Performance Management – a phoenix from the ashes

In this report we discuss the changing shape of performance management and appraisal and consider the role of professional development as the driver of change.

There is a shift underway in performance management. The anxiety generated by performance management in many schools is just one of the reasons it is less effective than it could be in helping a school to improve.

When the stakes are high with many using formal lesson observations, learning walks, planning scrutinies et al to provide evidence to inform decisions about performance related pay, you may not be seeing your staff at their very best. Formal lesson observation, for example, can lead to over engineering and planning, high stress, increased workload. As such, one could argue, it rarely results in a teacher performing at their very best.

For performance management to be properly meaningful, for individual and organisation, we need another approach.