With the 2018-2019 school year, the social school accountability (expiring on 31st December 2019) closes a process, which began with the 2014-2015 school year, through the Self-Assessment Reports (SAR) and the consequent Improvement Plans (IP) that have been prepared and implemented over the years.
Through social accountability, the school must "report" the goals achieved, the processes activated and the results pursued, to the territory highlighting, first, the achievement of the "Priorities" and "Goals" that had been set out according to the Presidential Decree no. 80/2013. Therefore, the school through the social accountability communicates how the pupils’ and the students’ outcomes have improved, starting from the priorities the school had set in the last section of the SAR. The management of the accountability process, like that of the internal self-assessment, is entrusted to the headmaster, who, as legal representative and guarantor of the unitary management of the school, remains the direct manager of the contents and data included in the social accountability. However, the headmaster and his/her staff members should promote and support the direct involvement of the whole school community, encouraging inner awareness and promoting opportunities for meeting and sharing the aims and operating methods of the whole process.As far as the area of results is concerned, schools can report on the "Priority" and "Goals" pairs identified over the years in the various SARs (and choose which year to refer to for this reporting), describing the activities carried out and the results achieved and selecting for this the SAR indicators that would attest to these results.
But, and this is perhaps the main surprise, they may also not do so and choose the option to report instead only in reference to the training objectives underlying the planning of the TYPS for the 2016-19 three-year period, indicated in Law no. 107 (art. 1, paragraph 7) of 2015. Schools, therefore, have three possibilities:
1) reporting only the results connected to the SAR;
2) reporting only the results connected to the TYPS;
3) reporting both the results connected to the SAR and the results connected to the TYPS.
Starting from the idea that the school is part of an enlarged community to which it offers a necessary service, giving an account of the activity carried out can be a way to build a constant dialogue with the local actors based on reciprocity and transparency. In this sense, the social account tool represents an opportunity for the educational institution to give its stakeholders an account of the choices made, the activities carried out, the resources used and the results achieved.
The start of a path towards social accountability is an opportunity in order to:
- systematically reflect on itself, on its values, objectives, mission;
- feel involved to promote innovation and improve performance;
- identify its stakeholders and activate moments of dialogue, comparison, participation, cooperation with them.
MIUR provided a common reference structure for the preparation of social accountability to encourage reporting activities and support the work of schools. The structure has the following index:
- Context and Resources, in which all the Opportunities and Constraints that the school has already described in the last published SAR are preloaded in editable format;
- Results achieved;
- Development perspectives, where the school, having as reference the reporting of what has been achieved, can illustrate future development perspectives in terms of improving its own action and the results connected with that;
- Other reporting documents, in which the school can decide to upload a maximum of two additional documents relating to different reporting experiences.
The social reporting platform was made available starting from 30th May 2019 within the portal of the National Assessment System (NAS) and remained open until 31st December 2019. Each school could complete the logical process of reporting when all the data has been acquired and can choose the times and ways that it seems most appropriate and effective to communicate its results.The schools had, therefore, a relaxed time for its use and could start their own reflection with the headmaster they had built the path of improvement with. However, this has not always happened and several new managers who entered service in September had to guide the Teachers’ Board to report activities and processes in which they did not actually participate, during a period from September to December devoted to activities already in progress for the current year.
The social budget of (and in) the school
This document aims to take into account the commitments undertaken, the use of resources, the results achieved, the social effects produced in the context of a dialogue between the school and its stakeholders (students, families, local community, etc. ) aimed at improving performance.
The social report is a tool at the service of school autonomy and evaluation processes: it is the founding moment of a wider design, which includes:
- the explanation of the ethical-cultural vision of the school
- the creation of the culture of responsibility and of accountability to all school members;
- the preparation of an organizational system connected with the needs of evaluation, monitoring, reporting, communication.
The social accountability measures, using appropriate indicators, the performance of the school in terms of efficiency (better use of available resources), effectiveness (achievement of objectives), and equity (the school as a builder of the common good for young people generations). From the point of view of communication, drawing up the social budget involves a significant contribution to improving the image of the school institution, with strong influences on the stakeholders. Through the social budget, the Headmaster and the School boards decide and undertake to create and manage a lasting trust relationship with their stakeholders to share the school governance, in relation to the objectives achieved and the processes activated to achieve institutional purposes. The drafting of the social budget, while remaining a voluntary act, should be spread out in schools, starting from those more projected towards the working world.
Clara Peruzzi, laureata cum laude in Lingue e letterature straniere presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari, Dirigente Scolastico presso il Secondo Circolo Didattico San Giovanni Bosco di Terlizzi (BA) e ex-docente di lingua inglese di scuola superiore a tempo indeterminato da ventisei anni, con esperienza quadriennale di lavoro presso le Nazioni Unite a Vienna (IEAE), nonché traduttrice in lingua inglese, francese e tedesca presso il Tribunale di Trani, è docente formatrice delle insegnanti di scuola primaria di lingua inglese specializzata in didattica della lingua, formatrice per corsi per adulti e ragazzi con certificazioni CAMBRIDGE di vario livello e referente esami TRINITY. Negli anni ha curato vari volumi collettivi e ha pubblicato “The First English Book for Teachers and Headmasters 100%”, “The English Book for nursery and primary school teachers”, “L’inglese per i docent di scuola primaria e dell’infanzia” e il videocorso “Let’s start learning English together- from 0 to B1”.