Primary school headteachers' attempts to maintain a person-centred managerial style: the evidence from their appraisals

Teacher appraisal in England and Wales has sometimes been represented as a further step for primary heads in the inexorable shift from educational leadership to a managerial bureaucratic role. This study reports the findings of a recent survey of the views of 26 primary headteachers on their experience of headteacher appraisal. In our research, headteachers show that they remain convinced of the continuing importance of their educational leadership roles in their schools, and they identify strongly with their schools as communities of educators; where the best chance of achieving excellence lies in their development of the teaching and support staff. They believe they have found an unexpectedly effective route to better headship in the process of their own appraisal and that of fellow heads. In conclusion, the study looks forward to the rather different perspectives of new plans for headteacher training and appraisal contained in proposals by the Teacher Training Agency and the Labour Government. In contrast to the views of the heads we interviewed, these proposals suggest a continuing official emphasis on the managerial expertise and accountability of headteachers as part of the school improvement programme.