The Victorian government has scrapped the rating scale for teacher performance reviews.

The Labor Government has also confirmed its opposition to performance pay.

Education Minister James Merlino sent a letter to schools this week, saying that the change to the teacher review system was effective immediately.

“They are changes that have a direct bearing on your professional lives and I wanted to convey to you my rationale in making the decision to change the model at this point in the cycle,” he wrote.

The move comes after the former Coalition Government criticised the performance review system in 2013, when it found 99.8 per cent of teachers were eligible to move up the pay scale after being promoted just the year before.

The Coalition clashed with teachers about a proposed scheme in that would have seen principals expected to knock back up to 40 per cent of state school teachers from moving up the pay scale.

The Australian Education Union later challenged the scheme in court and a watered-down version was agreed upon.

The previous government also attempted to bring in performance pay for teachers, which further strained its relationship with teachers.

Mr Merlino said Labor would not introduce performance pay “because we know it doesn't work”.

He said the changes would “restore professional judgement” to the process.

Under the new scheme, teachers' performance will still be measured against “student outcomes” in the current performance review cycle, but consultations have been launched to find changes for the 2015-16 cycle.

Australian Education Union state president Meredith Peace has welcomed the move.

But she told reporters that the union would push for more changes ahead of future performance review cycles.