This book examines and critically evaluates accountability and its impact on educational leaders. Accountability is approached from the viewpoint of school leaders from four education systems in Europe: the English, the Italian and the Portuguese. They have been selected in that together they offer a rich portrayal of how accountability inspires policies and how these are enacted.
Accountability pressures result in different policies and atmospheres in different national contexts, according to their social, historical and cultural characteristics. To this extent the analysis of these policies provides the grounds for a meaningful educational comparison, one which grasps the essence of what it means to face a similar global challenge from different cultural and institutional settings, bringing to light the commonalities within the differences.