We spend a lot of time creating a safe and purposeful environment for learners. As a profession, we need to do the same for our staff - especially when it comes to professional development processes to help them improve their practice.
With the new Ofsted inspection framework emphasising high-quality and sustained professional learning, this is especially pertinent.
This was why we, at , made a decision last term that felt quite radical: removing all paperwork from all staff appraisal processes. Not streamlining or reducing it but removing it altogether.
Removing paperwork from staff appraisals
Instead staff and leaders now hold six structured coaching conversations a year, with no written outcomes or action plans, and no evidence uploaded to a platform.
The only thing recorded is whether the conversation has taken place.
In a system traditionally built on targets, written objectives and review forms and with a sense of monitoring and compliance, this felt risky.
However, we felt that the appraisal process had stopped fulfilling its intended purpose of genuinely enabling staff to develop.
Our previous approach looked robust on paper - targets were set, reviews were held and forms were completed. Yet in practice, conversations were often cautious and compliance-driven, and staff were less able to express what was important to them.
We realised that what we were calling professional development was more like performance management.
As a trust, we therefore needed to ask: when do staff actually improve? The answer, we concluded, was not “when they complete a better review form”.
Learning and Development Check-ins
We have named this new approach “Learning and Development Check-ins”, drawing on on engagement and psychological safety, alongside the everyday experiences of staff.
Teachers know pupils don’t learn when they’re disengaged and we must recognise that the same is true for staff.
When professional development conversations are tied to paperwork, people perform and when they aren’t, people have the opportunity to reflect.
Removing paperwork was, for us, therefore both practical and symbolic of our shifting mindset. It signalled that we value listening and growth over judgement and checklists.
Rather than working through fixed objectives, each conversation is now structured around two reflective statements:
- “I know which skills or experience I want to develop and how I might take steps to pursue them.”
- “I know the behaviours expected of me at work and feel supported to succeed.”
Staff then rate their agreement on a scale of 1 to 10 - and discuss why. By returning to these conversations regularly, development is framed as something that evolves over time and requires continuous attention.
Admittedly, this shift in perception, and buy-in, has taken time.
Initially, there was scepticism from staff, with some worried that without the notes from an appraisal nothing would be followed up properly, and others questioning how progress could be demonstrated. Likewise, others raised valid concerns about the time required to hold six conversations a year.
But to make sure this new process has a lasting impact, leaders have been helped to adjust how they approach these conversations, including with tutorial videos for each check-in to guide discussions.
Making conversations matter
Without forms or action plans to rely on, the quality of listening matters far more and leaders have become more deliberate about how they structure and revisit discussions over time.
The six-conversation rhythm is crucial, and knowing another check-in is only a half-term away has helped to reduce anxiety and shift the focus towards the idea of development as an evolution.
Despite this system only being in place for a term, when asked about their satisfaction with the appraisal process, over 60 per cent of our staff reported being quite or very satisfied, with a further 25 per cent somewhat satisfied.
Meanwhile in an anonymous staff survey, feedback described the approach as “more personal” and “staff-centred”. Likewise, others said it “develops people, rather than being a one-size-fits-all model”.
For us, despite it being early days for the new process, this demonstrates a significant shift in the perception, attitude, engagement and understanding towards our approach, and an indication that staff are able to reap its intended benefits.
As school and trust leaders look ahead to 2026 and beyond, our experience suggests that sometimes the most effective way to improve professional learning is to create space for staff to really explore their own needs. When you do, better conversations - and therefore better development - follows.
Richard Baker is deputy trust lead at Cornwall Education Learning Trust, which runs 16 schools comprising 11 primaries and five secondaries.
You can now get the UK’s most-trusted source of education news in a mobile app. Get Vlog magazine on and on
