ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s there has been an explicit move towards a consumerist accountability model, as many governments are collecting and using evidence for evaluations and monitoring purposes. Regarding education, more and more special disciplinary measures and mechanisms associated with surveillance and performativity are placed on schools, with school inspection being a tool favoured by many governments to assess schools and teachers (Perryman, 2006; Poulson, 1996; Ranson, 2003). Increasingly, the public is demanding information for choice and effectiveness-enhancement purposes. But disclosing this information to the public is a very complex and contested affair as different stakeholders may have different views on the availability and dissemination of school data (Petegem, Vanhoof, Daems, & Mahieu, 2005). Additionally, the reporting practices may carry unintended or undesirable effects and hence trigger fierce disputes.
