Building Capacity or Provoking Fear: Early Childhood Teachers’ Appraisal for Professional Development

The study was based on the premise that teacher’s performance appraisal can play a major role in identifying teachers’ needs and building teachers’ capacity. Through this study, it was intended to find out ways in which teachers’ performance appraisal could be used for professional development of teachers in the context of early childhood education in Pakistan. The study employed a case study approach. Information was gathered through a combination of methods, which included field notes, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Informal conversations with different stakeholders and self-reflections contributed to clarify different aspects of the issues and findings. Thus, 10 teachers as apraisees and 6 supervisors as appraisers from a private school in Karachi, Pakistan, were the primary participants of the study and they taught in early setup. The study revealed that participants who were appraisees of this study unanimously identified the purpose of appraisal as a summative assessment of teachers’ performance for making administrative decisions such as, deciding annual increment and making teachers more accountable to school rule and regulations. The suggestions made by appraisees confirmed that the teachers did not perceive link between appraisal and the professional development of teachers. In contrast, the appraisers considered teachers’ performance appraisal as a tool to appreciate teachers’ potentials and to identify areas for further enhancement. Findings of the study further suggest that the process of performance appraisal influences relations within teachers; and between teachers and supervisors negatively if handled in a less professional way.