Re-framing accountability and learning through evaluation: Insights from the Italian higher education evaluation system

Although the relation between accountability and learning is a key issue in the field of evaluation, the existing conceptualizations include significant gaps and shortcoming. This article seeks to bridge some of the identified gaps, overcoming the dichotomy between learning and accountability and the overemphasis on accountability, and offering a more nuanced account of various forms of positive and negative learning. We propose a theory-informed reconceptualization of both accountability and learning in order to develop an interpretative framework that recognizes their plurality and brings them together through evaluation. To make visible the analytical potential of our reconceptualization, we present the Italian higher education evaluation system as a source of illustrative examples. Our analysis confirms that accountability and learning are inextricably interconnected and that multiple forms of learning can be envisaged by taking into account the mutual relationship among organizational arrangements, evaluative practices and cultural codes. We argue that such kind of analysis allows to remove the taken-for-granted aspects of evaluation practices, challenging the often-implicit assumptions about their virtues as well as their weaknesses in order to see what evaluation actually does in a particular situation.