An Exploration of the Key Indicators in Holistic Accountability at Public Sector Elementary Schools

To ensure sustainable progress in education system accountability comes into play, prompting the researcher to undertake qualitative exploratory study of school accountability at   public sector elementary schools of ICT to gain insight into the prevailing accountability norms within public education in the Federal Capital of Pakistan as well as to gauge the applicability of a comprehensive model of Holistic Accountability. The study focused on the exploration of the four key indicators of holistic accountability at public sector elementary schools of Islamabad.   Document analysis of federal accountability regulations was undertaken through an examination of the primary sources of data to cover the qualitative aspects of this research study while other primary sources of data included checklists and semi-structured interviews administered on the population sample selected through purposive sampling. Content analysis grounded on inductive reasoning revealed that the term “accountability” is quite unconnected to public elementary schools operating under the Federal Directorate of Education. School checks are more in-line with performance evaluations and monitoring exercises under the annual claim of School Development Planning. However, the four constructs of the study designed from the conceptual model of holistic accountability in alignment with the research objectives proved to have relevancy and significance in the local context as each of the four key (school-based) indicators of holistic accountability supports not just the goals of the federal board of education including student achievement, safe and secure schools but also gives freedom to schools to define their own school based strategies, practices and programs which best meet the needs of their students. Study exposed an acceptance and need for adopting holistic accountability practices at elementary schools of ICT along with transparency as regards to decision making, goal sharing and resource spending with the public.