Revisions of evidence-based governance: The case of the Austrian quality management system SQA

Abstract

Throughout the last 30 years, many European countries have ‘modernized’ their governance of education. For the Central European school systems of Austria and the German Bundesländer it has been claimed that this ‘modernization’ was characterised by a sequence of reform ‘waves’ which culminated in introducing ‘evidence-based governance’ models characterised by nation-wide comparative performance testing, new school inspections, etc. This paper argues that we recently see the emergence of revisions of the original ‘evidence-based governance’ models which may be understood as a new ‘wave of modernization’ of school governance. These models aim to react to increasing criticism of the evidence-based philosophy, in particular to its ambivalent attitude to teacher professionalism. The paper at hand analyses the specific aspirations and features of ‘revised evidence-based governance instruments’ to discuss their potential as a policy future. In a second step, we take the Austrian quality management system SQA as an example for these new governance models. In an explorative study, we use case data to understand how teachers and school leaders evaluate this reform and its impact on their work. In particular, we are interested whether or not educational professionals feel that this reform conveys appreciation of and trust in their professional capacities.