School accountability policies: A debate based on international literature and the Chilean situation

Abstract

Chile has entered into a stage that consolidates a model of high-stake accountablity through the setup of the National Quality Assurance System. This paper offers a conceptual analysis of the assumptions and components at play in the mentioned policy. In addition, the analysis of a relevant body of international and national research is presented as a review of publications in scientific journals (Scopus, ISI) for the past 10 years, plus books and other works by key authors. In total 171 documents were considered. The paper concludes that, despite the high expectations of accountability policies, there are critical issues that challenge the expected benefits. Additionally, the notion of “accountability” is opened and diversified, in order to rethink the Quality Assurance schema in Chile and, hence, expand the policy imaginary in education for future transformations.