Who is this template for?
This template is designed for all teachers in Wales, from NQTs to experienced practitioners, who want a structured way to reflect on their practice. It is also a valuable tool for Headteachers and Senior Leaders (SLT) to support staff appraisal and professional learning across the school.
Why use this template?
This template provides a clear, developmental process to ensure teacher reflection is meaningful, evidence-informed, and directly aligned with the professional standards for teaching and leadership in Wales.
- Empower Teacher Ownership: It moves performance management beyond a simple checklist, empowering teachers to take ownership of their professional growth through structured, meaningful reflection.
- Provide Clarity and Focus: The template is built around the five core professional standards, giving teachers a clear and consistent framework to evaluate their practice and identify areas for growth.
- Facilitate Meaningful Appraisal: It helps teachers prepare for performance management reviews by organising their reflections, evidence, and development goals into one clear summary, leading to richer professional dialogue.
- Promote an Evidence-Informed Culture: The iAbacus process encourages teachers to support their judgements with tangible evidence from their practice, such as lesson plans, pupil work, and feedback.
- Connect Reflection to Action: It moves beyond simple evaluation to help teachers create a clear, actionable plan for their continuing professional development (CPD), linking their goals directly to the standards.
How does it work?
This template uses the intuitive, step-by-step iAbacus process to guide you from reflection to action. You will evaluate your practice across the five professional standards, making judgements against the following levels: 1 star to 3 stars.
The key areas evaluated are:
- Pedagogy
- Collaboration
- Professional Learning
- Innovation
- Leadership
Gaining Strategic Insight
A Headteacher or senior leader can use the 'Overlay' feature to view the self-evaluations from all teachers on a single screen. This provides a powerful strategic overview, instantly highlighting collective strengths, identifying where best practice can be shared, and revealing areas where mentoring or whole-school CPD might be needed to support staff growth and ensure all learners receive the highest quality of teaching.
Clear, Professional Reporting
The one-click PDF report provides a rich, organised summary of a teacher's self-reflection, evidence, and action plan. It is the perfect document to bring to a performance management review, facilitating a meaningful, evidence-informed professional dialogue between the teacher and their line manager or appraiser.
References / Source Material
How to Get Started
New to iAbacus? Discover how this template can support your improvement strategy. Book a personalised demo or start a free trial to explore the full platform. Visit www.iAbacus.com to learn more.
Already a subscriber? You can find this template in the template library within your iAbacus account. Simply log in, create a new abacus, and select it from the list to get started.
