ABSTRACT
Appraisal has always been present in an informal way. In their various different ways, the head, staff, children, members of the LEA, parents and the rest of the community make value judgements about a school and, by implication, about the teaching staff and head of the school. The 1980 Education Act, which gives parents the right of choice of the school to which they would send their
child has, inevitably, resulted in some parents making those value judgements which are part of an informal appraisal. Questions such as: ‘would you send your child to that school?’ represent a highly simplified form of reaction appraisal by the consumer. These apparently superficial forms of assessment should not be dismissed. The minute by minute gathering of impression, views and assessment form part of the contextual background against which a formal appraisal can be made. Indeed, should we assume that formal systems of appraisal are necessarily more valuable than informal ones? Alexander, for example, questions two implicit assumptions: first, that a formal procedure for evaluation necessarily constitutes the most valid form and, second, that the arrival of a formal system of evaluation necessarily heralds the end of an era of non-evaluation (Alexander, 1984). Surely the two are complementary. It is for the headteacher, in consultation with other staff, to decide those aspects of the process which need formalizing and those areas which will be informal.
