How to review your teacher appraisal policy

Last reviewed on 29 October 2021
Statutory/mandatory for: Maintained schools Pupil referral units

Be confident when approving your teacher appraisal policy. Know what it should include and questions to ask to make sure it's compliant and robust.

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Contents

  1. Key facts
  2. What this policy needs to do: checklist
  3. 3 key questions to challenge the policy
  4. Model policy  
  5. See examples from schools

What this policy needs to do: checklist

Your school’s teacher appraisal policy must cover:

  • The appraisal period
  • The appointment of external advisers and appraisers
  • Objective setting
  • Standards teachers will be assessed against
  • Annual assessment - i.e. how your school will review teacher performance
  • Appraisal report

Our checklist sets this out in more detail:

KeyDoc: teacher appraisal policy checklist DOC, 126.0 KB

3 key questions to challenge the policy

1. Is this policy compliant? How do you know?

The policy should be based on the requirements of The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012.

If your policy is based on the Department for Education's (DfE) model teacher appraisal policy then it’s likely it ticks all the necessary boxes because the DfE's policy follows the regulations.

The DfE guidance hasn’t changed since 2019.

Ideally your headteacher has consulted

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