Staff appraisal and capability: requirements and guidance

The following applies to academies, free schools and independent schools

You're free to determine your appraisal arrangements

There are no requirements for how you carry out appraisal for teachers or support staff.

Check your appraisal policy (if you have one) to find out what your arrangements are.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) advises that you should have mid-year appraisals as well as end-of-year ones, but this will depend on your policy. 

Take a look at our model teacher appraisal policy for support in writing your own – it's written for maintained schools, but you may still find it useful. 

We also have a examples of support staff appraisal policies and guidance for managing support staff, which contains advice on dealing with underperforming staff. 

You must have a capability policy 

Capability procedures should apply when there are serious concerns about a teacher's performance,