Adam Robbins Education

Two years ago I argued that attention might be the most powerful school improvement priority. With this year’s results in, I want to make the case for the next one: accountability.

The case for accountability

I like priorities that cut across both leadership and classroom practice; the grand-unifying-theoryness of it all. Accountability, especially process-focused accountability, has a strong evidence base (Sharon, Drach-Zahavy & Srulovici, 2022). It works best when paired with psychological safety (Latessa, 2023).

But honestly, you don’t need a pile of studies to see the point. When people want to achieve long-term goals they almost always build in accountability. Take improving fitness as an example. People will create accountability through fitness apps, running buddies or personal trainers. Education is much the same, delayed feedback loops make it harder to stay motivated without a system that holds us to account.

And we’ve all seen what happens when accountability is absent. Just look at the billionaire tech bros. Enough said.

So let’s leave dystopian techokleptocracy to one side and focus on how accountability drives school improvement.

How accountability helps leadership

Leaders spend a lot of time setting out how teachers will be held accountable for delivering the school improvement plan. That makes sense: leaders are often removed from the frontline, and clarity around roles and responsibilities is vital.

But here’s the question: who is holding the leaders accountable?

I don’t mean giving another INSET presentation on governance structures. I mean making it explicit how staff can challenge leadership decisions and actions; whether through open forums, surveys, or clear permission to raise concerns respectfully.

That kind of bidirectional accountability creates a culture where the most radical thing actually happens: leaders do what they say they do. And that’s a genuine gamechanger.

How accountability shapes behaviour and culture

This one’s more obvious, but worth spelling out. Accountability runs through three tiers:

• Students need to be accountable for their choices, with clear consequences in place and well understood.
• Teachers must enforce those consequences and also be accountable for sustaining praise in line with school policy—too often praise trails off as the year goes on.
• Pastoral leaders need to be accountable for their decisions and for consistency across cohorts and years.

When those tiers line up, culture becomes much easier to sustain.

How accountability drives teaching and learning

This is where things get really interesting. Yes, accountability matters for teacher non-negotiables and for leaders picking effective strategies. But the big question I ask when I work with schools is this:

How accountable are students for their own learning in this classroom?

Not in terms of project work or organisation, but in the moment-to-moment act of thinking. What is the teacher doing to make sure students are tuned in, focused and unable to hide behind just being quiet?

Too often, students can get by just by blending in. An accountability-focused teaching and learning policy would change that. It would start by making expectations clear: routines aren’t about control for its own sake, but about ensuring students spend as much time as possible thinking about the lessons content.

It might then include strategies like:

• Using Cold Call questions so every student must listen.
• Asking students who can’t answer to repeat the question. Credit to Adam Boxer for this gem.
• Checking understanding with whole-class participation methods like mini-whiteboards.
• Expecting students to contribute answers during feedback.

Add in things like whole-class reading or clear procedures for ‘what to do when stuck’ and you begin to build a culture where students know they are accountable every lesson.

Accountability is a four-letter word

I know “accountability” doesn’t have the best reputation in UK education. For many, it gives them the ick. A few die-hards still defend it, but most have been burned by toxic systems (performance-related pay in a complex domain, I’m looking at you!).

But accountability itself hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s how leaders have wielded it.

So maybe the term needs reclaiming, or even rebranding. Call it collective ownership, integrity agreements, whatever works. Just don’t lose sight of the principle: we all perform better with accountability.

And if you want to explore how to use accountability in a motivational way, you might find Unlocking Teacher Development an interesting read.

References

Sharon, Ira, Anat Drach-Zahavy, and Einav Srulovici. 2022. “The Effect of Outcome vs. Process Accountability-Focus on Performance: A Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Psychology 13: 1–17.

Latessa, R. Anthony. 2023. “Psychological Safety and Accountability in Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships: A Qualitative Study.” BMC Medical Education 23: 1–9.