1. Appraisal of the Headteacher
Governors’ Briefing
Welcome

2. The Regulations
Maintained Schools The statutory requirements for reviewing maintained school headteachers' performance are set out in the Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations The regulations apply to headteachers in community, voluntary, foundation, community special, foundation special and maintained nursery schools.
There are new National Leadership Standards.

3. The Regulations
Academies The Governance Handbook (page 74 para 94) explains that the requirements imposed on maintained schools do not apply to academies. Academies are free to determine their own appraisal arrangements, but may adopt the arrangement for maintained schools if they wish.
There are new National Leadership Standards.

4. National Standards - Jan 2015
In January 2015, the DfE published National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers. These standards do not set a baseline of expected performance but can be used as a 'background' document during the appraisal process.

5. Requirements under the Regulations
Governing boards and local authorities must have a written appraisal policy for teachers/Headteachers
Boards have to appoint an external adviser to advise them during the appraisal of the Headteacher
Objectives must be set for each teacher and for the Headteacher which contribute to improving the education of pupils.
Schools must have an annual appraisal process for teachers and the Headteacher - How is this currently happening?

6. Requirements under the Regulations
Teachers and the Headteacher must be given a written appraisal report, which sets out:
An assessment of their performance in the previous appraisal period
Agreed objectives for future performance
An assessment of their training and development needs
Where relevant, a recommendation on pay progression.

7. The board’s role in staff appraisal
To establish the school’s appraisal policy
To determine the appraisal period for teachers and the Headteacher – usually 12 months but can be shorter or longer for newly appointed staff.
To review the Headteacher’s performance annually, including appointing governors as they see fit to carry out this task.
To appoint the external advisor (this person must be well versed in the appraisal regulations and using evidence effectively to support appraisal.)

8. The board’s role in staff appraisal (cont)
To set performance standards and objectives for the Headteacher, which aim to improve pupil performance and are in line with the School Development Plan – having first consulted the external adviser.
To ensure that the Headteacher arranges the annual appraisal of all teaching staff, and for any pay recommendations to be made to the board.
To ensure the Headteacher and every teacher is given a written appraisal report (as previously defined.)

9. The Headteacher’s Appraisal Panel
The governing board decides who is on the Headteacher’s Appraisal Committee / Panel, and should appoint governors who have appropriate skills and who have undertaken Performance Appraisal training.
2 or 3 governors is a workable number.
(The 2006 regulations limited the number on the Headteacher’s Appraisal Committee to 2 or 3 governors, although the 2012 regulations do not include this restriction.)

10. Do Headteachers have any say?
This will be determined by the school’s appraisal policy, but it is good practice for Headteachers to be able to object in writing to the governing board re the appointment of any particular governor, once in any cycle.
Any objection should be on the grounds only that the governor is unsuitable for professional reasons

11. Does the board have to accept?
The governing board should satisfy itself that the reasons submitted by the Headteacher, if seeking the removal of an appointed governor are
professional reasons only and
the reasons themselves are significant.
The board will then appoint another governor if it accepts the objections, or it may reject the request. In the case of a rejection the governing board must state the grounds for the rejection, in writing.

12. Who sets the Headteacher’s targets?
The targets are set by the appointed governors, after consulting with the Headteacher and external adviser, on an annual basis as part of the review process.
Targets must be meaningful and achievable, and should reflect the development priorities of the school.
The external adviser will assist in establishing targets and objectives in discussion with the Appraisal Panel and Headteacher. Every effort should be made to achieve agreement on the requirements to be placed on the Headteacher What could this look like?

13. The role of the external adviser
To assist the Appraisal Panel in setting meaningful targets, and in reviewing outcomes.
Both the Appraisal Panel and Headteacher can choose to meet separately with the adviser to discuss the Headteacher’s performance and targets before the review meeting.
The adviser should attend the review meeting and offer advice and support to governors whilst they prepare the appraisal report.

14. The role of the external adviser
The adviser is not involved in determining any recommendation for a pay award (eg whether any pay increment(s) should granted following the review); this is a matter for the Appraisal Panel alone.
However, the governors on the Panel can ask for advice, and should take account of any advice offered.

15. Headteacher’s right to appeal
The school’s appraisal policy should set out the process to be followed if the Headteacher is dissatisfied with the outcome of his/her appraisal.
For example: this could state that the appraisal report is given to a nominated governor acting as the review officer (usually the Chair, unless the Chair is on the Appraisal Panel.)
If the review officer is persuaded that aspects of the review are inaccurate, he or she may require that the statement be reviewed again.

16. Minuting the appraisal review meeting
The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012 do not specify that the clerk needs to take minutes of the Headteacher’s appraisal.
However notes should be taken at the review meeting, focussing on the outcomes of the discussion and then used, together with the evidence present, in preparing the appraisal report.
These notes could be taken by one of the governors on the panel, or the external adviser, or someone else (eg the clerk to the board) as decided by the panel.

17. Ratification
Must the Governing Board ratify the panel’s decision?
The outcome of the appraisal review does not need to be ratified by the FGB, as long as the responsibility for carrying out the Headteacher’s appraisal has been formally delegated to the panel.
This applies to both maintained schools and academies.
The panel should report to the board that the appraisal has been carried out (ie under the governance requirement to report back re any delegated functions)

18. Confidentiality of appraisal report
Governing boards should approach this issue with care, as some Headteachers will be concerned about confidentiality. Page 14 of the DfE’s model policy suggests the following statement could be in the school’s appraisal policy:
The appraisal and capability processes will be treated with confidentiality. However, the desire for confidentiality does not override the need for the Headteacher and governing board to quality-assure the operation and effectiveness of the appraisal system.

19. Suggested process
Stage 1: Headteacher and external adviser pre- meeting
Stage 2: Appraisal panel and external adviser pre- meeting
Stage 3: Headteacher’s review and planning meeting.
Breaking it down…

20. Stage 1: Head and external adviser pre-meet to discuss:
The Headteacher’s progress towards meeting the appraisal objectives that were set; focusing on the evidence that supports the individual’s contribution, rather than being a general discussion on the school’s progress as a whole.
The impact of any objective-related support/training
The outcomes of the Headteacher’s self-evaluation against Teacher’s standards (or other relevant standards)
Potential objectives for the next appraisal cycle
Any professional development needs, and ideas for addressing these.

21. Stage 2: External adviser and panel pre-meet to:
Consider the evidence gathered through their monitoring and evaluation of the Headteacher’s performance
Seek advice to inform the discussion at the review and planning meeting, drawing on the adviser’s knowledge.
Discuss the outcomes of their review of the Headteacher against the Teachers’ Standards (or other relevant ones)
Consider potential objectives for the next appraisal cycle, to be brought to the review and planning meeting.
Discuss their plans for monitoring and evaluating next year’s progress.

22. Stage 3: The appraisal review and planning meeting
This is a central part of the appraisal process; meeting to:
Agree summative judgements on the Headteacher’s overall performance against the Teachers’ standards (or other relevant ones) and on the progress that was made towards meeting the objectives.
Agree achievable but challenging objectives for the next appraisal period, with clear performance criteria. The objectives to be aligned to the School Development Plan.
Decide on the methodology by which the Headteacher’s overall performance and the progress towards the new objectives will be monitored and evaluated….. plus

23. Stage 3: The appraisal review and planning meeting
…. plus
To determine any professional development activities to support the Headteacher
What could an objective look like?

24. Example objective The School Development Priority is…
Raising attainment in Maths at both KS1 and KS2
Objective:
The Headteacher will develop, implement, monitor and evaluate strategies aimed at raising attainment in Maths at Key Stage 1 and 2.

25. Example success criteria
Strategies will have been decided on and implemented, and their success will have been monitored and evaluated at periodic intervals by the Headteacher.
An improvement in the Maths attainment figures (a specified percentage increase not required, as the objective is to develop, implement and monitor/evaluate) and scrutiny of children’s Maths books shows improvement.
Scrutiny of teachers’ planning shows that strategies have been adopted and embedded and that the resulting work provided is always suitably challenging.
Tracking data shows pupils are making accelerated progress.

26. Example monitoring arrangements / milestones
Presentation to the governors of the strategies to be implemented.
Termly progress reported to Standards Committee (including findings from lesson observations, teacher planning scrutiny, book looks etc)
Headteacher’s evaluation of success-to-date of strategy reported to Standards Committee after 6 months of implementation
Headteacher’s evaluation of his/her progress against this objective to be given at the Appraisal mid-term review meeting.

27. Example evidence sources
Headteacher’s reports and minutes of FGB / committees
Minutes of staff meetings / training where the strategies were discussed.
Monitoring and evaluation reports
Action plans
Pupils’ progress towards their individual targets
Work scrutiny / lesson observations
School self evaluation and (maybe) external evaluations
Outcomes of the SATs for Years 2 and 6

28. Discussion:
What success criteria, monitoring arrangements and evidence sources could support the following objectives?
The Headteacher will ensure consistency in teaching standards across the school, focusing on a topic-based approach to learning.
The Headteacher will ensure that the policies, strategies and planning relating to the teaching of Writing and to the day-to-day assessment of pupils are embedded in order to ensure consistency of practice across the school
The school’s Progress 8 score in Maths will be above the national average.

29. Suggested flow chart and process: