New arrangements for teacher appraisal and capability to be introduced from September 2012

Following a public consultation between May to August 2011, new arrangements for managing teacher performance have been announced. They will come into force on 1 September 2012.

New regulations on teacher appraisal will abolish the three hour limit on classroom observation and give schools and local authorities more freedom to design appraisal policies that suit their own individual circumstances.

The new model policy provides an example of the sort of policy that schools might want to adopt when managing teacher performance. It is in two parts. Part A covers the routine appraisal arrangements that apply to all teachers and Part B covers the capability procedures that apply only to teachers about whose performance there are serious concerns that the appraisal process has been unable to address. Part B is consistent with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

The consultation included a proposal to require schools to pass copies of teachers’ annual appraisal reports to prospective employers. That proposal is not being taken forward. A second consultation asked for views on an alternative proposal to require schools to pass on to prospective employers, on request, information about whether a teacher is or has been subject to capability procedures. That consultation is now closed.

What's new?

Teacher appraisal

The current regulations on managing teacher performance will be revoked. We have laid new regulations - The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012. Under these new regulations:

• Governing bodies and local authorities will have to have a written appraisal policy for their teachers
• Governing bodies will have to appoint an external adviser to advise them with appraising the headteacher
• Objectives will have to be set for each teacher which contribute to improving the education of pupils
• Schools will have to have an annual appraisal process for teachers
• Teachers will have to be given a written appraisal report which sets out:
  • an assessment of their performance
  • an assessment of their training and development needs
  • where relevant, a recommendation on pay progression.

These requirements all feature in the current regulations. 

The main changes are that under the new regulations:

• Teachers’ performance will be assessed against the relevant standards, against their objectives and against their role in the school. Under the current arrangements, the standards are seen merely as a “backdrop” to performance management discussions.
• Most of the prescription in the current regulations will disappear, including the three hour limit on classroom observation. After September 2012, governing bodies and local authorities will be free to make their own decisions about the amount of observation that is appropriate for their teachers. They will also be free to decide many other matters on which they currently have no flexibility.

Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) Teachers

Following a public consultation between September and December 2011, the Department for Education has decided to proceed with their proposals to recognise as qualified to teach in schools:

• teachers who are recognised as fully qualified teachers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA
• teachers in further education who have been awarded Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status by the Institute for Learning and are members of the Institute for Learning.

We have already laid the Regulations that make the necessary amendments to the Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003 from 1 April 2012. 

Those regulations also amend the Education (School Teachers' Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012 to give schools greater flexibility to choose the standards against which they wish to assess the performance of QTLS holders. QTLS teachers, unlike other teachers, will not have to be assessed against the new Teachers' Standards.

The new model policy on appraisal and capability has been amended accordingly.

Teacher capability

The new optional model policy sets out an example of a model capability policy that schools might like to follow for teachers about whose performance there are serious concerns that the appraisal process has been unable to address. It is shorter and less complex than the current procedure, and complements, rather than duplicates, the appraisal process. 

The main changes are:

• There is no informal stage in the capability procedure 
• The suggested length of the monitoring and review period following a first warning has been reduced in length from 20 weeks to between 4 and 10 weeks.  It is important to note that the length of the review period must be reasonable in the circumstances of each case, and must provide sufficient time for improvement to take place.

Recycling of underperforming teachers

As part of the consultation we asked for comments on a proposal to require schools to pass copies of teachers’ annual appraisal reports to prospective employers. The proposal was designed to reduce the amount of recycling of underperforming teachers by allowing schools to supplement the information provided by references and help them make better informed decisions on recruitment.

Although more respondents agreed with this proposal than opposed it, we have decided not to proceed. Instead we will be consulted on a separate proposal to require schools to pass on to prospective employers (on request) information about whether a teacher is or has been subject to capability procedures.  

Timetable for introduction of changes

FAQs

What changes are you introducing?

• New arrangements for teacher appraisal, including new regulations, which remove unnecessary prescription and give schools much greater freedom to design their own appraisal policies.
• A new optional model policy that combines appraisal and capability into one coherent procedure that is consistent with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

What are the main differences?

• The three hour limit on classroom observations has been removed – so that schools have the flexibility to decide what is appropriate for themselves.           
• Each year, all teachers’ performance must be assessed against the relevant standards – so that leaders can make sure that their teachers’ performance continues to meet expectations.
• The overlap between the current appraisal and capability systems has been removed - so that under-performance can be tackled more swiftly and effectively.

What are maintained schools/local authorities still required to do?

The new regulations will require governing bodies of maintained schools, as now, to:

• Establish an appraisal policy for the annual appraisal of teachers employed at the school
• Appoint an external adviser to advise and support it in relation to the appraisal of the head teacher
• Ensure that objectives are set for each teacher at the school
• Ensure that the performance of each teacher is appraised annually
• Ensure that each teacher is given a written report of the appraisal.

Local Authorities will have similar duties in relation to any teachers they employ directly. 

What about academies?

Teachers in academies, Free Schools and other Independent Schools are not covered by the regulations.

When will these changes come into effect?
 
The new regulations will come into effect on 1 September 2012. The model policy is optional and can be used from September 2012.
 
Did you consult on these changes?
 
We consulted on these changes between 24 May and 16 August.  

Why have you dropped the proposal to require schools to share appraisal reports with prospective employers?

The proposal was intended to help address the problem of poor teachers being recycled from school to school, but there was strong opposition to this proposal during the consultation, including from the head teacher associations and employers. There was a strong feeling that this would not help to solve this problem in practice. We have listened to the concerns raised during the consultation and after careful consideration we have decided not to take forward this proposal.

However, we are committed to tackling this problem and so we consulted separately on a new proposal to require schools to pass on information about whether or not teachers have been in capability procedures to prospective employers.  

Why did you consult again?

We are proposing to amend the School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 to include a new requirement on schools to pass on information about teachers and head teachers who have been in capability to prospective employers.  We also plan to amend the associated guidance that accompanies the regulations to reflect this change.

Consultation on the proposed amendment took place from 13 January to 24 February. The intention is that, subject to consultation, the new requirement will come into force from 1 September 2012. 

Against which standards will teachers be assessed?

The performance of all teachers except those who are qualified by virtue of their QTLS status will be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards which come into force on 1 September 2012. In some cases governing bodies and head teachers may also wish to assess teachers against other sets of standards published by the Secretary of State that are relevant to that teacher, for example the standards for Advanced Skills Teachers or Excellent Teachers. 

The performance of QTLS teachers can be assessed against the teachers’ standards, other sets of standards published by the Secretary of State that are relevant, and/or other relevant professional standards.