A reflection on the impact of the practice of indicators on the school performance: academy of Guelmim Oued Noun

Abstract

In the past two decades, the use of management tools have revolutionized the management and governance of educational systems. These tools of management are the result of a new market-managerial logic (known as the new public management NPM) infused into the public sector and made the State as a company using a performance-based government. For rationality, effectiveness and efficiency the new public management recommend being injected into the public sector the principles and instruments/tools of the private sector, in particular indicators. This article proposes an evaluation of the effect of indicators on the performance of schools in Morocco, a country which has undertaken administrative reform in recent years with a new performance approach inspired by the NPM movement. The objective is to examine the impact of the practice of indicators on the performance of schools. We used a quantitative method to test our research hypothesis. The results of this study are based on a sample of 189 schools principals from the four provincial directorates of Regional Academy of Education and Training of Guelmim Oued Noun. To collect empirical research data we used the questionnaire. The data analysis was done by ANOVA method using XLSTAT software.

Our literature review will show that the main mission of indicators is the measurement and contribution to the continuous improvement of the performance, the use of an indicator device can contribute to the school’s improvement. Based on this literature review, we have are formed our hypothesis on the likely impact of the use of indicators on school performance.

On a practical level, we used a quantitative method to test our research hypothesis. A survey was carried out among 189 schools using a questionnaire to collect the data necessary for our empirical study. Data analysis was done by ANOVA method using XLSTAT software. The results obtained respond in particular to our research problem. Two hypotheses have not been confirmed: the computerization of indicators and their integration into balanced scorecards does not have a significant impact on the performance of the schools that are the subject of our study. Contrarily, three hypotheses are confirmed: the frequency of use of the indicators, the use of specific indicators and the involvement of the school community in indicators practice have a significant impact on the performance of schools in our own context.