Headteacher's appraisal: chair of the appraisal panel

Be clear on what your role is as chair of the headteacher’s appraisal panel, and use our checklist of the process so you know what has to happen when.

Last reviewed on 11 October 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3726
Contents
  1. Your role
  2. Download our checklist of the process
  3. Make sure your relationship with the headteacher is not too close

Our associate education experts David Roche and Angela Hicks, helped us to write this article.

Your role

  • Prepare the panel to contribute to meetings by making sure they have access to all the paperwork and evidence before the appraisal
  • Make sure the panel is actively involved
  • Make sure the panel's comments are objective (the external adviser can help you do this)
  • Encourage the panel to think about the headteacher’s impact
  • Be mindful of your own succession planning

Make sure the appraisal process is:

  • Professionally conducted
  • Well integrated into the school improvement plan (SIP)
  • Meaningful and challenging to the headteacher
  • Taking into account the personal and professional goals of the headteacher
  • Not a single meeting, but part of ongoing monitoring throughout the year

Be clear on the full step-by-step process in our article - including the statutory requirements for maintained schools. 

Use our headteacher appraisal checklist to see what needs doing at each step in the process,