Ready for reform? Narratives of accountability from teachers and education leaders in Wales

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Accountability
• narrative
• leadership
• education reform
• schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Challenge advisers hold a systems leadership role in the Welsh system, working with schools, but employed by local authorities or school improvement consortia. Their role is set out in National Standards for Challenge Advisers (Wales 2014).

2 All names use are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matt Hutt

Dr Matt Hutt is a senior lecturer in the School of Education, Early Years and Social Work at the University of South Wales. Previously, he worked as a senior leader and English teacher in secondary schools and colleges in both Wales and England.

Nicky Lewis

Dr Nicky Lewis is a Head of Department within the School of Psychology and Therapeutic Studies at the University of South Wales. Previously, she has worked in senior leadership and governance positions in further and higher education, as well as in local authority and national governing body contexts.