The Victorian Education Department has introduced a new process of evaluating the performance of teachers, by imposing a performance process that would fail a percentage of teachers and principals across all schools. Under the process only 60 to 80 per cent of teachers will receive a successful performance assessment, up to 40 per cent of teachers will fail and 25 to 35 per cent of principals would fail to achieve “a successful outcome in meeting expectations”.

The change is being introduced mid-way through the current performance and development cycle, which runs from May one year to April the next. The presidents of the Primary Principals Association, Secondary Principals Association and the Victorian president of the Australian Education Union support annual performance reviews of staff (which has been operating in Victoria for more than a decade). However, they object to a new system that raises questions about the legality of the Department’s actions contrary to an industrial agreement between unions and the Education Ministry.

It is estimated appeals made by teachers and principals to the Merit Protection Board about the outcome of their evaluation could take months and even years. This is given the percentage of staff that will fail from the Department’s proposed system which could lead to hundreds if not thousands of appeals.