Decisions about what should be evaluated in education, how and by whom, have far-reaching consequences for systems of education and the societies which shape them and are, in turn, shaped by them. This reading raises concerns about the reliability, validity and impact of summative, ‘technical–rational’ approaches to the development, imple- mentation and evaluation of educational policy. Gregson and Nixon argue that such ‘technical–rational’ approaches can all too easily overlook the processes of impact and ‘softer’ or more subtle indicators of impact, although difficult to measure or quantify, are often equally – if not more – important in educational contexts than their ‘harder’ counterparts.
Edited from: Gregson, M. and Nixon, L. (2009) ‘Assessing effectiveness: ways of seeing impact’, International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 21(3).