ABSTRACT
As in England and Wales, consultation on the introduction of appraisal in Scotland got off to an acrimonious start. Michael Forsyth, the then Education Minister, spoke on television in April 1989 of plans to improve the quality of teachers-not the quality of teaching, be it noted:
We are going to identify the teachers who are underachieving and help them to do better… For too long have we had a system controlled by the bureaucrats and the politicians.
