In the Czech Republic, there are no national requirements for teacher appraisal and no formal procedures exist to periodically evaluate the performance of teachers. However, teacher appraisal is typically conducted by school principals in approaches defined locally by the schools. Teacher appraisal takes place (1) when teachers are hired as a way to assess their teaching capacities; and (2) as part of teachers’ regular work in the school through observations made by their school principals. There are no national performance criteria or reference teaching standards to guide the process. Appraisal criteria are decided by the schools and often by the school principal in processes which tend to include interviews and classroom observation. In the context of their autonomy, school principals generally use the results of teacher appraisal in defining professional development plans of individual teachers and in determining their career progression and pay levels. Particularly positive features of teacher appraisal include the wide acceptance of the principle that teachers should be evaluated; the focus on evaluating classroom teaching; the legal recognition of the importance of teacher professional development; the existing linkages with school evaluation; and the plans to develop teaching standards and a new career system for teachers. However, the development of teacher appraisal is faced with a number of challenges. These include the non-existence of a shared understanding of what constitutes high quality teaching; the non-systematic implementation of teacher appraisal; the little tradition of educational leadership in schools; the tensions between the accountability and improvement functions of teacher appraisal; the lack of transparency in linking teacher appraisal to salary rewards; and the poor links between teacher appraisal and professional development.