Resumen de Les trajectòries i la implementació de polítiques de rendició de comptes en educació. El cas de xile
Accountability in education includes very variegated models and multiple design options. However, performance-based accountability (or PBA) is the accountability model that has spread further globally. Despite the wide dissemination of PBA, it is still unclear what are the reasons behind its adoption across countries with disparate governments, education systems, and levels of economic development. Likewise, the evidence on the effects of PBA is largely inconclusive and, in fact, the literature on this topic points out the risk of accountability measures triggering non-desired effects.
This doctoral dissertation explores the trajectories and enactment of PBA reforms in different contexts with a particular focus on Chile. The objective of the investigation is two-fold. First, the thesis analyzes the rationales behind the adoption of PBA reforms and the factors that influence their recontextualization at the national level. To this end, this study carries out a systematic literature review (n=158) on the trajectories of PBA policies at the international level (Publication A), and a case study of PBA reforms in Chile (2006-2011) based on semi-structured interviews to stakeholders (n=27) and documentary analysis (Publication B). Secondly, the thesis examines the implementation and effects of PBA reforms in different school contexts in Chile. The thesis combines a scoping review of the literature (n=150) on the implementation and effects of the PBA reforms (Publication C), with the analysis of school responses in Chile (Publications D and E). These investigations are based on a sequential mixed methods design approach, which includes a survey to the management team (n=200) and teachers (n=1130) in a representative sample of 79 schools, and 50 semi-structured interviews with school leaders and teachers. Finally, through a comparative case study that combines semi-structured interviews (n=7) with documentary analysis and surveys of managers and teachers (n=39), the thesis delves into the enactment of PBA policies and data-use in disadvantaged contexts.
The findings show that the trajectories of PBA reforms are not linear. Far from increasing convergence in the PBA models internationally adopted, the thesis highlights the central role of administrative regimes in explaining variation in the regulation and evolution of PBA in different national contexts. Second, the study shows that, in the case of Chile, the emergence of a double educational crisis caused by global and local drivers facilitated the adoption of PBA policies. The political malleability of PBA - and the fact that it can be constructed as a solution to different diagnoses - is key to explain its selection as a policy solution to the educational crisis that Chile was going through. In terms of policy enactment, the thesis identifies five school responses to PBA regulations called induced alignment, de facto opting out, dilution, accommodation, and fabrication. The thesis shows that, in disadvantaged contexts, PBA policies can trigger short-term improvement strategies that do not revert to a substantive pedagogical change. Furthermore, in those school contexts where negative perceptions about PBA predominate, these perceptions can inhibit the reactivity of objective performance pressures and data-use incentives.
