In Section 3.3.2 on monitoring teaching and learning, you learned how important staff appraisals are as a tool for collecting common feedback between staff members and senior management and for recording ideas for improvement of quality.

Quality-oriented VET institutions may also regularly assess employees’ performance against the tasks set out in their job descriptions. Assessment criteria include general professional attitudes (professionalism, method ological culture, assessment/evaluation, fostering talented students), specific educational activities (general tasks, extracurricular activities) and other quality-related aspects (commitment to the institution and its quality mission, cooperativeness, managing partnerships, communication, work discipline, administration). For specific positions additional criteria may be added to assess how employees perform management tasks (management of a department and partner ships, leadership capabilities, managerial knowledge, creativity, communication).

Another tool for assessing staff performance is class visits by heads of department or head of the VET institution, aiming to assist teachers and trainers in their professional development by identifying strengths and areas for improvement of their individual capacities. To obtain the most objective and undistorted assessment, classroom observation is normally complemented with self-assessment by the teacher and assessment of the teacher’s performance by the students. By no means should these assessments have a controlling function since they must be of a purely supportive nature. To create a quality culture within an institution, it is highly recommended to evaluate results and discuss activities for improvement in a confidential conversation between the teacher and supervisor involved.

Box 18. Tool: teachers’ performance measurement