Purpose This paper investigates the role of “accountability” as an organizational value, rather than a function, that enables sustained improvement in an inner-city primary school in England. Conceptualisation The research is informed by Elmore’s (2003) internal accountability in schools. First, all schools have deep-seated norms and predispositions that determine they perceive accountability. It is the strength of internal accountability in schools – i.e. “the shared norms, values, expectations, structures, and processes that determine the relationship between individual actions and collective results in schools” – that acts as a key determinant in how school leaders and teachers respond to external accountability systems (Elmore, 2003, pp.197-8). Second, this conceptualization redefines school leaders as active agents of change who reshape policy initiatives into actions that are culturally, organizationally and educationally meaningful to their teachers and students and enable them to develop and thrive. Methods The case study methodology has followed the ISSPP’s re-modelled research guidelines that are informed by complexity theory (Morrison, 2010) and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), and which view contemporary schools as complex adaptive social systems with layers of influence in a rapidly changing society. The team conducted three in-depth interviews with the principal and two in-person interviews with the current principal. We also interviewed three teachers with middle and senior leadership responsibilities, a class teacher, and a lead teaching assistant. Results and reflection This principal’s commitment was expressed, through her leadership, in a form of child-centred, value-driven accountability which saw her mobilising the knowledge, expertise and capacity in the school to broaden and deepen shared commitment to serve the purposes and pursuits that place children’s interests, learning and achievement at the centre of the school’s life. Because the motivation to inspire children’s learning and achievement came from within, accountability in the school was not portrayed a stick but celebrated as an inner drive that brought teachers and the community together to be creative in what they could do to make a difference. The journey of continued and sustained success for this school has been to rise from one of the bottom 200 underperforming schools nationally to become a top performing school leading educational change and improvement on a national platform. For leaders and teachers in this school, formal, external reform and accountability systems are only one among many factors that influence a school’s internal conceptions of who they are, to whom they are accountable, for what, and how.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Harvard University Press. Elmore, R.F. (2003). Accountability and capacity. In: Carnoy, M., Elmore, R., Siskin, L. (Eds.), The New Accountability. Routledge; Falmer, New York, NY and London, pp. 195–209. Morrison, K. (2010). Complexity Theory, School Leadership and Management: Questions for Theory and Practice, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38(3), 374–393.