Changes in the evaluation of teachers and school principals. New criteria will be introduced.

• The Government Legislation Centre has published a draft regulation of the Minister of Education amending the regulation on the evaluation of teachers' work.
• Currently, every teacher is assessed according to mandatory performance evaluation criteria.
• The new regulations also guarantee the possibility for the teacher or school principal subject to assessment to comment on the committee's opinion.

The amendment to the regulation is the result of the work of the Team for Professional Practitioners. The team includes representatives of the government, representative trade unions, other social dialogue institutions, and national local government organizations.

The team’s work included, in particular, the following calls:

• abolition of additional work evaluation criteria referred to in § 2 section 4 of the regulation,
• changing some detailed job evaluation criteria,
• a change in the scope of points in which the level of fulfillment of job evaluation criteria is assessed,
• ensuring greater transparency in the work evaluation procedure,
• increasing teacher participation in the performance appraisal appeal process.

Currently, each teacher is assessed based on applicable performance evaluation criteria. Additionally, both the school principal and the teacher being assessed select one criterion from those specified in § 2, paragraph 4 of the regulation. These criteria are also taken into account when assessing a teacher's performance.

The new draft eliminates the need to evaluate teachers and school principals based on additional criteria specified by teachers and school principals. Therefore, the term "mandatory" performance evaluation criteria contained in the regulation is replaced by the term "detailed" performance evaluation criteria. At the same time, the existing additional performance evaluation criteria will be incorporated into the detailed performance evaluation criteria by which teachers will be evaluated.

- explains the Ministry of National Education.

He also proposes other changes to the current performance evaluation criteria. The criterion, which currently refers to the substantive and methodological accuracy of teaching, educational, and care activities, will be clarified. Teachers will be assessed based on the substantive and methodological accuracy of teaching, educational, and care activities, based on the specific nature of the school and their position, utilizing student-engaging methods, including multimedia and IT tools, adapted to the specific nature of the activities.

Additionally, the Ministry of National Education is proposing a change in the points used to assess the level of performance evaluation criteria. Currently, for meeting the criteria, a teacher can receive:

• from 0 to 30 points - in the case of the mandatory criterion covering the substantive and methodological correctness of the teaching, educational and care activities conducted;
• from 0 to 5 points - for other mandatory criteria and additional criteria.

This scoring system is considered overly complex and may negatively impact the assessment of a given criterion. Therefore, the project proposes simplifying the current scoring system. The level of performance evaluation criteria will be assessed using points: 0, 1, 2, and 3, without fractional numbers. A similar change is planned for the school principal's assessment of performance evaluation criteria.

- explained in the justification.

The draft regulation also guarantees that the teacher or school principal being evaluated will have the opportunity to respond to the committee's opinion. Two forms are provided: verbally, when they are presented with the draft performance evaluation, or in writing, within five business days of being presented with the draft evaluation.