Defining Accountability in Education

During the 1980s and 1990s we have seen major changes in the education system, many of which have appealed to the notion of ‘accountability’. This paper argues that one of the reasons for the success of these appeals in common sense has been the failure of anti‐racist and other radical educationists to consider issues of accountability. It is suggested that this has made it easier for the right to appropriate the language of accountability, defining it in fundamentally undemocratic ways which are inimical to education for equality and social justice. The paper deconstructs Conservative discourses of accountability. It is then argued that it is both possible and necessary for such notions to be challenged by radical educationists and that this will involve the development of left definitions of accountability. Some of the ways in which this might begin are outlined.