Lluís Parcerisa

The politics of educational success: a realist evaluation of early school leaving policies in Catalonia (Spain)

ABSTRACT The objective of the article is to examine what is ‘taken for granted’ in the policies designed to combat Early School Leaving (ESL) in Catalonia, identifying their implicit ontologies, causal assumptions and logics of action. In order to do so, the realist evaluation is applied. Specifically, this methodology has been applied to compare the discourses, priorities and policies of two key agents in defining and implementing policies to combat ESL in Catalonia: the Catalan Department for Education (Regional Government body) and the Barcelona Education Consortium (Local Government body). In each case, systematic documentary analysis has been conducted as well as in-depth interviews with educational experts and policymakers. The results of the analysis allows opening up the black box of the political priorities defined by this two political agents, identifying two highly controversial logics to understand educational success and to consequently address ESL

Can educational engagement prevent Early School Leaving? Unpacking the school’s effect on educational success

Abstract There is growing evidence that school engagement, or more specifically disengagement, is a key indicator for predicting Early School Leaving. The aim of this article is to explore the impact of secondary schools in student (dis)engagement and subsequent opportunities to succeed in school. Drawing on data from a qualitative study in five secondary schools in Barcelona, the article discusses the role of school context in inhibiting or facilitating school engagement by exploring compositional effects, organisational and pedagogical practices, and teachers’ expectations. To do so a twofold perspective is adopted: firstly, we look at the main school features and their impact on students’ educational opportunities; and secondly, a systematic analysis of the dimensions of school engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive) is carried out. As a result, the article contributes to the identification of the most significant variables at school level that influence student engagement and their opportunities for school success.

The growth and spread of large-scale assessments and test-based accountabilities: a political sociology of global education reforms

ABSTRACT The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is expanding internationally and reaching countries that seemed to be immune to this education reform approach until quite recently. Accordingly, more and more educational systems in the world are articulated around three main policy principles: accountability, standards and decentralisation. National large-scale assessments (NLSAs) are a core component of the GERM; these assessments are increasingly used for accountability purposes as well as to ensure that schools achieve and promote centrally defined and evaluable learning standards. In this paper, we explore these trends on the basis of a new and original database on NLSAs, as well as on data coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) questionnaires. In the paper we also discuss how different theories on policy dissemination/globalisation explain the international spread of NLSAs and test-based accountability worldwide, and reflect on the potential of a political sociology approach to analyse this globalising phenomenon.

La globalización de la rendición de cuentas en el ámbito educativo: una revisión de factores y actores de difusión de políticas

El articulo analiza los factores y condiciones que han favorecido la difusion de las politicas de rendicion de cuentas a escala global, y el papel desempenado por las organizaciones internacionales (OI) mas prominentes en el campo educativo al respecto. Metodologicamente, el articulo se basa en una aproximacion a la revision de la literatura conocida como scoping review que incluye 51 articulos. El articulo muestra que la globalizacion de la rendicion de cuentas en educacion es el resultado de la confluencia de factores de una naturaleza muy diferente, e identifica las convergencias y divergencias entre diferentes OIs a la hora de promover reformas basadas en la rendicion de cuentas.