The schools’ ranking in the opinion of directors of secondary education schools in Portugal

Abstract

In order to study the schools’ ranking we have to perceive in a micro towards a meso structure, in Secondary Education, what the factors that can influence the performance of schools are. In this study, we will focus on the opinion of school directors. We conducted three interviews, with two directors from two grouped schools and one from a non-grouped school, in the Northern of Portugal. The semi-structured interviews were audio recorded and later transcribed. The content was analyzed and treated with the support of the webQDA qualitative analysis software. This external evaluation affects teachers and directors, when scores are used to determine the “social” position of the school, granting them recognition or additional funds, or threatening with loss of “social register”, when the score is low and, consequently, affects students, in what concerns their promotion, monitoring and graduation.