This paper reflects on compulsory school self-evaluation in Ireland.
It sets important historical and contemporary context by
documenting the development of a culture of evaluation in
Ireland throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium
before charting the rise of school self-evaluation during the
austere economic conditions of post-2008 Ireland. Three key
reasons are proposed for the rise of school self-evaluation: the
influence of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, the perceived need for more accountability, and
the drive towards self-managing schools. In debating the purpose
of school self-evaluation in Ireland it is put forward that it is not
underpinned by any single logic, but an assemblage of
overlapping logics interwoven by complements and
contradictions. It is concluded that while improvement is
predominantly promoted in official discourse, it is accountability
and economic logics that dominate
Metadata
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
school self-evaluation; Ireland; improvement accountability; economics; OECD