Management Discourse Analysis of High- and Low-Efficacy Schools: A Comparative Study of Factors Influencing School Performance

Offering an efficient, egalitarian, and quality education is an agreed-upon goal in society that aims to guarantee upwards social mobility. For this reason, the objectives of this article are to determine how Andalusian primary schools with high and low efficiency rate their own performance, and to study in depth the factors that favour or hinder academic performance in these schools. To this end, 50 interviews were conducted with school management teams based on the ESCALA test scores. Analysis of the informants’ discourse on educational performance shows that high-performing schools are evaluated in terms of learning standards, while low-performing schools are compared with other schools that are considered similar. It is concluded that low-performing schools perform much more poorly than high-performing schools, failing to provide quality and equal education to the whole school population and perpetuating social divides. Additionally, both types of schools overlook intrinsic factors that have a negative impact on academic performance. It is necessary for them to adopt a self-critical attitude that allows them to identify room for improvement and demand necessary support.