The tyranny of narrow accountability culture
Fielding (2001) argued at the turn of this century that the professional worth of teachers and schools has been almost entirely judged using a narrow and pervasive accountability system that is more concerned with readily measurable means than the wellbeing and development of individual teachers or the learning of students. Increasingly, it is clear that schools cannot adequately develop, transform and thrive in systems where universal measures of school effectiveness discount the unique context of schools and the communities that they serve.
This was addressed by Simons (1996) through her analysis of case study methodology, where she argued that discovering new knowledge and learning about the world requires an interaction with the tension between what is commonly known (the universal) and a willingness to explore and acknowledge different ways of seeing the world (the unique).i
When considering school transformation, this tension can be seen between the universal expectations, measurements and paradigms of what is considered quality education, and the unique stories of how learning occurs within schools and within individuals. Both are needed. But the preoccupation with the universal in education, through standardised testing and normative performativity measures, tends to privilege a common, reduced curriculum with quality criteria designed at a government level.
This inevitably undervalues what is needed for a particular school and the community that this school serves and too often leads to poor quality learning. As MacBeath et al. (2018) have discussed, there are examples across the world of school leaders and teachers ‘ensnared in the vertical accountability web’ and policy that is ‘by design discriminating and by impact dehumanising’.ii
Hence, as educators, we are continually challenged to consider how we respond to the destructive impact this has on the learning experiences of our young people. And as a school, we recognise that our curriculum design needs to respond to the community that we serve, to the unique lived experiences of our students and their own challenges and aspirations.
Passmores Academy
Our school is located in Harlow, which is in the most deprived 30% areas of England. Most significantly, Harlow has high levels of child poverty. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, ‘low income is not merely a symptom of poverty, but a direct cause of reduced life chances’.