Ministers have been wrong to insist on mandatory appraisal when councils are being forced to cut staff development budgets and support to teachers, East Dunbartonshire has warned.
Christine Symington, the council’s head of educational development, said it was impossible to meet the timetable of having 50 per cent of teachers appraised by Septem-ber 1, even if a system was accepted by headteachers and unions.
Ms Symington said: “Since East Dunbartonshire is a relatively small authority, it does not have sufficient numbers of advisory staff and quality development staff.”
Most councils did not have the advisory and training staff to provide support following appraisal interviews. “As an approved list remains to be agreed with schools it is wholly inappropriate to raise expectations which cannot be met and indeed resourced,” she said.
East Dunbarton has been forced to cut its staff and curriculum development budget by a quarter.
