This paper draws on interview and case study data across the five systems in order to illuminate areas of tension between the shift towards self-evaluation and the effects of highly prescriptive, data-driven systems on the capacity to develop networks and trust, as part of the new framework of central-local relations in the five contexts we investigate (Ozga 2009). We explore the state of relations between local and central government of education and the extent to which data driven systems promote or inhibit ‘bottom up’ development and local good practice. There is tension between the use of ‘trust’ and ‘networking/collaboration’ in the new framework of relations and the drive to constant surveillance that data-rich systems generate. Local authorities -in different degrees in the five countries-may have been reconstituted as conduits of central information and policy; as capacity builders and service agents.

Case studies and interviews

The paper will conclude by discussing the contrasting ways in which local government is situated in these new relations of governance: does it function as a node of governance, how does its role and capacity vary across the different national contexts, and what are the different ways in which it is regulated? How does accountability work across the different systems.