Realising the Value of Performance Appraisal for Middle Leaders in New Zealand Secondary Schools

Year 2016, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 229 - 254, 15.12.2016

Carol Cardno Joanne Robson

https://doi.org/10.30828/real/2016.2.3

Cited By: 9

Abstract

This paper reports on a study that investigated the
appraisal of middle leaders in three New Zealand secondary schools in order to
determine what constituted effective performance appraisal and how this practice
could be improved from the perspective of this middle tier of leadership.
Overall, appraisal was variably practised and seen as a compliance mechanism
rather than an opportunity for conversations about achievement and development,
when it occurred at all. It is concluded that what middle level leaders
experience as performance appraisal may be devalued by senior leaders paying
insufficient attention to the appraisal of middle leaders especially in
relation to their management responsibilities. Development linked to the
appraisal of both senior and middle leaders could strengthen appraisal
practice, increase its value for all parties, and tap the unrealised potential
that performance appraisal has for supporting middle leaders to improve student
learning outcomes. 

Keywords

Middle leaders, Performance Appraisal, Secondary schools, New Zealand

References

• Bennett, N., Woods, P., Wise, C., & Newton, W. (2007). Understandings of middle leadership in secondary schools: a review of empirical research. School Leadership and Management, 27(5), 453-470.