ABSTRACT

The Welsh education system is engaging in a wide-ranging series of reforms and, as part of these reforms, is moving towards an accountability system that aims to work collaboratively with teachers and school leaders in a self-improving system. The aspiration is to move away from accountability structures that are built around high-stakes performative measures. Reform in this area implies change at procedural and cultural levels, and this article presents a research project that explores teacher, school leader and challenge adviser perspectives on accountability, through the lens of narrative inquiry, to identify ways in which accountability is currently constructed and understood. Findings indicate that teachers develop narratives that are focused upon anxiety over impact, whilst leaders focus on critiquing modes of measurement, and that accountability, therefore, is problematised in differing ways by different cohorts of professionals. Furthermore, the leaders’ narratives explore an unresolved tension between the desire for an accountability system which is nuanced and detailed, and the desire for an accountability system which is also clear and unambiguous. It is argued that successful reform will have to engage explicitly with these different ways of understanding accountability if it is to be successfully co-constructed with the profession in the current context.

摘要

威尔士教育系统正在进行一系列广泛的改革，作为这些改革的一部分，它正在朝着问责制度迈进，旨在与教师和学校领导在自我完善的系统中合作。我们的愿望是摆脱围绕高风险绩效措施建立的问责制结构。该领域的改革意味着程序和文化层面的变化，本文提出了一个研究项目，通过叙事探究的视角，探索教师、学校领导和挑战顾问对问责制的看法，以确定当前构建和理解问责制的方式. 调查结果表明，教师的叙述侧重于对影响的焦虑，而领导者侧重于批评衡量模式，因此，不同的专业人士群体以不同的方式对问责制提出了质疑。此外，领导人的叙述探讨了对细致入微的问责制度的渴望与同样清晰明确的问责制度的渴望之间未解决的紧张关系。有人认为，如果要在当前背景下成功地与行业共同构建，成功的改革必须明确地采用这些不同的理解问责制的方式。以及对同样清晰明确的问责制的渴望。有人认为，如果要在当前背景下成功地与行业共同构建，成功的改革必须明确地采用这些不同的理解问责制的方式。以及对同样清晰明确的问责制的渴望。有人认为，如果要在当前背景下成功地与行业共同构建，成功的改革必须明确地采用这些不同的理解问责制的方式。