Abstract
The purpose of this paper, which is part of a three-year EU Erasmus+-funded study titled ‘Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools’ (DEAPS), is to provide an analysis of policies, structures, processes, supports and barriers that exist to enable or inhibit the involvement of students and parents in school evaluation in four European countries (Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey). Document analysis was used for this study and some 348 peer-reviewed articles, and 28 national and transnational policy documents were included in the analysis. Based on this review it would be reasonable to suggest that the student/parent voice agenda around evaluation in schools remains, by and large, aspirational. It is extolled in policy but in practice is mainly tokenistic with very little evidence of impact on the work of schools. In light of this, it is argued that government and school-level policies and strategies need to be reconsidered to enhance students’ and parents’ engagement in school evaluation. As a first step, significant further empirical research on the limitations on and conditions necessary for stakeholder voice in education is required.
Highlights
The decentralisation of governance and the consequent drive to more actively include citizens in decision-making processes have become part of the discourse of public sector ‘reform’ in most European countries in services such as healthcare and education (Beckmann et al, 2009; Verger and Curran 2014)
For example, while accountability through the process of school inspection has become emphasised in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, inspection models have matured and been adapted as educational evaluation systems mature
There is no significant role for students and parents in external school evaluations in Turkey, while in Belgium, they are assured of participatory roles in school policymaking, students and parents have no legal representation in the evaluation of schools
Summary
The decentralisation of governance and the consequent drive to more actively include citizens in decision-making processes have become part of the discourse of public sector ‘reform’ in most European countries in services such as healthcare and education (Beckmann et al, 2009; Verger and Curran 2014). The paper proceeds to examine policy and practice concerning student and parent involvement in both external and internal or school self-evaluation as it is commonly known in four European countries (Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey).
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