Education (School Teacher Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations revoke and replace the Education (School Teacher Appraisal) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/1620) as amended (S.I. 2000/3369).

The Regulations in part II provide for the appraisal of the performance of teachers (including unqualified teachers and those employed on fixed term contracts of less than a year) employed at one or more community, voluntary, foundation, community special, foundation special schools or nursery schools with a management committee which exercises staff management functions.

The Regulations in part III provide for the appraisal of the performance of teachers who are employed by the local education authority in pupil referral units, nursery schools without a management committee or not attached to a particular school.

By virtue of section 19(7) of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, these Regulations do not apply to teachers serving an induction period under section 19.

In relation to the teachers to whom part II applies, the Regulations make provision for the appointment of an appraiser for each teacher. A school governing body (or management committee of a nursery school) must appoint an external adviser in relation to the appraisal of a head teacher, and they shall appoint either two or three appraisers for a head teacher.

The governing body of a school are under a duty to secure that the performance of all teachers at the school is appraised regularly. The appraisal cycle normally lasts for one year, although the first appraisal cycle under these Regulations for a teacher who is not a head teacher may last for between 9 and 18 months. The Regulations make provision for the procedures for appraisal.

A teacher has a right to have his appraisal statement reviewed if he complains within 10 school days.

The Regulations impose a duty on head teachers to make an annual written report on the effectiveness of appraisal procedures to the governing body.

The Regulations also make provision for the retention, disclosure and use of appraisal statements.

In relation to the teachers to whom part III applies, it is the duty of the local education authority to secure that the performance of all teachers employed by them is appraised in accordance with these Regulations and the Regulations make provision for the Chief Education Officer, or person acting on his behalf, to appoint an appraiser for every teacher.

As with appraisals under part II of these Regulations, the appraisal cycle normally lasts for one year although the first appraisal cycle under these Regulations of a teacher other than a head teacher may last for between 9 and 18 months and the first appraisal cycle under these Regulations of a head teacher may be less than one year.

The Regulations provide for the procedure to be followed in carrying out appraisal, which is very similar to that in schools under part II. A teacher has a right to have his appraisal reviewed if he complains within 10 working days.

The Regulations impose a duty on the Chief Education Officer to submit an annual report to the local education authority about the operation of the teachers' appraisal within the authority’s area, its effectiveness and the training and development needs of the teachers.

The Regulations also make provision for the retention, disclosure and use of appraisal statements of teachers to whom part III applies.