The paper presents an analysis of the impact of European and international educational and economic policies on the process of the faculty performance assessment in a national context. An empirical study was conducted at a school of education in a public research university in Portugal, with the purpose of identifying academics' perceptions about…

This article analyses the trajectory of national testing in Portugal between the early 1990s and 2015 in order to unveil continuities and changes in the regulatory processes of education in Portugal, particularly the emergence of results-based coordination and control methods. Drawing on legislative materials, it identifies and describes the…

This article is an introduction to a European Educational Research Journal special issue on accountability policies and instruments in Europe. Two hypotheses grounded in the new institutionalist theory are presented to conceptualise and analyse the variety of national trajectories and forms of accountability in four European education systems…

Various changes in the spheres of education policy and school management over recent decades have sparked a renewed interest in the issue of school culture and its potential to understand processes of leadership and academic performance. What are the contributions and potentialities of organizational culture for understanding school organizations…

This study extends research on school-based teacher collaboration from single country to comparative settings in Chile and Portugal. Based on interviews with school teachers and principals, the study focused on collaboration engagement and factors conditioning its modalities and depth. Findings indicate that more than country differences and…

Across OECD countries, the increasing demand for evidence-based policy making has further led governments to design policies jointly with clear measurable objectives, and to define relevant indicators to monitor their achievement. This paper discusses the importance of such indicators in supporting the implementation of education policies.…

Teacher evaluation accountability policies are emerging worldwide. This study examines principals' perceptions of teacher evaluation in terms of commonalities and differences arising from two research projects conducted in Portugal and in the US. Perceptions of school principals in regard to a new policy on teacher evaluation as well as its…

Different forms of accountability are part of educational restructuring across Europe. This article will focus on the different national configurations of accountability from teachers' point of view. A comparative perspective will enlarge on commonalities and differences between teachers' experiences in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, England, Sweden,…

Our purpose is to document convergences and divergences in the mode of institutional regulation of the education systems in five European countries (Belgium, England, France, Hungary and Portugal). On the national level, partially convergent policies create, to varying degrees and with different temporal rhythms, variants of a post-bureaucratic…

School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…

The future of Greece's well-being will depend on improving educational performance to boost productivity and improve social outcomes. In the current economic context, with the need to get best value for spending, Greece must and can address inefficiencies in its education system. The challenges are significant. For example, Greece lags behind many…