In this paper, we analyse the policies for the promotion of education quality, launched during the last decade, in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, focusing particularly on the development of external mechanisms of monitorization and assessment, as well as on its impacts over teachers’ and students’ lives. This work is part of a wider project, titled Educational Challenges in Southern Europe. Equity and Efficiency in a Time of Crisis, financed by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, coordinated by João Sebastião (CIES-IUL) and involving 14 researchers, in the four countries. The presentation includes five sections. Firstly, we discuss how the management principles are being introduced in the educational policies, all over the world, during the last decades, as well as the criticism and resistance raised among the educational communities. Here, we will focus the importance of the assessment systems over schools, teachers and students. Secondly, some remarks on the comparison between education policies in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece are sketched. Then, the paper analyse if (and how) quality management policies are reframing educational experiences in these four countries, focusing on students’ assessment programs (section 3.1), evaluation of teachers (section 3.2) and schools evaluation (section 3.3).

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quality, education management and education policies