Sustainability is a concept that entered the educational language as a status that is desired for the system, policies or simple projects. Sustainability is reached by means of a complexity of factors that differ across the situations. The external evaluation of schools is acknowledged as a sustainable activity, because it has been implemented for approximately nine years now in two different cycles and it survived to political changes in the meantime. By means of the analysis of the legal framework and official publications we looked inside each of its cycles, in order to understand which factors most contributed to its sustainability. The timing to launch the 3rd cycle is now close. We drew a possible scenario, based on the existing conditions that favour the continuity of this activity, apart from the uncertain outcomes from political changes. Thus, we realized that the will to change and improve the external evaluation of schools may bring about risks and conflict against its own sustainability.
Lopo Guerreiro, H. (2015). A avaliação externa de escolas em
Portugal. Da sustentabilidade no presente, aos desafios no futuro. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 13(4),
131-147.
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