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After over a decade of crisis, the ECB's functions have expanded considerably, which in turn altered its relationship with other institutions. In particular, when the ECB assumed the role of Banking Supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanisms, it was generally accepted that this role would require more accountability than its traditional role in monetary policy. Yet, accountability requires transparency. However, there is a dearth of studies on the transparency of European banking supervision, and the few that exist are usually single case studies. This leaves us without a point of comparison that would help us understand what constitutes a 'transparent banking supervisor'. Therefore, the aim of this article is to situate the transparency of the ECB within the wider literature on the transparency of banking supervisors. This allows us to pinpoint more precisely its strengths and shortcomings and the potential for reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the potential of a paper diary for strengthening accountability in public agricultural extension services. Therefore a paper diary called 'Diary for Agricultural Extension Officers' was developed and tested in Uganda. A qualitative case study research approach was applied for the development and assessment of the diary. Data were collected using focus group discussions and individual face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was conducted using the content analysis method. Paper diaries can strengthen accountability in public agricultural extension services by enabling alignment of the extension activities of the field agents to the goals of the extension service and to the needs of the beneficiaries, in addition to mitigating information asymmetry about the extension activities. However, the implementation of paper diaries requires sensitization of the beneficiaries on the need for verification and feedback. This study is centred around addressing a practical problem of field agents' accountability and results have the potential to improve management of public services such as agricultural extension. Moreover, the findings could also be relevant for all types of organizations and service delivery methods. This study expanded the boundaries of the principal-agent theory by applying it to the accountability of agricultural extension services using paper diaries, which have hitherto not been widely applied. This study advances the debates of accountability and coordination of agricultural extension services by assessing the potential of a paper diary as the literature has to date assessed the potential of electronic diaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of international systemic reforms promoting professional standards for teachers and inclusivity of diverse students in schools, this paper presents and demonstrates conceptual means by which educators can critically respond to the uncomfortable couplet of standardisation and difference. This is primarily achieved by theorising alternative ways of making sense of difference. Core to the argument is that standards can become more than prescriptions for educating in the same way when teachers recognise their positionality, examine the socio-cultural context of their work, and take action to ensure equality or equity of opportunity within the classroom. The paper is presented in three sections. The first section addresses the use of teaching standards in the United States and Australia, examining various ways inclusive education is articulated as a standard for practice. The second section engages theory from critical disability studies as a fillip to thinking differently about disability. The final section creates conceptual space for educators to move effectively between different intentions – their own as practitioners, the profession's standards, and socio-material conditions involving ethics and accountability. On the whole, conveyed throughout the paper is the necessity for teachers to orientate towards contextual sense-making of professional standards to support inclusive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Public Money & Management is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to its own description, the biomedical meta-database PubMed exists "with the aim of improving health—both globally and personally." Unfortunately, PubMed contains an increasing amount of low-quality research that may detract from this goal. Currently, PubMed warns its users and protects itself from such problems with a disclaimer stating that the presence of any article, book, or document in PubMed does not imply an endorsement of, or concurrence with, its contents by the NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or the U.S. Federal Government. However, we are critical of a "disclaimer-only" stance and encourage PubMed to take further action against low-quality research being found and indexed in its database, and thus available for use. To address this problem, we offer two lines of reasoning to argue that PubMed should not function merely as a passive index of health-related research. Instead, we first argue that only trustworthy published research is able to further PubMed's goal of health improvement. Secondly, on the basis of surveys, we argue that researchers place a high level of trust in articles that are referenced in this meta-database. We cannot expect any one set of actors to ensure trustworthy content on PubMed, which requires collective responsibility among authors, peer reviewers, editors, and indexers alike. Instead, we propose a curation-based model that incorporates three mechanisms of collaborative content curation: open expert feedback on indexed content, journal auditing, and constant transparent reassessment of indexed entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite widespread criticisms, governments around the world have adopted Value for Money (VfM) analysis as a key metric in gauging the prospective value of infrastructure projects. This paper examines the institutional processes through which VfM is rendered defensible as a form of valuation. Drawing on a case study of Infrastructure Ontario in Canada, the paper demonstrates that this involves strategies for partitioning space and time, including boundary work, objectification, phasing and outsourcing. We argue that the institution of delays and distances ultimately fosters the displacement of subjectivity in the valuation process while entrenching distinctively financialized understandings of value. Moreover, we demonstrate that this is driven not so much by the organization's desire to control the future but by a defensive orientation that sets out to ward off potential critiques that may arise from project failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I offer a descriptive and normative analysis of the requirements for effective transnational solidarity between southern NGOs and their northern partners. Drawing on interviews conducted with staff members of Senegalese women's rights NGOs and a private international development foundation, I contend that existing theories of feminist transnational solidarity cannot allow us to properly acknowledge the power asymmetries and obstacles to solidarity that these NGOs are facing. After assessing the divisions related to gender interests and limited resources that characterize this NGO-ized development landscape, I develop a partial theory of transnational solidarity that would center power asymmetries in order to address practical and political obstacles to solidarity. I argue that an effective account of transnational solidarity must include a commitment to disrupting global hierarchies of power as well as to building practices of accountability and attentiveness to power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of football fraud and how it can be addressed is fragmented in the literature, lacking a holistic view. This paper provides a holistic understanding of fraud in professional football through a comprehensive framework that encompasses (i) the typologies and methods of perpetrating fraud in football, (ii) the enablers of football fraud, and (iii) how to mitigate fraud risk in professional football. Additionally, it highlights literature gaps and suggests new directions for future research to open up academic debates on this significant topic. The findings show no evidence of external fraud reported in the literature. However, insider fraud, particularly corruption in all its forms, is well documented. There is minimal evidence of other insider fraud types, such as asset misappropriation and financial fraud, and even fewer studies discussing fraud against football players and fans. The analysis highlights various fraud risk factors in football, ranging from financial and sporting performance, competitive balance, and financial regulation issues to the lack of accountability, anti-fraud controls, governance mechanisms, and weak integrity culture in FIFA and football clubs. The paper summarizes various other motives and opportunities enabling football fraud and proposes a holistic framework for mitigating fraud risk in football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective, accountable and transparent institutions, that engage in inclusive and participatory governance, are crucial for the sustainability of global development investments. However, there is a debate about whether effective approaches to improving governance processes operate from the bottom up (e.g. by enabling citizens to hold service providers accountable) or the top down (by enabling service providers to be held accountable by the State). This paper systematically reviews participation and accountability mechanisms in a range of sectors, drawing on principles of realist evaluation to develop and test middle-range theory using framework synthesis and statistical meta-analysis. We show that interventions promoting citizen engagement through participatory priority setting or accountability mechanisms are often effective in stimulating active citizen engagement in service delivery and realising improvements in access to services, where they facilitate direct engagement between service users and front-line service providers, such as in health care. However, citizen engagement interventions alone are not effective where services are accessed independently of service provider staff, for example road infrastructure. Interventions promoting participation by increasing citizens' pressures on politicians to hold providers to account are also not usually able to influence service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does top-down accountability spur bureaucrats to improve service provision? This paper highlights the potential drawbacks of top-down accountability for building a responsive bureaucracy. Based on an online survey experiment involving 923 bureaucrats in China, we find that bureaucrats are less responsive to citizens' needs when they are exposed to the risk of being sanctioned and the recent remedial policy of principled tolerance cannot offset such effects. In contrast to scholars arguing that increased top-down accountability pressure improves government responsiveness, these findings imply that insulating bureaucracy allows them to do their jobs more responsively. The findings enhance our understanding of accountability and responsiveness in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of empirical studies focusing on NGO accountability practices remains limited. This paper responds to this gap. It presents the accountability practices identified in an empirical study of a nongovernmental development programme in Tanzania. Drawing on data collected through field work and analysed through coding, visualisations, and detailed descriptions, this study observed how practices constituting this development programme were held together by accountability practices. This paper analyses these accountability practices: (a) prescribing–reporting–verifying, (b) measuring, (c) contracting, and (d) capacity building, learning, and acting together. It demonstrates how these accountability practices facilitate the coordination of this development programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new ECB leadership made it its explicit priority to make ECB’s policies greener. Although doubt remains about the scale and effectiveness of the policies implemented since then, the idea that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against climate change has become widely accepted. The main narrative in support of this idea states that the ECB’s pro-climate engagement is part of its primary mandate – price stability. However, until not long ago, ECB’s primary mandate was rather used by those opposing the greening of central banking, while it was largely ignored by pro-climate advocates. How has this narrative emerged and gained traction? This paper argues that this narrative results from a process of coalition-building between pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate politicians in the European Parliament. Building on a multi-method text analysis of original datasets of accountability communications as well as in-depth interviews, this paper documents the mechanisms through which pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate MEPs co-constructed the pro-climate narrative, using accountability relationships as a coalition-building arena. The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on central banks’ accountability, politicisation and role in the green transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative reporting, both in relation to financial and non-financial information, is increasingly used and often mandated, with significant managerial discretion regarding content. As policy makers consider reporting as a tool for regulation to steer the behaviour of companies towards improving practices and performance upon which they have to disclose, the aim of this paper is to provide the state of the art in the academic literature on narrative reporting and identify future challenges. In order to do so, the paper investigates three questions: (1) How has the quality of narrative reporting been defined? (2) What narrative information is required and used by various stakeholders? (3) What are the real effects of narrative reporting? In answering these three questions, our review also gives implications for both future academic research and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous 'field of judgment' through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to stagnant or declining student outcomes. In this paper, we examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We draw on Foucault's notion of panopticism and Ball's influential writings on performativity to analyse interviews with 21 educators from 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, conducted during a 2014–2015 randomised controlled trial. Participants highlighted the pervasiveness of testing and test results in shaping their experience of teaching in a system of perpetual surveillance where numbers bite deep into practice. By contrast, participation in QTR afforded teachers rare spaces of freedom within the structure of performativity to collaboratively focus on pedagogy. We argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, girls' education has been an increasingly high-profile concern in international development policy. At the same time, there has been a trend towards the greater production and reliance on quantitative data, indicators and targets in national and international education policy. Scholars have raised concerns about the rise of 'performance-based' approaches to accountability in education, and potential counterproductive effects of this for social justice and equality. However, few studies have explored how this trend plays out in practice within international organisations, particularly in relation to the heightened focus on girls' education. This paper explores the implications of the increasing reliance on quantitative measures for policy actors and draws on a set of interviews with key stakeholders working in organisations concerned with gender and education to explore their divergent understandings of accountability processes. The paper concludes by reflecting on the prospects for a transformative approach to measuring gender equality and girls' education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased attention to gendered violence has led to a burgeoning of different community-based programmes designed to support men and boys to adopt more inclusive and respectful masculinities. Accompanying this attention has been a proliferation of guidance materials to support facilitators to critically reflect on their identities and practice to enact their work in gender just ways. In this paper, we explore issues of reflexivity, ethics and accountability in how facilitators work with men and boys. Through three facilitator stories, we consider processes of reflexivity in relation to facilitators: 1) recognizing their intersectional selves, 2) acknowledging and learning from prejudice, and 3) bringing an ethics of openness and vulnerability to their work. We argue that these areas of reflexivity are central to gender transformative facilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts tools from political science and political anthropology to re-evaluate the prevailing discourses of accountability and marketisation that continue to shape education policies across the developing world. Following an exploration of studies promoting the quasi-marketisation of education and reforms that empower parents to exercise their voice and choice, this paper adopts principal–agent theory, social dominance theory and concept of the everyday to argue that such community-centric policies – which were initially devised to offset the capture of education by the state – may de facto lead to the education landscape becoming intrinsically politicised and reflective of national political discourses, albeit not in the way we conventionally believe. It argues that parents can no longer be regarded as passive, apolitical agents in education discourse. Rather, citizens' interests are continually in conflict, and in a marketised system designed to respond to the interests of more dominant parents, schools may become sites in which inter-group contestations and competing political beliefs are reified. This article invites us to revise our current understanding of education and politics, and question: What – or whom – do we define as political, and why is this becoming increasingly important? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns accountability and agency concepts in governance reforms in Indonesia. The country's economic crisis in 1997, which snowballed into social and political crisis, triggered the country to reform the governance of the ministries by transferring government functions from ministries to agency-type organizations. However, this reform has led to rising questions about the accountability arrangements of the newly formed organisations which are oriented to agency-based governance. In addition, there are several different arrangements for these agencies. This study aims to analyse the extent to which accountability is accorded in various types of agencies. In doing so, the study uses typology of the government agencies as a tool to understand the accountability through its autonomies. The results indicate that the variety of agencies' forms requires a different accountability setting, which is not being met in the current regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/Education for All (EFA) seeks to reduce poverty and bridge inequalities through the provision of quality education in developing countries. This paper sets out to accomplish two main objectives: (a) examine the extent to which the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant (GPEG) retained its pro-poor intentions during the course of implementation, and (b) examine if/whether GPEG eschewed resource capture by the political elite. A mixed methodology approach was employed in this study. Findings of the study showed the program was largely implemented in a pro-poor manner and was also devoid of the elite capture of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, a critical examination of educational concepts, policies and practices, presents findings from research into the impact of accountability agendas on teacher professionalism and pedagogic practices. The study, theoretically framed through Halstead's notions of contractual and responsive accountability, and Gramsci's hegemonic practices, examined secondary arts teachers' pedagogical autonomy and professionalism in England and New Zealand. We provide an overview of current education policy contexts in both countries, and their impact upon secondary school arts education (years 11–16). Drawing from interview data from 15 England and New Zealand teachers, we offer a critique and innovative counter-narrative for the accountability measures currently dominating English schooling. Drawing together perspectives from both jurisdictions, we suggest more inclusive, democratic and responsive assessment and performative measures for the English context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' work in India is impacted by the ongoing restructuring of school education that incorporates simultaneous attempts at reform and regulation. Child-friendly assessment policy instituted by the local bureaucracy leads to intensification of teachers' administrative roles, drawing their attention away from critical pedagogic ones. Limitations in policy interpretation are found to be in response to the official discourse of efficiency that manifests in performative measures of accountability inconsistent with the intended reforms. In this ethnographic case study in an urban middle school for poor, teachers' attempts to comply with instruments of accountability while adapting to changing pedagogic relations with their students and achieve coherence in their identities are examined. The paper draws attention to the contrasts between models of good teaching held by teachers, vis-à-vis the official discourse. It argues for a reworking of the existing model of accountability towards incorporating a cultural-political conception of pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper deals with practices of personal mobility in public space, such as walking, passing-by and queuing, and their intelligible, recognizable and intersubjectively coordinated character. People co-exist in public places without having to explain their conduct in so-many-words; they smoothly navigate by coordinating their bodies and mobile trajectories without collisions; they queue without any instructions and differentiate between who joins the queue and who projects to butt in the queue. This article addresses the intelligibility of walking trajectories in public space, how they are bodily achieved and visibly interpreted. It reflects on mobility by relying on the notion of public in two different but complementary perspectives: a) by reference to mobility in the context of public places such as parks, squares, and streets; b) by reference to the public intelligibility and recognizability of mobile actions in social interaction. The convergence between these two notions of public enables us to investigate how mobile social actions are formed (made recognizable) and how they are ascribed (actually recognized) by co-present unacquainted persons in public space. The analysis draws on video recordings of mobile trajectories in streets, pathways, and squares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key feature of EU Smart Specialization is experimentalist governance, or the idea that policy principals only partially possess the necessary knowledge for policy design and implementation. Instead, discovering policy priorities, designing instruments, and detecting and correcting errors are the responsibilities of a wide range of innovation stakeholders. However, particularly in institutionally less developed countries and regions, there is often a clash between the requirements for experimental governance and the public policy demand for predominantly procedural accountability. Our central argument is that the experimentation dimension cannot be added to the conventional policy cycle without altering it. This results in a trade-off between experimentation and accountability, leading to four disconnected governance regimes: EDP, design, implementation, and M&E. This paper demonstrates this issue in the case of Croatia's S3. Using the concept of a dynamic policy cycle, we critically examine different solutions to experimentation and highlight their deficiencies. Our analysis and conclusions are highly relevant for countries and regions adopting experimental policy approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares approaches to accountability in US charter schools and English academies. We examine the development and main characteristics of these two types of schools before assessing how they are accountable, to whom, and for what. Drawing on both primary and secondary sources, we explore the consequences of the accountability mechanisms in each jurisdiction. Our comparative analysis assesses the different and multiple forms of accountability to which charter schools and academies are subject. We discuss the similarities that exist in the two jurisdictions, albeit that the most consequential sanctions – closure of charter schools and transfer of academies – differ between countries. The final section concludes and highlights policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student evaluation of teaching (SeT) is ubiquitous in higher education but has been criticized by many scholars because of low use for course improvement benefiting student learning. Academic developers (ADs) are responsible for pedagogical courses and to support leadership and academics in processes enhancing educational quality. We could therefore expect ADs to play a key role in SeT practice. This paper investigates how Norwegian ADs and Academic Development Units (ADUs) are engaged in SeT practice. Norwegian academic leaders of twelve ADUs are interviewed about ADs' roles and responsibilities in evaluation policy and SeT practice. The empirical data are analyzed by using the terms 'accountability' and 'professional responsibility' aiming to better understand the use of SeT. Before the turn of the millennium, ADs were actively engaged in SeT practice, but our study found that they are no longer central actors and little time is spent on the topic in pedagogical courses. Today evaluation is dominated by accountability logic and is professionalized by administration and leadership. We will argue that there is a potential to strengthen SeT as a tool for educational development by inviting ADs into evaluation policy development and by including evaluation as part of pedagogical courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between governments and legislatures is founded upon a confidence agreement, whereby the executive derives its authority from, and is accountable to, the legislature. As heads of government, prime ministers are crucial political actors in parliamentary systems, yet there is little understanding of how they are held accountable by legislatures. What are the mechanisms through which parliamentarians may question them? How do such mechanisms vary, and how do procedural rules affect questioning and accountability? This paper builds on theoretical foundations from comparative legislative studies and presents the first survey of mechanisms through which parliamentarians may question prime ministers in 31 parliamentary democracies. It draws on research on parliamentary rules of procedure, followed by a consultation with practitioners on matters of convention and practice. It presents novel classifications and typologies of parliamentary questioning mechanisms that include prime ministers along six key dimensions, thus filling a crucial gap in executive-legislative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how trust in teacher professional judgment has been reconstituted through the globalised trends of performative accountability and reductive data-driven logics. The article draws upon empirical research from interviews with teachers and school leaders as well as observations of teacher preparation days, classroom and staff professional learning communities (PLCs), as part of a larger study of schooling practices in two geographically and contextually bound Queensland public schools. The paper focuses attention upon the socio-political, material-economic and cultural-discursive conditions inscribed in how data are currently understood and deployed, and how these conditions constrain trust in teachers, devaluing teachers' own professional judgment. Specifically, we flag how the practices and conditions that constrained trust were manifest in a) pressures to ensure teachers generated and collected data on an ongoing basis to substantiate their claims about student learning, and b) a perceived mistrust amongst parents and a subsequent need to justify decision-making on the basis of 'hard evidence'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits our knowledge of sport organization governance design archetypes. To do so, we focus on Canadian national sport organizations (NSOs) and pose three research questions: (1) what governance design archetypes exist based on the use of more contemporary criteria; (2) how easily can an NSO's archetype be determined; and (3) what are the implications of these new archetypes for researchers and practitioners? We undertook a landscape study of 32 Canadian NSOs with data from an online survey, publicly-available information, and clarification calls. Archetypes were derived from 47 organizational and governance characteristics using a k-means cluster analysis. Our empirically-derived archetype design taxonomy showed the best fit to be four clusters (Board-led, Executive-led, Professional, and Corporate) based on key organizational values, complexity, capacity, revenue sources, and governance variables. Besides knowing NSOs are more heterogenous than in the past, researchers and practitioners can use capacity, efficiency, horizontal differentiation, broadcast revenue, political accountability, and social media information to derive an NSO's governance archetype. These findings imply researchers can (1) examine non-profit sport organizations' changes over time based on a set of archetypes reflecting contemporary realities, and (2) compare and contrast NSOs' governance more holistically. In turn, managers can better compare their NSO with other NSOs to optimize their organization's performance. Finally, national sport agencies/funders should support NSOs' governance improvement efforts through flexible guidelines and resources because of NSOs' governance heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on compulsory school self-evaluation in Ireland. It sets important historical and contemporary context by documenting the development of a culture of evaluation in Ireland throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium before charting the rise of school self-evaluation during the austere economic conditions of post-2008 Ireland. Three key reasons are proposed for the rise of school self-evaluation: the influence of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the perceived need for more accountability, and the drive towards self-managing schools. In debating the purpose of school self-evaluation in Ireland it is put forward that it is not underpinned by any single logic, but an assemblage of overlapping logics interwoven by complements and contradictions. It is concluded that while improvement is predominantly promoted in official discourse, it is accountability and economic logics that dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-functioning purchasing arrangements allocate pooled funds to health providers, and are expected to deliver efficient, effective, quality, equitable and responsive health services and advance progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). This paper explores how improvements in purchasing functions in three Nigerian schemes—the Formal Sector Social Health Insurance Program (FSSHIP), the Saving One Million Lives Program for Results (SOML PforR), and Enugu State's Free Maternal and Child Health Program (FMCHP)—may have contributed to better resource allocation, incentives for performance, greater accountability and improved service delivery. The paper uses a case-study approach, with data analyzed using the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework. Data were collected through review of program documents and published research articles, and semi-structured interviews of 33 key informant interviews. Findings were triangulated within each case study across the multiple sources of information. Improvements in benefits specification and provider payment contributed to some service delivery improvements in all three schemes: higher satisfaction with the quality of care in FSSHIP; increased use of insecticide-treated nets; greater prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission; expanded pentavalent-3 coverage in SOML PforR; and greater service utilization in FMCHP. Resource allocation to public health facilities was enhanced and lines of accountability were better defined. These scheme-level improvements have not translated to system change, because of the small amount of funding flowing through these schemes and the high level of health financing fragmentation. The institutionalization of strategic purchasing in Nigeria to advance UHC will require raising awareness among decision makers, strengthening purchasing agencies' capacity, and reducing fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comprehensive account of Irish teachers' perspectives on life inside schools in England, as reported in empirical studies. The research literature shows that Irish teachers report experiencing intense pressure from the inspectorate, but also internally as a consequence of the demands placed on English schools. Within these low-trust environments they experience what they feel to be unsustainable and time-consuming workloads which compound and perpetuate the pressure and stress they feel. Of most significance are Irish teachers' views on the motives of English schools, which they interpret and perceive to be dictated by and for the inspectorate as opposed to serving the best interests of students. Overall, Irish teachers' experiences in English schools are shaped by the overarching and inescapable pressures of high-stakes accountability and are far from positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portfolios are often implemented to target multiple purposes, e.g. assessment, accountability and/or self-regulated learning. However, in educational practice, it appears to be difficult to combine different purposes in one portfolio, as interdependencies between the purposes can cause tensions. This paper explored directions to manage tensions that are inextricably linked to multipurpose portfolio use. We used a systems thinking methodology, that was based on the polarity thinkingTM framework. This framework provides a step-by-step approach to chart a polarity map® that can help to balance the tensions present in specific settings. We followed the steps of the framework to chart a polarity map for multipurpose portfolio use. Based on literature and our prior research, we selected one overarching polarity: accountability and learner agency. This polarity seems responsible for multiple tensions related to multipurpose portfolio use. We formulated values (potential benefits) and fears (tensions that can arise) of the two poles of this polarity. Then, we organised a session with stakeholders who work with the portfolio of the Dutch General Practice speciality programme. Together we formulated action steps and early warnings that can help to balance accountability and learner agency during multipurpose portfolio use. In addition to previous recommendations concerning portfolio use, we advocate that it is important to create a shared frame of reference between all involved with the multipurpose portfolio. During this process, the acknowledgement and discussion of tensions related to multipurpose portfolio use are vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial statutes are standardizing documents that organize and structure the media. They are a legal provision allowing them to define their ethical principles and conduct, establish their identity and ideology, and create a communication pact with their audiences. Editorial statutes can thus be considered mechanisms of media responsibility, accountability, and transparency. In Portugal, such statutes are legally required and are often perceived as formal, general, and bland documents. This paper presents a study of sixteen editorial statutes of the Portuguese press, designed to understand the issues and values of these documents. Thirty-eight categories were identified across three key dimensions: self-definition, normative values, and ideological elements. While these dimensions seek to address the requirements set out in the Portuguese Media Law, this analysis defies the common concepts of superficiality and homogeneity of editorial statutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School governance is a topic of general interest worldwide in educational research, and in recent years, it has also drawn widespread attention in China. In order to examine the problems faced in the process of promoting the modernization of school governance at Chinese primary and secondary schools, we conducted interviews with different stakeholders such as experts, principals, teachers, and parents, and as a result, we found that the problems currently in urgent need of attention are concentratively reflected in the areas of pluralistic co-governance and accountability, specifically including: A low degree of and few channels for teachers' participation in school governance; shallowing and superficializing of parents' participation in school governance; no establishment of checks and balances and accountability mechanisms in the internal operation of power. The causes producing the problems are complex and multifarious, including both causes in the area of social psychology and causes in the area of school leadership styles. Recommendations addressing the problems and their causes are provided at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The never-ending fight against corruption has driven local governments (LGs) to prepare and disclose their strategies to prevent and/or reduce corruption. This paper aims to identify possible determinants that can affect disclosure provided through anticorruption plans, specifically the factors that can affect accountability behaviour. To this end, anticorruption plans published by a sample of Italian LGs are analysed. Findings reveal that governance, economic and socio-political features considerably affect anticorruption disclosure. The key lessons from the findings reveal that anticorruption regulations require further surveillance and that key mechanisms must be implemented for more effective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'inclusive education' has evolved to connote various meanings and recently, neoliberalism has impacted how 'inclusion' is understood and enacted. In this paper, we use a disability studies in education framework to compare and contrast radical against incrementalist and reductionist approaches to educational reform related to students with disabilities. In order to accomplish this, we completed a systematic review of 37 position statement documents from education and disability advocacy organisations published in the United States from 2000 to 2019, which is the time period after the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted. We analysed the statements using a priori codes, which include: high-stakes testing, standards-based reform, and accountability. Additionally, we inductively coded the statements for emergent sub-codes and additional themes. Our findings examine how these organisations describe how students with disabilities should fit into neoliberal reform priorities as connected to our theoretical framings. We found that most professional advocacy organisations in the US recommend reductionist approaches to educational reform, and many reframe the very meaning of inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers interesting insights into the audit systems of European countries, revealing that the differences between them mean that the European Commission cannot obtain high-quality comparable data. Building a strong audit system is integral to reducing the mismanagement of public funds and to setting common European policies. The authors reveal the countries which need to update and standardize their accounting systems at the local and regional levels. In addition, the authors explain why they are calling for a wider adoption of performance auditing in Europe. This paper compares the level of harmonization in local government audit in 18 European Union member countries, as well as the situation in England and Switzerland. It presents a classification of audit systems based on who carries out audits, their frequency, the types of audit, and the auditing standards adopted. The different audit models are analysed in relation to each country's administrative systems. The results provide important insights for scholars, auditors, politicians and standard-setters, showing that harmonization in auditing is far from being achieved in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This viewpoint paper considers how companies are engaging in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on a review of the SDG engagement of 70+ of the world's largest companies, we challenge the assumption that business is making significant contributions to the SDGs. We develop an argument for how companies have continued with "business as usual" while reaping the reputational gains of being associated with the SDGs. We suggest four practices companies use to manage expectations to contribute to the SDGs (repackaging, cherry picking, agenda setting, and decoupling) and offer recommendations on how business can make more meaningful contributions to the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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International cooperation in networks between national civil servants is often judged necessary to address global policy challenges. The civil servants cooperating with each other in these transgovernmental networks (TGNs), are often employed by national agencies that are not part of a ministry. It is therefore assumed in the literature that participating in a TGN renders account giving to a political forum difficult. We offer in this paper a state-centered perspective on the functioning of TGNs to assess whether a trade-off exists between accountability and the creation of technocratic driven networks. We develop a typology of TGNs and accountability, based on the function and the governance style of networks. In three out of four cases studied, variation in the institutional set-up influences which type of accountability is dominant. In one case we expected to find political accountability but observed that elected politicians did not hold civil servants in TGNs to account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School inspections are a key component of the accountability system in many education systems, including England. The judgments and reports produced through these inspections are widely used by parents when they are choosing a school for their children. But should they be? This paper presents new evidence on this issue. We illustrate how parents selecting secondary schools using Ofsted judgments will often be basing their decision on dated information. Indeed, half the time, this will be based on a period in which the school had a different headteacher. We find there are almost no differences in future academic, behavioral, school leadership and parental satisfaction outcomes between schools rated as good, requiring improvement and inadequate in the inspection data available to parents at the point of school selection. That is, parents who choose a "good" secondary school for their child will not leave with appreciably better outcomes than a parent who selects an "inadequate" school. The one exception to this is an Outstanding judgment, which does predict future academic outcomes – though only if the inspection was conducted within the last five years. We thus advise parents that – besides choices involving Outstanding schools – Ofsted judgments are of limited use to them in selecting a school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demands for accountability are a prominent feature of contemporary public life. Although much academic attention has focused on perceived denials of accountability and blame avoidance in various political, administrative and transitional justice contexts, there has been much less analysis of blame acceptance and efforts to provide accountability. This paper explores attempts to provide such accountability through the medium of public apologies. It considers accountability as an iterative process that is intrinsically linked to perceptions by target audiences. Our analysis draws on a survey of 1007 citizens across the island of Ireland and public attitudes to apologies reflected in focus groups with a stratified sample of the general population. We find that the public appetite for apologies is strong and that they are generally valued as a core element of accountability provision. Public evaluations of such apologies are nonetheless modulated by a range of intersecting variables. In the concluding section we consider these various dynamics and reflect on how viewing public apologies as a complex dialogic process can inform broader conceptual understandings of accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of digital technologies poses opportunities and challenges for transparency and accountability in climate governance. This paper examines their impact on information flows and accountability in the context of climate outcomes, analyzing three case examples (World Bank Climate Warehouse, Climate TRACE, and OpenClimate) to assess the potential of digital solutions to improve data availability and reliability, particularly for non-state actors (NSAs). Using Ostrom's 'rules in use' framework, we explore how digital technologies shape transparency outcomes, highlighting challenges and unintended consequences. We analyze how these initiatives frame, design, and implement their rules for digital approaches to define their participants' data collection, purpose, and access rules, all of which are crucial aspects impacting transparency and accountability for the Paris Agreement. Our findings reveal uncertainties in the rules' operationalization for these digital technologies that undermine their potential to enhance transparency. Three key issues emerge: (1) establishing appropriate rules to govern data quality for accuracy and credibility; (2) addressing power imbalances to foster inclusive and equitable transparency; and (3) aligning rules in use across digitally-enabled solutions to promote coordination and facilitate polycentrism in the post-Paris climate regime. These insights shed light on the role of digital approaches in bridging transparency and accountability gaps, emphasizing the need for careful rule design and coordination for effective implementation in global climate governance. Digital technologies have the potential to generate new modes of transparency within the Paris climate governance system, particularly at the level of non-state and subnational actors. By comparing three case examples employing digital technologies to improve climate data, we evaluate various formal and informal 'rules in use' for generating data and facilitating sharing across actors and initiatives to enhance transparency and accountability. To leverage the potential of digital technologies in advancing transparency and accountability in climate governance, policymakers should prioritize the alignment of rules in use, address power imbalances, and ensure the creation of appropriate rules governing data quality and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmaceutical sector corruption undermines patient access to medicines by diverting public funds for private gain and exacerbating health inequities. This paper presents an analysis of UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) compliance in seven countries and examines how full UNCAC adoption may reduce corruption risks within four key pharmaceutical decision-making points: product approval, formulary selection, procurement, and dispensing. Countries were selected based on their participation in the Medicines Transparency Alliance and the WHO Good Governance for Medicines Programme. Each country’s domestic anti-corruption laws and policies were catalogued and analysed to evaluate their implementation of select UNCAC Articles relevant to the pharmaceutical sector. Countries displayed high compliance with UNCAC provisions on procurement and the recognition of most public sector corruption offences. However, several countries do not penalise private sector bribery or provide statutory protection to whistleblowers or witnesses in corruption proceedings, suggesting that private sector pharmaceutical dispensing may be a decision-making point particularly vulnerable to corruption. Fully implementing the UNCAC is a meaningful first step that countries can take reduce pharmaceutical sector corruption. However, without broader commitment to cultures of transparency and institutional integrity, corruption legislation alone is likely insufficient to ensure long-term, sustainable pharmaceutical sector good governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent debates on evidence-based policymaking have demonstrated limited engagement with the history of the Government Social Research (GSR) profession and its role in facilitating the translation of evidence into policy. Though there was a concerted scholarly focus on social research functions within government during the 1980s and 1990s, the recent limited focus on these professions has led to a 'blind spot' in contemporary governance research. As a case in point, the United Kingdom's GSR profession offers a critical vantage point upon which to develop new insights into the relationship between evidence and policy. We argue that just as the GSR profession is currently undergoing significant reform programmes, there is a critical need for a critical research agenda on the composition of research professions within governments. Such a research agenda would reflect on crucial questions about the interface between research evidence and other government functions. In conclusion, we offer four starting points for a comparative, interdisciplinary, transnational research agenda, focusing on the effects of reform programmes for (1) researchers' professional identities and values, (2) organisational change processes, (3) accountability challenges, and (4) intra-professional relationships with evidence producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of imposing accountability pressures on public school teachers are empirically indeterminate. In this paper, we study the effects of accountability in the context of teacher responses to student behavioral infractions in the aftermath of teacher evaluation reforms. We leverage cross-state variation in the timing of state policy implementation to estimate whether teachers change the rate at which they remove students from their classrooms. We find that higher-stakes teacher evaluation had no causal effect on the rates of disciplinary referrals, and we find no evidence of heterogeneous effects for grades subject to greater accountability pressures or in schools facing differing levels of disciplinary infractions. Our results are precisely estimated and robust to a battery of assumption and specification checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cameroon's parliament is constitutionally mandated to perform multiple functions, including the power to make laws. Like most legislatures, parliament is also empowered to perform familiar representative functions during the unfamiliar abnormal context of a crisis. However, parliament's competence in the legislative domain is severely restricted by the President, who is neither accountable to the Prime Minister nor the legislature. The executive further dominates the legislative agenda by controlling the admissibility criteria of bills in parliament, which gives pride of place to that introduced by the President. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government, in line with WHO recommendations, developed a response plan and also rolled out a solidarity fund of One billion francs CFA. Following persistent allegations of mismanagement of Covid-19 funds, and the leaking of an audit report that alleged massive embezzlement of public funds, Cameroon's parliament summoned the Minister of Finance to account for the financial misappropriations. However, 24 hours to the session dedicated for this exercise, the item disappeared from the agenda. This paper utilises primary and secondary data, legal and judicial texts, among others, to document how Cameroon's parliament has responded to the multiple crises that have impacted the country over the past decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial disclosure is crucial to achieve fiscal transparency and government accountability. In 2004, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 45 to require the disclosure of information about other postemployment benefits (OPEB). Using a panel of U.S. counties and the bonds they issued between 1999 and 2012, this paper examines the effects of GASB 45 on municipal borrowing costs. GASB 45 increases borrowing costs of county governments, with the effects decreasing over time. GASB 45 has a larger effect on borrowing costs of county governments issuing bonds of lower credit quality and adopting the generally accepted accounting standards (GAAP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brereton Report focuses on the unlawful killings of prisoners and others who were hors de combat. Buried in the 530-page report, however, are indications of other violations of international humanitarian law such as cruel treatment. This paper looks at the other kinds of potential war crimes hinted at in the report and examines Australia's obligation to include these in its responses to the Inquiry. It shows how criminal investigations, redress programmes and Defence reform will be incomplete unless the focus is broadened to include the full spectrum of wrongs that have been uncovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data infrastructures for the Frontex joint operations are often only temporary and thus in need of being built up and removed easily, adjustable to changing constellations of security actors, and adaptable to new situations. They need to work through flaws, gaps, and inconsistencies. Still, they fabricate data used for the re-identification of migrants, police investigations, situational pictures, or risk analysis and lead to the intensification of security practices of Frontex. This is accomplished by data infrastructures that are provisional by design. People and forms are used as provisional gateway to interconnect various installed bases of national police and coast guard authorities, informal communication channels and 'other' entry fields proliferate around partially standardized classification systems, and ongoing coordination and repair tame and validate the proliferation of data. With this, the data infrastructure of joint border operations hints to a mode of Europeanization that is neither supranational nor intergovernmental. Instead of centralized administrations or fully integrated information systems, it aims for partial harmonization through interconnecting loosely information systems and institutional ecologies of national and EU agencies alike. This causes issues of accountability and requires an analysis that takes the mundane socio-technical conditions of knowledge production into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]