A avaliação externa das escolas: entre a conformidade e a inovação

In a society marked by neoliberal values inscribed in globalization and the ideology of innovation, promoting a culture of evaluation will create conditions for schools to act as organic systems capable of creating systemic transformation strategies and responsiveness to social change. An accountability system asserts itself as a tool to support school cultures focused on continuous improvement and promoting the quality of education. This article presents an empirical study carried out in Portugal related to the external evaluation action developed between 2018 and 2021. Based on the analysis of 60 external evaluation reports, the study combined qualitative and quantitative methods to understand whether there is an effect between the strengths and improvement areas and the evaluation assigned by the Inspectorate. The results suggest that a robust strategic vision and the action of mobilizing leaders are cross-cutting predictors of the various domains of the schools’ evaluation, even if they register weak articulations. Predictors indexed to specific evaluation domains were also identified: academic results, self-evaluation focused on teaching-learning, deepening of self-evaluation practices, and active teaching-learning methodologies concerning the outcomes domain; active teaching-learning methodologies and academic outcomes concerning the public service domain; commitment to inclusion concerning the leadership and management domain. However, these correlations sometimes have problematic levels of consistency. No relationships were found between school evaluation and innovation. Thus, innovation emerges as a marginal dimension of the school reality and is irrelevant in terms of impact on the evaluation of schools.