Skip to main content

Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 535 Accesses

Part of the book series: Educational Governance Research ((EGTU,volume 11))

Abstract

This book provides a multilevel and comparative analysis of the effective implementation of performance-based accountability policies in French and Quebec education. Generally speaking, these policies can be defined as sets of objectives, measures, organizational processes, and tools whose goal is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of education systems through the introduction of mechanisms encouraging or forcing actors to aim for measurable objectives or targets and to be answerable for their actions and performances. Studied as such in this volume, these policies are also very rewarding empirical subjects for researchers aiming to investigate broader issues such as the implementation of New Public Management in education, state reforms and the globalization of education governance, since these policies are probably indicative of more general changes in public governance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Education refers here to primary and secondary education, whether or not it is compulsory.

  2. 2.

    French national research agency. Grant number: ANR- 11-FRQU-001 01.

  3. 3.

    Quebec funds for research on society and culture. Grant number: 2012-QF-163746.

  4. 4.

    In the French education system, académies designate state regional education authorities in charge of primary and secondary education.

  5. 5.

    The following elements are developed in greater detail in Chap. 3.

  6. 6.

    Some of these typologies are presented in greater detail in Chap. 3.

  7. 7.

    The methodological design of our research is detailed in Chap. 4.

  8. 8.

    Once again, for more details, see Chap. 3.

References

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1994). Education reform: A critical and post-structural approach. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1997). Policy sociology and critical social research: A personal review of recent education policy and policy research. British Educational Research Journal, 23(3), 257–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrère, A. (2006). Sociologie des chefs d’établissement. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bezes, P. (2005). Le renouveau du contrôle des bureaucraties. Informations sociales, 6, 26–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broadfoot, P. (2000). Un nouveau mode de régulation dans un système décentralisé: l’État évaluateur. Revue Française de Pédagogie, 130, 43–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buisson-Fenet, H., & Pons, X. (2014). School evaluation policies and educating states: Trends in four European countries. Berne, Switzerland: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carney, S. (2012). Imagining globalisation: Educational policyscapes. In G. Steiner-Khamsi & F. Waldow (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2012: Policy borrowing and lending in education (pp. 339–353). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnoy, M., & Loeb, S. (2002). Does external accountability affect student outcomes? A cross-state analysis. Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, 24(4), 305–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale, R., & Robertson, S. L. (2002). The varying effects of regional organizations as subjects of globalization of education. Comparative Education Review, 46(1), 10–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demailly, L. (2001). Evaluer les politiques éducatives: sens, enjeux, pratiques. In L. Demailly (Ed.), Enjeux de l’évaluation et régulation des systèmes scolaires. Bruxelles, Belgium: De Boeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demailly, L. (2003). L’évaluation comme apprentissage et négociation. Revue Française de Pédagogie, 142, 107–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demailly, L., & collègues. (1998). Evaluer les établissements scolaires: enjeux, expériences, débats. Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desrosières, A. (1993). La politique des grands nombres. Histoire de la raison statistique. Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupriez, V., & Mons, N. (2011). Introduction. Les politiques d’accountability. Du changement institutionnel aux transformations locales. Éducation Comparée, 5, 7–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easley, J., II, & Tulowitzki, P. (Eds.). (2016). Educational accountability. International perspectives on challenges and possibilities for school leadership. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Education Comparée. (2011). Les politiques d’accountability. Du Changement Institutionnel aux Transformations Locales, 5, 1–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Education Comparée. (2014). Le développement des politiques d’accountability et leur instrumentation dans le domaine de l’éducation. (11), 1–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunter, H. M., Grimaldi, E., Hall, D., & Serpieri, R. (Eds.). (2016). New public management and the reform of education. Londres: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, C., Hassenteufel, P., & Zittoun, P. (2018). Policy analysis in France. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hanushek, E. A., & Raymond, M. E. (2005). Does school accountability lead to improved student performance? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24(2), 297–327. https://doi.org/10.2307/3326211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, D. N., & Herrington, C. D. (2006). Accountability, standards, and the growing achievement gap: Lessons from the past half-century. American Journal of Education, 112(2), 209–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1986). The tools of government. Chatham, UK: Chatham House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69, 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1996). Exploring variations in public management reform of the 1980s. H. A. G. Hans, M. Bekke, J. L. Perry, T. A. Toonen, Civil service systems in comparative perspective 268–287). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knoepfel, P., Larrue, C., & Varone, F. (2006). Analyse et pilotage des politiques publiques. Zurich, Switzerland: Verslag Rüegger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kogan, M. (1988). Education accountability: An analytic overview. London/Dover, NH: USA Hutchinson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lascoumes, P. (1996). Rendre gouvernable: de la “traduction” au “transcodage”. L’analyse des processus de changement dans les réseaux d’action publique. In CURAPP (Ed.), La gouvernabilité (pp. 325–338). Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lascoumes, P., & Le Galès, P. (2004). Gouverner par les instruments. Paris: Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lascoumes, P., & Le Galès, P. (2007). Sociologie de l’action publique. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. (2006). Input-guarantee versus performance-guarantee approaches to school accountability: Cross-state comparisons of policies, resources, and outcomes. Peabody Journal of Education, 81(4), 43–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. (2008). Is test driven external accountability effective synthesizing the evidence from cross state causal comparative and correlational studies. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 608–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leithwood, K., & Earl, L. (2000). Educational accountability effects: An international perspective. Peabody Journal of Education, 75(4), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lessard, C., & Carpentier, A. (2015). Politiques éducatives: la mise en oeuvre. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lessard, C., & Meirieu, P. (2008). L’obligation de résultats en éducation: évolutions, perspectives et enjeux internationaux. Brussels, Belgium: De Boeck Supérieur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lijphart, A. (1971). Comparative politics and the comparative method. American Political Science Review, 65(3), 682–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard, B. (2006). Globalisation, the research imagination and deparochialising the study of education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 4(2), 287–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard, B., Martino, W., & Rezai-Rashti, G. (2013). Testing regimes, accountabilities and education policy: Commensurate global and national developments. Journal of Education Policy, 28(5), 539–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2013.820042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard, B., & Rawolle, S. (2011). New scalar politics: Implications for education policy. Comparative Education, 47(4), 489–502. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2011.555941.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney, J., & Thelen, K. (2010). Explaining institutional change: Ambiguity, agency, and power. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malen, B. (2006). Revisiting policy implementation as a political phenomenon. In New directions in education policy implementation (pp. 83–105). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maroy, C., Pons, X., & Dupuy, C. (2017). Vernacular globalisations: Neo-statist accountability policies in France and Quebec education. Journal of Education Policy, 32(1), 100–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2016.1239841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maroy, C., & Voisin, A. (2014). Une typologie des politiques d’accountability en éducation: l’incidence de l’instrumentation et des théories de la régulation. Education Compare, 11, 31–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattei, P. (2009). Restructuring welfare organizations in Europe: From democracy to good management? Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mattei, P. (2012). Market accountability in schools: Policy reforms in England, Germany, France and Italy. Oxford Review of Education, 38(3), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2012.689694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattei, P., Mitra, M., Vrangbæk, K., Neby, S., & Byrkjeflot, H. (2013). La réorganisation de l’imputabilité publique: les réformes hospitalières en Allemagne, en Norvège et au Danemark. Revue Internationale des Sciences Administratives, 79(2), 259–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neave, G. (1988). On the cultivation of quality, efficiency and enterprise: An overview of recent trends in higher education in Western Europe, 1986–1988. European Journal of Education, 23(1–2), 7–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Normand, R. (2011). Gouverner la Réussite Scolaire: Une Arithmétique Politique des Inégalités. Lyon, France/Berne, Switzerland: ENSL, Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Normand, R., & Derouet, J.-L. (2009). Quelles politiques pour l’égalité ? Savoirs, gouvernances et obligation de résultats. Réflexions croisées anglo-américaines. Lyon, France: INRP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozga, J., Dahler-Larsen, P., Segerholm, C., & Simola, H. (2011). Fabricating quality in education: Data and governance in Europe. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ozga, J., & Jones, R. (2006). Travelling and embedded policy: The case of knowledge transfer. Journal of Education Policy, 21(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. (1994). Dismantling the welfare state? Reagan, Thatcher and the politics of retrenchment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. (2001). The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public management reform: A comparative analysis. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranson, S. (2003). Public accountability in the age of neo-liberal governance. Journal of Education Policy, 18(5), 459–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268093032000124848.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salamon, L. M. (Ed.). (2002). The tools of governance. A guide to the new governance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (1995). Institutions and organizations: Toward a theoretical synthesis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerholm, C. (2012). The quality turn: Political and methodological challenges in contemporary educational evaluation and assessment. Education Inquiry, 3(2), 115–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. (1999). Public policy analysis in contemporary France: Academic approaches, questions and debates. Public Administration, 77(1), 111–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spillane, J., Reiser, B. J., & Reimer, T. (2002). Policy implementation and cognition: Reframing and refocusing implementation research. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 387–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voisin, A. (2017). Systèmes d’accountability basés sur la performance: types, logiques instrumentales et effets sur l’efficacité et l’équité des systèmes éducatifs d’Europe et du Canada. Une étude comparative à partir des données PISA 2012. PhD Thesis, Université de Montréal, Montréal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitty, G., Power, S., & Halpin, D. (1998). Devolution and choice in education: The school, the state and the market. Philadelphia: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wößmann, L. (2007). International evidence on school competition, autonomy, and accountability: A review. Peabody Journal of Education, 82(2–3), 473–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Maroy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Maroy, C., Pons, X. (2019). Introduction. In: Maroy, C., Pons, X. (eds) Accountability Policies in Education. Educational Governance Research, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01285-4_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01285-4_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01284-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01285-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics