In Belgium, France, and Quebec (Canada), there is a certain similarity in the tools used by the accountability policies, sometimes described as soft or reflective. Beyond such a characterization, this presentation analyses political forces, institutional mechanisms and structural contexts that give meaning, orientation and form to the specific trajectories of performance-based accountability policies in education. To trace these trajectories, we use an analytical framework (Maroy & Pons, 2019) interweaving three concepts : translation of global discourse, path-dependences and institutional conversion, and political or cognitive bricolage of the policy tools . Despite various institutional contexts and political forces in action, we show that each specific policy trajectory leads to a consolidation of the role of the State in the school field, through either its regulatory or cognitive power. The available research data also brings to light the rather contrasting effects of these policies on schools and their stakeholders. The analysis of these particular cases may thus invite us not to overestimate the extent of the changes brought about by datafication and accountability policies, highlighting some structural factors, configurations of tools, institutional mediations that modulate their potential effects. This presentation is based on a synthesis of our own empirical research (Barbana & al, 2020 ; Buisson-Fenet & Pons, 2019 ; Maroy, 2017) and the main existing studies in the different national areas.

Barbana, S., Dumay, X., & Dupriez, V. (2020). Local implementation of accountability instruments in the French-speaking community of Belgium. European Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication: https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904119850964. Buisson-Fenet, H., & Pons, X. (2019). Responsable, mais pas redevable? Gouvernance par les resultats et relations d’“accountability” dans les établissements scolaires en France. Éducation et sociétés, 43-1, 41-56. Maroy, C. (2017 ). La nouvelle gestion publique de l'école au Québec : vers une gestion de la pédagogie. Sociologie du Travail, 59(4| Octobre-Décembre 2017). Maroy, C., & Pons, X. (Eds.). (2019). Accountability Policies in Education: A Comparative and Multilevel Analysis in France and Quebec. Basel: Springer.