The influence of societal culture on the implementation of Teacher appraisal at the AB School in Barbados.

This study sought to determine the ways in which the societal culture of Barbados has influenced the appraisal implementation process at the AB School; to test the model for describing societal culture proposed by Dimmock and Walker (2002) by applying it to Barbados; to develop a methodology for investigating societal culture and to recommend ways to improve the appraisal implementation process at the AB school. The study concentrated on the power distributed / concentrated dimension but also involve the consideration / aggression dimension and the male/female influence dimension. To apply the Dimmock and Walker model, the Barbadian society was divided into three levels across which power has been distributed. These were represented by the Ministry of Education (MoE), the teachers’ unions and the school (after Morris and Lo, 2002). Results showed that the MoE felt the scheme was a good balance between accountability and professional development. The teachers’ unions argued against changes in working conditions brought on by the appraisal. The staff of the AB school preferred an appraisal scheme that had developmental components only. The staff felt that the present scheme was too time-consuming in nature and that the busy exam preparation schedule the school undergo on a yearly basis was unsuitable to successfully implement it at the school. The appraisal came to a halt as a result of attitude of the staff at the AB school to it.