Strategic planning and accountability in Irish education

This article considers the impact of the New Public Management culture on Irish education and calls for a debate in relation to the prevailing bureaucratic model of accountability. The influence of the Lisbon Agenda (2000) on education planning is identified and the 2005/7 Education Strategy Statement is analysed using the relevant OECD framework. This analysis reveals the preponderance of macro policy objectives over individual learning objectives. The implications of this finding are considered in the case of two of the five goals of this Strategy Statement, those dealing with the personal and social goals of education and education quality. The paper calls for alternative indicators that will achieve balance between process and product, between responsive and contractual accountability and between individual and system outcomes. Some hopeful developments are identified.