ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the evaluation of the school and its staff as a means of fostering staff development. Staff appraisal can be approached in many different ways and a number of pilot projects exist to determine what processes might be most appropriate for particular schools. Perhaps the least threatening of all the inherent sets of meanings as far as teachers are concerned is that which links staff appraisal to the professional development of teachers. Producing a staff development programme for a primary school needs to be based on a clear understanding of what it is that the school is trying to achieve as well as on a knowledge of the professional development needs of its teachers. One way of reinforcing the developmental aspects of Guidelines for Review and Internal Development of Schools or of any of the other approaches to school evaluation is to consider staff appraisal as part of the overall process of school and staff development.
