Peer teachers’appraisal Legal framework of teacher performance appraisal in Portugal

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to present, according to a diachronic logic, the legal framework of peer teachers’appraisal, in Portugal, mainly from 2008, even if we consider the earlier systems of teachers’appraisal. A typology to identify the various types of appraisers according to the different logics of teachrs’appraisal is presented: self‘appraisal (the appraised is the appraiser itself); the hetero‘appraisal (the appraiser is an "other" both with an internal status, and with an external status) and co‘appraisal (the absence of the dichotomy‘appraised‘appraiser, becomes a logic of mutual appraisal). Based on this typology, the various systems of teachers’appraisal are analyzed, what reveals that the diachronic evolution of the legal discourse is characterized by a transition from a system characterized by the hegemony of self‘appraisal (until 2008) to a system that highlights an internal logic of hetero‘appraisal, focused on peer appraisal. Finally, it is considered that the analysis of this legal discourse takes on a heuristic path, leading us to identify several open questions regarding this issue.