Schools will soon find it easier to manage their teachers and help ensure they are performing to the best of their abilities. Ministers have published new arrangements for teacher and head teacher appraisals in maintained schools in England, and for dealing with underperforming teachers.
It will come into effect from September 2012 and includes:
* allowing poorly performing teachers to be removed in about a term - the process can currently take a year or more;
* giving schools more freedom over managing their teachers through simpler, less prescriptive appraisal regulations;
* removing the three-hour limit on observing a teacher in the classroom (the so-called "three-hour observation rule") so that schools have the flexibility to decide what is appropriate;
* a requirement to assess teachers every year against the new, simpler and sharper Teachers' Standards - the key skills that teachers need;
* an optional new model policy for schools that deals with both performance and capability issues; and
* scrapping more than 50 pages of unnecessary guidance.
Ministers are also consulting on new proposals to help schools when they recruit new teachers. This will mean that schools will have to pass on information to prospective employers, on request, about whether a teacher is or has been subject to capability procedures. This would help deal with the problem of 'recycling' of poor teachers, by helping schools make better, more informed decisions when recruiting.
Recent research from the Sutton Trust shows that during one year with a very effective Maths and English teacher, pupils gain 40 per cent more in their learning than they would with a poorly performing teacher.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "We have many excellent head teachers and teachers in the country. They do an outstanding job. We want to help them to do their jobs even better.
"These reforms will make it easier for schools to identify and address the training and professional development teachers need to fulfill their potential, and to help their pupils to do the same.
"For far too long schools have been tangled up in complex red tape when dealing with teachers who are struggling. That is why these reforms focus on giving schools the responsibility to deal with this issue fairly and quickly.
"Schools need to be able to dismiss more quickly those teachers who, despite best efforts, do not perform to the expected standard. Future employers also need to know more about the strengths and weaknesses of teachers they are potentially employing.
"Nobody benefits when poor teaching is tolerated. It puts pressure on other teachers and undermines children's education."
Russell Hobby, General Secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "After teaching, performance management is one of the most important things that happens in schools, because it's the way we make sure that teaching keeps getting better.
"Great performance management is a right, not only for the pupils of a school, but for the staff themselves. Everyone deserves to know how they are doing and how they can develop. And this needs to be done out in the open. The revised procedures reflect a large proportion of NAHT's hopes. They are simple and flexible, firm but fair. A streamlined approach to capability will, on the rare occasions that it is needed, help schools act more decisively in pupils' interests and reduce the conflict that these actions can generate."
Brian Lightman, General Secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "ASCL welcomes the clarity of the new teacher appraisal and capability model policy for schools and as such we hope it will be adopted by school governing bodies in maintained schools and academies across the country.
"One of the strengths of the policy is the way in which it clearly separates the appraisal process from any formal capability procedure. This new model policy helpfully clarifies the role of lesson observation for the purposes of appraisal and the use of 'drop-in' observations by head teachers and other leaders with responsibility for teaching standards to evaluate the standards of teaching and check that high standards of professional performance are established and maintained. We are also pleased to see the retention of the use of an experienced external adviser for the appraisal of head teachers."
Read more on the Department for Education website