The effectiveness of teacher appraisal policies and practices in vocational and technical education: a case study using comparative analyses of teachers' perspectives in the UK and Turkey

Teacher appraisal is a controversial issue in the field of education. The purpose of an appraisal is primarily regarded as the assessment of one’s teaching performance. However, professional development activities are a significant aspect as well. In this regard, this dissertation is inspired by the researcher’s previous experiences, which show that professional development appraisal is mostly ignored. In this sense, this study investigates teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of teacher appraisal in terms of teachers’ professional development in Turkey and the United Kingdom. Countries legislate policies for effective teacher appraisal. However, the effect of the practices of these policies can be controversial in terms of teachers' professional development. In this regard, the main aim of the study is to determine the effects of the appraisal systems on teachers’ professional development in different countries. Two schools—one from Turkey and one from the United Kingdom—have been selected as the cases with which to investigate research question. Based on this selection, a comparative case study is used as a methodology and a structured questionnaire, distributed to participants, is implemented in this empirical study. The results of the study show that the UK teachers’ perceptions are more optimistic than those of the Turkish teachers. However, teachers believe that teacher appraisal policies and practices do not affect their professional development sufficiently in Turkey and the UK. Teachers’ perceptions also indicate that the variety and frequency of the methods used should be increased in their schools