Emphasis is now on support and development to ensure teachers continue to meet teaching standards. Conversations must be open and fair. And performance appraisals should be improved without increasing administrative time for teachers. While this may not be easy, it is possible, so this article outlines:

A summary of the new teacher appraisal guidance and who it applies to
The model policy your school needs
The importance of feedback for staff, as well as pupils
How to apply the teacher appraisal guidance without introducing more paperwork

Teacher appraisal guidance – what it is

For years, teachers have been leaving the profession in their droves (over 44,000 left in the year to November 2023) and only 10% of teachers feel their workload is manageable. So, as schools introduce the new guidance, it’s essential to understand that just adding to the list of to-dos isn’t an option – real change is needed.

Improving retention using the appraisal process

With many teachers complaining of excessive workloads and burnout, teacher performance appraisals must be supportive, development-focused, open and fair. Teachers should feel able to speak honestly to school leadership, not just about teaching standards, but about personal well-being, workload, flexible hours, and career aspirations.

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Regular feedback and accessible evidence

Conversations should happen throughout the year, with plenty of informal opportunities for feedback and recognition, long before the year-end report gets completed. That way, people have time to respond, make a change, and hopefully influence pupil results positively.

To help with this, and reduce the administrative burden appraisals might create, teachers will no longer need to produce a separate portfolio of evidence. Instead, they can reference lesson observations, planning documents, and other records as examples of successful delivery against their objectives.

Continuous Professional Development

The magic word here is continuous. Curriculums change and teaching methods evolve, so as governing bodies and school leaders move away from performance-related pay, they need to evidence teaching excellence in their schools.

Teachers must be encouraged to apply the latest teaching practices and focus on pupil outcomes, not continue to rely on “tried and tested” methods that worked a few years ago.

Informal support trumps capability procedures

Appraisals provide an opportunity to review training, mentoring, and coaching for teachers. They’re a mechanism to provide feedback and address any performance concerns early. Their aim is to help teachers improve and deliver better quality teaching to their students.

Formal capability procedures should only be considered once informal support has failed to deliver results. And these should be separate from disciplinary issues, used for addressing misconduct.

The new teacher appraisal guidance is, in essence, looking to introduce continuous performance management in schools, where the focus is on having great conversations and supporting people to do their best.

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Who the teacher appraisal guidance is for

Specifically, it’s written for:

teachers in all maintained schools
teachers who are centrally employed or unattached teachers employed for at least one term by the local authority
teachers who have successfully completed their induction period
teachers who are not subject to formal capability procedures

The teacher appraisal guidance isn’t technically written for academies, yet there’s no doubt they could benefit from this structure too. Equally, the guidance encourages schools to roll this approach out to broader education staff. This ensures they also benefit from the support and development available.

Writing your appraisal policy

If you haven’t yet written yours, now is the time to create your appraisal policy. All maintained schools must now have one, and the guidance outlines both mandatory and best practice elements to assist you. Here’s a summary of what to include:

Version and publishing governance – when you adopted the policy, for which school, and its review date
Purpose – outlining what your policy is designed to achieve
Application of the policy* – who the policy applies to and its underlying intent (e.g. not to add to the administrative workload of teachers)
Appraisal – what an appraisal means in your school
The appraisal period* – when it starts and ends, and any variations which apply e.g. fixed term teachers
Appointing appraisers* – outlining who’s responsible for appraising teachers in your school
Setting objectives* – details of how and when objectives are set in your school, including reference to the importance of maintaining teaching standards
The practicalities – outlining the principles of the appraisal process such as how you’ll agree what evidence can be used (e.g. lesson reviews); development, feedback and support processes; and the steps before capability procedures are applied.
Annual assessment* – information about the end-of-year report and your school’s commitment to ongoing feedback throughout the year.

All these sections are recommended to make sure you have a clear and robust appraisal policy. To make life easier though, the guidance contains mandatory wording for those sections marked with an asterisk (*).

Why does feedback matter?

Many teachers go into teaching because they’re driven to support their pupils to learn and grow. So it’s only logical they’d want to have feedback and be able to do the same themselves.

The challenge is that current processes haven’t encouraged teachers to seek that feedback. They’re cumbersome and absorb additional hours in the day which teachers just don’t have. It means appraisals become tick-box exercises – a way to show you’ve played the game and not much else.

Yet evidence from organizations worldwide shows that providing relevant feedback, offering support to address issues, and presenting development opportunities for new skills and roles are essential for securing long-term commitment. Teaching has failed to do that effectively, but the new guidance offers a way to achieve it.

By introducing a new appraisal process into your school, you can make sure you’re consistently delivering great teaching, and also influencing your overall culture.

People who receive regular feedback, including areas for improvement, are more resilient, better able to deal with change, and better at celebrating success. And it’s that which drives your school forward – the ability to communicate and work together more effectively for the needs of the school, the teachers, and the pupils.

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Appraisals without the paperwork

So, here’s the million-pound question – how do you introduce a new appraisal system without adding hours per term to the administrative tasks of teachers, school leaders, and governing bodies?

You use a continuous performance management platform like Perform365 which is centered on developing great communication, providing regular updates, and making collating performance and training evidence easy. When you communicate weekly, it becomes a habit. Then, as the formal review comes around, it takes minutes, not hours, to prepare for that discussion, as the information you need is already there.

Changing your approach to teaching appraisals

Performance appraisals won’t change if they remain as a twice or three times per year activity. The key is having regular communication every week and setting clear objectives and key results (OKRs) so everyone knows which direction they’re heading. It’s also about taking immediate action to address concerns, overcome barriers, and find ways to move forward.

Introducing Perform365 allows you to do all that and more. The review process is simple and it’s easy for users to learn. Additionally, you can track, review, and recognize the incredible work happening right across your school.

The idea of changing your performance appraisal process to meet the new teacher appraisal guidance can feel daunting, so just take the first step. Download your guide to continuous performance management and find out how it can help you.