Building Capacity or Provoking Fear: Early Childhood Teachers’ Appraisal for Professional Development

Received 21 Oct, 2013

Accepted 02 Dec, 2015

Published 31 Dec, 2015

The study was based on the premise that teacher’s performance appraisal can play a major role in identifying teachers’ needs and building teachers’ capacity. Through this study, it was intended to find out ways in which teachers’ performance appraisal could be used for professional development of teachers in the context of early childhood education in Pakistan. The study employed a case study approach. Information was gathered through a combination of methods, which included field notes, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Informal conversations with different stakeholders and self-reflections contributed to clarify different aspects of the issues and findings. Thus, 10 teachers as apraisees and 6 supervisors as appraisers from a private school in Karachi, Pakistan, were the primary participants of the study and they taught in early setup. The study revealed that participants who were appraisees of this study unanimously identified the purpose of appraisal as a summative assessment of teachers’ performance for making administrative decisions such as, deciding annual increment and making teachers more accountable to school rule and regulations. The suggestions made by appraisees confirmed that the teachers did not perceive link between appraisal and the professional development of teachers. In contrast, the appraisers considered teachers’ performance appraisal as a tool to appreciate teachers’ potentials and to identify areas for further enhancement. Findings of the study further suggest that the process of performance appraisal influences relations within teachers; and between teachers and supervisors negatively if handled in a less professional way.

Performance appraisal is used to evaluate employees’ strengths and weaknesses against the criteria that are set upon the organization’s goals (Brown & Heywood, 2005). Researchers (Bartlett, 2000; Keitsung, 1999; Rahman, 2006) suggest the use of appraisal for improving children learning achievements through building teachers’ capacities. It is believed that appraisal is not only a tool for identifying teachers’ potentials and areas for further enhancement, but it can also be used for assisting teachers to set targets for actions and for harmonizing individuals and school priorities (Akpotu & Oghuvbu, 2004). Performance appraisal can be more effective if the process is properly developed and carried out by skilled and unbiased appraisers. Similarly, its contribution towards school improvement is principally grounded in the approaches taken during the process of appraisal (Brown & Heywood, 2005).

There are two basic types of appraisal, formative (developmental) and summative (Bartlett, 1998; Gunter, 2002; Montgomery, 1999). The formative appraisal is an ongoing process and is used for the professional development of teachers. It recognizes the importance of practice; therefore, it aims at the improvement of practice areas such as; managing feedback, performance improvement, and communication besides focusing on career development, research, and human resource planning (Brown & Heywood, 2005). The summative appraisal, on the other hand, is more concerned with providing the basis for bureaucratic decisions such as, selection and promotion, or accountability measures such as, demotion and even dismissal from the service (Zhao, 2007).

Current Situation of Teachers’ Performance Appraisal in Pakistan
Teachers’ Performance Appraisal (TPA) is operative in both private and public pre-primary schools in Pakistan since the initiation of early childhood programmes in these schools. However, interestingly, approaches to conduct the appraisal process are quite different; appraisal in public schools are based on teachers’ overall characters and attitude which is termed as annual confidential report; has no connection with classroom teaching and students’ learning achievements. Purpose of appraisal for public schools in Pakistan is based on the accountability model of appraisal. It is carried out once a year for making some administrative decisions including transferring staff and stopping annual increments. And this appraisal is unable to provide the support our schools need to boost up the quality of education. The bureaucratic view of the assessment, as such, does not contribute to the professional development of teachers. On the other hand, mostly private schools in Pakistan have introduced a mechanism of TPA which is mostly based on teachers’ classroom performance and students learning achievements (Rahman, 2006).

Performance appraisal is a sensitive issue in Pakistani schools because it is considered to be an evaluation of teachers’ performance that would subsequently label them as suitable or not suitable for teaching (Yariv, 2009). This idea seems to be so strong that teachers are reluctant even to reflect on the formative or developmental nature of appraisal (Shahzad, Bashir, & Ramay, 2008). This was the backdrop against which this study explored the views regarding the influence of current practices of appraisal on teachers’ professional development in early childhood settings (early childhood development are setting for the development of children aged 8 years and under) in the context of Pakistan.

According to Schmidt (2007), “appraisal, adequately resourced and properly managed, has considerable potential to benefit school, teachers, and pupils” (p. 98). While reviewing the existing literature on TPA, various authors have defined performance appraisal in slightly different way, however, the embedded message in each is not very different. One of the frequently quoted definitions in TPA literature is that of Newton (1996) and Piggott-Irvin (2001). They are of the view that appraisal is a tool for employee’s improvement, setting targets, evaluating strengths, and finding weak areas where more training will benefit the individual and improve the quality of their work.

Brown and Heywood (2005) consider appraisal as a combined approach (formative and summative). According to them, it brings together staff development and performance review for accountability. They claim that performance appraisal is not only useful for identifying teachers’ professional needs, but it can also be used for reviewing teachers’ performance for making administrative decisions such as promotion, selection, demotion, and detachment of staff. This latter view of performance appraisal is also shared by Geraldine (1997) who defines performance appraisal in the Nigerian context as, “appraisal is essentially the process of collecting information on teachers’ performance for the purpose of determining pay levels, disciplinary actions, dismissal, promotion, and in-service training needs” (p. 165). This seems to be a bureaucratic perspective of appraisal with more inclination towards accountability and with little consideration for building teachers capacities.

Why Teachers’ Performance Appraisal?
The purpose of appraisal is to improve the quality of learning by assisting teachers to carry out their duties more effectively (Blandford, 2000). Likewise, numerous researchers (Bollington, Hopkins, & West, 1993; Keitsung, 1999) suggest that appraisal should be used for increasing job satisfaction, motivating teachers, and improving teachers’ performance with the ultimate aim of improving children’s learning achievements. Professional development through appraisal could be accomplished by means of self-reflection and professional dialogues, assisted by peers and perhaps by supervisors (Zhao, 2007). During the process of appraisal, teachers continuously reflect on their teaching after each lesson, in order to bring innovation in their work and based on appraisal findings in-service teachers development programmes can be established to improve the needs that are identified by the teachers. Appraisal should also be used to empower teachers and empowerment can be made possible through ensuring teachers involvement in designing appraisal, conducting appraisal, and decision-making based on appraisal findings (Montgomery, 1999).

Zhao (2007) believes that formative nature of appraisal turns teachers into reflective practitioners, sustains high quality leadership, and encourages teachers’ empowerment. According to Yariv (2009), bureaucratic approach to appraisal as mentioned by different educational philosophers creates fear and has negative influence on relations in school. It is, therefore, ineffective in improving teachers’ capacities and students’ learning.

Significance of Teachers’ Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal can provide benefits to individual teachers and to the school. If the purpose is accountability, then benefits are included, but are not limited to promotions, internalized discipline, salary increments, and source of motivation (Yariv, 2009). On the other hand, if the purpose is developmental, then TPA creates confidence, encourages reflections, and involves appraiser and appraisee in one-to-one professional dialogue. The appraisal process generates action and follow-up, which are of great importance in providing professional support to staff (Bennett, 1999).

In addition, performance appraisal reduces role ambiguity and is associated with an increase in efforts, performance, satisfaction, commitment, and a decrease in turnover (Brown & Heywood, 2005). Appraisal is beneficial in developing teachers’ classroom and management practices only when there is a shared understanding of objectives, shared criteria, and mutually agreed upon targets (Bartlett, 2000; Bennett, 1999; Kyriacou, 1997).

Issues with Teachers’ Performance Appraisal
For the majority of respondents, especially for appraisees (see e. g., Akpotu & Oghuvbu, 2004; Bartlett, 2000; Brown & Heywood, 2005), appraisal was a control mechanism to make financial decisions and to weed out poor performers, therefore, the teachers’ attitude towards appraisal was not favorable. These studies also mention that the appraisal promotes enmity, encourages apathy, and promotes favoritism if handled unprofessionally.

Blandford (2000) cautions that appraisal can create mistrust between appraiser and appraisee because of the limited skills of evaluation on the part of appraisers and the master-servant nature of appraisal. Brown and Heywood (2005) also found that in some cases, appraisal negatively affects relations between appraiser and appraisee because of the disagreement on issues emerged during the process.

How Does Performance Appraisal Help in Teachers’ Professional Development?
There is a link between appraisal and teacher’s development (Craft, 2000). Development is implicit at every stage of appraisal irrespective of the approach; be it developmental (formative) or accountability (summative). Gratton (2004) identified among other things, improvement in teachers’ performance, increased job satisfaction, improvement in standard and quality of teaching, hence, improvement in pupils’ performance. According to Akpotu and Oghuvbu (2004), TPA highlights problems and difficulties with the aims of solving them. Updated information obtained through TPA provides valuable data for career planning and retraining of teachers. In addition, pre and post observations, deliberations help building teachers’ capacities.

Therefore, the aim and purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of both appraisers and appraisees and how TPA influences teachers’ professional development? It is to understand the meanings that each side attributes to TPA. This was in order to identify potential opportunities and possible constraints in creating effective links between appraisal process and teachers’ capacity building initiatives. Thus, the findings from this study could be used to recommend effective and innovative strategies for using TPA as an effective tool for teachers’ professional development.

METHOD

Research Design
A qualitative approach was adopted as the most appropriate course of action because the qualitative inquiry seeks to answer questions such as, why people behave the way they do? How opinions and attitudes are formed? And how people are affected by the events that go on around them? (Hancock, 2002). Qualitative research takes the researcher into the very heart of the research setting to describe, analyze, and draw conclusions of the research participants and their world. Within this particular qualitative approach, a comparative case study method (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998) deemed to be most beneficial for this study. By using exploratory nature of case study, in-depth interviews, document analysis, formal discussion, and informal talks were taken into consideration.

Participants
Since, the purpose of my research was to explore the influence of TPA on teachers’ professional development; initially 41 teachers were contacted who met the criteria to select participants. The criteria was at least five years of teaching experience for appaisees and three years of supervisory experience for appraisers and were voluntarily willing to participate in the study. Sixteen (10 appraisees and 6 appraisers) of total teachers contacted agreed to participate. Appraisees were the teachers whose performance were evaluated by the supervisors for deciding annual increments, whereas, appraisers were the supervisors/section heads who conducted evaluation of teachers performance.

All the participants were full time, regular, and permanent staff of the private school including 19 female and 6 male teachers. Their teaching experience varied between 5-12 years, with the majority having experience of 6 to 10 years of TPA; had educational qualification of diploma (n = 9); intermediate (n = 4); graduation (n = 6); and masters (n = 6).

Interview Guide and Procedure
Semi-structured interview guide was developed and used in a face-to-face setting employing a series of open-ended questions. The use of semi-structured interviews permitted to probe further to seek clarification to gain a deeper understanding of the situation (Lichtman, 2010). Interviews were conducted in places convenient to the participants in their most convenient time. Interview schedule was shared with the participants one week before the data collection. Most of the research participants were interviewed only once. However, some of the participants were consulted back and forth, when and where the need was felt for further clarification or explanation in order to avoid misinterpretation (Brown & Heywood, 2005). For recording the interview data, tape recorder was used with prior permission from the research participants, and recorded interviews’ verbatim were transcribed on daily basis (Bartlett, 2000).

Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was employed through the process of organizing, general sense making, coding, drawing themes; finally, interpreting and making meaning out of the collected data (Creswell, 2013). The research participants were informed about the nature, purpose, time, and methods involved in the study. Moreover, each participant had a right to see the interview transcripts for any clarification in their views. To maintain confidentiality, pseudonyms for each research participant and their school related data were used.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

As suggested by the literature, ongoing process of TPA provides valuable data for planning teachers’ capacity development programmes; this research seeks to explore perceptions of teachers related to TPA within Pakistani context. While, analysis of the data suggests the presence of number of factors due to the structural limitations of this publication only some significant areas including purpose of appraisal and the overall influence of TPA will be discussed here.

Underlying Purposes of Teachers’ Performance Appraisal
Data indicate that there is no agreement between appraisers and appraisees on the purpose of appraisal. Appraisers perceive TPA as a continuous process for developing teachers’ professional skills. In contrast, appraisees unanimously identified its major purpose as making teachers more accountable and taking administrative decision.

All of the appraisers agreed that one of the major purposes of appraisal was building teachers’ capacities for effective teaching and learning, as it was illustrated by Shahwar, one of the appraisers: “You know! Teachers need constant support for better teaching in the classroom. Without knowing teachers’ interests and challenges you can’t provide to the point assistance to teachers. The main focus of performance appraisal is to understand the problems faced by teachers and to find out solutions” (Interview, April 29, 2008).

It appears that appraisal was being used by the supervisors to find out areas for improvement. In addition, data also show that appraisal is not only used to find out flaws in teaching and learning, but it is also used to identify teachers’ potentials and strengths and to monitor their progress. Maharaj (2014) explored views of head teachers in Canada and found that appraisal was used for helping teachers to grow professionally with the ultimate aims of improving students’ learning outcomes. In this study, Shamshad, one of the appraisers, claimed that the purpose of appraisal in her school was, “to inform the teachers how much they have learnt and what further they need to learn for becoming an effective teacher, because with teaching we are learning too” (Interview, April 7, 2008).

It is evident from the above discussion that for appraisers, the purpose of TPA was to assist teachers reflect upon their practices and to find out alternative ways of teaching. According to them, it was possible only through the constructive feedback of supervisors (Maharaj, 2014). To Mumtaz (one of the appraisers), the primary purpose of appraisal was “to build teachers’ confidence through ongoing support and encouragement and to make sure that the teachers are teaching in an effective way” (Interview, March 30, 2008).

In contrast, all the appraisees unanimously identified the major purpose of appraisal as making teachers more accountable for their work. Data reveal that based on TPA, annual increments are given. This was evident from the reflections of one of the appraisees, “the foremost purpose of appraisal is deciding yearly increase in salaries. It depends on appraisers” remarks and also the scores, if you have got better scores during appraisal, you will get enough increase in your pay” (Interview, April 5, 2008). Blanford (1998) also found that TPA in Oman public-sector schools serve similar purpose as mentioned by appraisees of this study. TPA in Oman was exclusively conducted for deciding increment and for controlling teachers.

The evidences suggest that for getting attractive increment, teachers need to put the suggestions given by the supervisors into operation; otherwise, teaching and learning would be considered less effective. This is also reflected in the description of one of the appraisers Shamshad, as she said, “teachers have to follow us and bring changes in their way of teaching … and it is true that my remarks will affect their career” (Interview, April 4, 2008).

During informal discussions with some of the teachers, it was found that the key purpose of appraisal was evaluating performance at the end of the year to decide teachers’ promotions to next grades and selection of teachers for certain tasks. One of the teachers said, “appraisal data are used to demote or even to terminate the service contracts of poor performing teachers. Last year, some of the teachers were weed out when they were rated below the minimum required standard” (Informal discussion, April 13, 2008).

Habiba (one of the appraisees) was of the view that “appraisal is a tool for checking teachers … and if in any case we are unable to follow the rules, regulations, and formalities then it means we are going to lose the jobs” (Interview, April 30, 2008). She further added, “appraisal was used to catch teachers in the act of making mistakes. Therefore, teachers always remained attentive and did not want to make errors” (Interview, April 30, 2008).

From the overall discussion, I found that there was a mismatch between the views of appraisers and appraisees on the purpose of appraisal. All the interviewed appraisees perceived it on the basis of their own experiences, as a mechanism to decide financial benefits and as a system for controlling teachers. On the other hand, it was evident that appraisers perceived it as a continuous process for developing teachers’ skills and expertise for more effective teaching and learning. In addition, interestingly some of the teachers had vague idea of the purpose of appraisal as well, as mentioned by Sharmila, “I am confused. Sorry I don’t have a clear idea of the purpose of appraisal and I never asked about that either and even nobody told me why appraisal is conducted” (Interview, April 5, 2008).

All appraisers of the present study realized that appraisal had been beneficial in developing teachers’ classroom and management practices in one way or the other. Although, the majority of appraisees could not visualize explicitly the professional benefits of TPA, some of the positive influences of appraisal were implicit when they talked about appraisers’ and appraisees’ interaction and observation conferences. Analysis of data indicates that appraisal can be beneficial for appraisees, appraisers, and the school community as a unit, if handled in professional and in a systematic way.

Teachers’ Performance Appraisal and Its Influences
Findings of the present study indicate that appraisal motivated teachers to do their work in a much more innovative, efficient, and comparatively different ways from others. Reflecting back on the process of TPA one of the appraisers said “I have an experience of teaching in another school. There was no assessment of teachers’ performance . . . Teachers were working in traditional way because they were going to get the same increment each year. If there is appraisal, it gives you motivation to do your best, to do better than others; if you are able to show yourself effective then you can get good increment and good reputation” (Interview, April 5, 2008).

The present evidences show that TPA stimulates teachers to take initiatives for showing outstanding performance in classroom teaching in order to get sufficient increase in their salaries and to get promotion to next scale. And it also suggests that if there were no assessment, then teachers would not have worked hard because they were awarded the same amount of increment each year without being measured for their efficacy and successes.

Munaza, one of the appraisers, gave examples of benefits of the appraisal for teachers. She said, “It helps teachers to improve their lesson planning, enhances their questioning, and motivational skills and further assists them to manage time properly” (Interview, April 7, 2008).

Interview data reveals that the majority of respondents agreed on the positive influences of appraisal for common teachers. According to some of the participants, TPA was perceived to have central part in building teachers’ capacities in a number of ways. It could stimulate teachers to take initiatives and to become reflective practitioner and it is also used to decide raise in salaries according to teachers’ classroom performance, which encouraged teachers to teach in a more effective way.

However, some of the participants in this study did not perceive TPA advantageous for them. One of them said, “It is simply a mechanism to give away money to teachers in the form of increment that is discouraging sometime because some teachers get very attractive increment as compare to others because of their good relationship with the supervisors. Appraisal has no positive influence on our learning, or has any role in building our capacities. We did not see any benefit of appraisal” (Jaffer’s Interview, April 15, 2008).

Some of the participants did not agree with others who claimed that appraisal was used to solve individual teachers’ professional problems by re-charging and refreshing their ideas through time-to- time close interaction with supervisors. According to them, money is given as annual increment based on appraisal. According to Nargis, “I don’t think there is any benefit of appraisal for teachers. I don’t think it affects positively other things like my teaching, etc. ” (Interview, April 13, 2008).

My own experience of conducting appraisal shows that competent appraisers persuade teachers to stand back and reflect on the process, analyse, and consider alternatives for making teaching more effective. In addition, when appraisers do informed observations, shared the objectives with appraisees, set mutually agreed targets, and monitored the process, teachers found it constructive for their professional development. However, when observers try to impose their own ideas, the process becomes less effective, creates fear, and affects relations rather than assisting in teachers’ professional development.

Appraisal Affects Relations
Findings of this study indicate that biased, unfair, and a less transparent process of appraisal affects relations between teachers and supervisors. Brown and Heywood (2005) pointed out that teachers’ performance appraisal conducted in less professional manner affected relationship of teaching staff in negative way. One of the apraisees, Habiba said that things get worse when appraiser could not convince you. She argued, “if as an appraiser s/he is constantly telling me that this is not the good way of teaching and asks me to follow her instructions all the time that means s/he is rejecting me. In such cases, even her (supervisor’s) positive points and constructive suggestions seem to me as poison and I will never listen to her” (Interview, May 7, 2008).

Results indicate that in some cases appraisal affected teachers’ interpersonal relationships. Fariha said, “if two teachers were working together as peers and were teaching the same class for the whole year, but if got different amount of increment based on TPA, they stop helping each other” (Interview, April 5, 2008). She further added that, especially, the teacher who gets lesser amount of increments does not feel good. In this way, appraisal affected teachers’ interpersonal relations that ultimately put a negative impact on students’ learning achievements.

Relations Influence Appraisal Ratings
Data indicate that appraisers decide categories for the amount of increment. In this connection, sometimes interpersonal relationship between appraiser and appraisee influence appraisal ratings and the process. As Farzana, one of the appraisers, explained, “sometimes if I have good relations with a teacher, I will fill it [appraisal form] better. All the things are in my hand” (Interview, April 15, 2008). Jaffer’s reflections also resonate with that of Farzana’s views when he said that even if a teacher is not teaching well, “but has good communication and personal relationship with the supervisors s/he gets good rating and ultimately high increment. On the other hand, sometimes if a teacher doesn’t have good relation with the appraiser, in such cases there are examples of negative influences of appraiser on the process, which increases the gap between teachers and supervisors”. (Interview, April 15, 2008). Based on teachers’ evaluation, teachers are given incentives and benefits. According to Gratton (2004), this kind of process is less professional and much biased approach to appraisal. He suggests a penal of appraisers for ensuring fair, transparent, and unbiased process of appraisal.

From the above cited discussion, it is evident that things like uninformed observation, imposition of ideas, and most importantly varied amount of increment, affected staff relations negatively. On the other hand, things like boss-servant nature of appraisal, personal relations, and interpersonal skills of teachers influence appraisal ratings.

Hindering Factors
The constraints discussed in this section, included all those factors, which either hinder the process or have a negative impact on teaching and learning due to the process.

Uninformed process and unclear objectives. One of the concerns unanimously shared by the appraisees in the current study was that the schedules for classroom observations and focus of each observation were not shared with the teachers. Shaista, one of the appraisees, pointed out, “Observers without prior information and permission come into the classroom and observe teaching and learning. Sometimes, while walking through the corridor, even at the end of the lesson, they enter the class and start observation” (Interview, May 7, 2008).

None of the appraisees in this study knew what area of teaching and learning the observer was intended to focus during the appraisal. This was confirmed by the comments of Shamsia who was one of the appraisers: “Sometimes teachers feel nervous, because they don’t know what are the points I am going to focus on during my observation” (Interview, April 7, 2008). Teachers’ evaluation without shared and uninformed process are less effective and may create confusions in the mind of teachers, resulting bad influence on teachers’ commitment (Keitsung, 1999). Jaffer, the appraisee, commented: “We haven’t even seen the appraisal forms. What performance indicators have been mentioned in that form and what is the criterion for each indicator, no one knows that?” (Interview, April 15, 2008).

It was further revealed that the categories of teachers for the award of annual increment are decided on the basis of only classroom observations, therefore, teachers were not happy with uninformed observations. One of the appraisees (Nusrat) shared what seemed to be a common concern, as other participants of the study also voiced similar views: “We are human beings. We can fall ill and can face unexpected circumstances. Even they [appraisers] come on that day and observe you . . . You see! There’re instances when teacher was teaching well with full preparation and nobody come to observe. And the other day, when teacher was not feeling well or was facing some family problem, Madam comes and takes observation. It really gives you uncomfortable feelings” (Interview, April 21, 2008). Similar, findings are reported in the study of Keitsung (1999).

Data reveal that appraisees, also make special preparations for the day of observations. That could explain one of the reasons why teachers did not like to be observed without prior permission or information.

Favoritism and biasness. One of the factors, which hindered the process of appraisal in my research context, was the issue of discrimination. The appraisees, especially, perceived that some teachers were given preference. Nusrat, one of the appraisees in my sample, comments that the element of like and dislike on the part of appraisers also undermined the neutrality of the process: “The teachers who are more favoured by appraiser get good rating sometimes even without showing good performance inside the classroom. And others, who perform well but are not liked by the supervisors, mostly suffer” (Interview, April 21, 2008).

Given the fact that in my research context, teachers’ annual increment was tied to their ratings, as was discussed earlier, their perceptions raise questions about the usefulness of appraisal for the basis of making fair decisions. Mumtaz’s point of view suggests that appraiser’s judgment could be biased thus affected the whole process negatively: “I think sometimes appraisers’ own prejudices and element of inequity do affect the appraisal process. Everyone has

some predetermined views about others. I also have some perceptions about the teachers, maybe I have an idea that some of the teachers are very good and some are not” (Interview, March 30, 2008).

Her comments raise several concerns about the impartiality of the appraisers and ultimately the process itself. If the decisions were made on the basis of appraisers’ personal likes and dislikes, then appraisal would not be a proper tool for identifying teachers’ professional needs.

Fear-provoking process. It was evident that appraisees unanimously showed uneasy feelings about appraisal. According to them, it creates fear. Data indicate that the classroom observations made teachers nervous. The following comment made by Saima, one of the appraisees, makes it clear: “I am a new teacher. When observer comes to my class, everything disappears from my mind. I think about its link with increment, other benefits, and punishment that is demotion and termination from the service. In this fear, I forget everything” (Interview, May 7, 2008).

Feelings of insecurity, fear, and reduced appreciation of work can occur when a new or enhanced appraisal system is introduced in an organisation (Saunders, 2000). Data indicate that due to the fear of low rating, promotion, selection, demotion, and retrenchment, teachers lost their confidence during classroom observation, as is illustrated by the following comment made by Nargis: “In the month of appraisal, teachers are so nervous they make mistakes during their teaching in the classroom. It mostly happens with new teachers and seldom occurs with seniors” (Interview, May 2, 2008).

Data further reveal that it was not only the appraisal’s link with increment that was frightening, but not knowing the focus of appraisal, was also a cause for the unease as Fariha pointed out, “if the process was shared, informed, and co-planned, then it would not be fear-provoking rather it should be a process for our development” (Interview, May 11, 2008).

RECOMMENDATIONS

Following recommendations have been suggested to make the process of appraisal more effective in helping teachers in their professional development:

A system of shared, informed, and mutually agreed policy on performance appraisal should be developed and disseminated to all teachers to make the process clearer to strengthen the trust between teachers and the management of the school. Involvement of key contributors in development of the process would also create a sense of empowerment and belongingness among teachers. The results of appraisal should be used as a base for regular capacity building programme for teachers. Teachers should have the right to disagree with appraisers’ comments and an impartial panel should be established based on a group of teachers and coordinators to settle issues and grievances. Teachers’ signature on the appraisal form must be taken after filling the form. According to Maharaj (2014), indeed, students would appear to be good detectors of good and bad teacher. They know quite well who had prepared adequately for the lesson and can easily identify those who did not. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be a system in place where students could do 50% of teachers’ appraisal. Conducting a transparent, fair, and effective appraisal without proper training and experience of evaluation is not possible. Kyriacou (1997) and Cardno (1999) also suggest that due to lack of sufficient expertise in appraisal or related aspects such as target setting and writing the appraisal statement; appraisers’ judgment might not be fair.

CONCLUSION

This study has pointed out that professional development through appraisal could be accomplished by means of self-reflection, through classroom observation, and taking feedback by peers and perhaps by supervisors. On the other hand, this study also suggests that if the nature of appraisal is summative then it can be used for reviewing teachers’ performance for making administrative decisions such as promotion, selection, demotion, and detachment of staff which creates fears among teachers. Results show that teachers consider it fear provoking activity in a sense that sometimes teachers lose confidence during classroom observations because of its link with rewards and punishment. Element of biasness; like and dislike; and less transparent process affected relations among teachers and within supervisors and teachers. Ultimately, it negatively influences classroom teaching and learning. Ultimate aim of every initiative we are taking in our schools should be the improvement of children’s learning achievements.

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