The empirical inadequacy of supervision and evaluation strategies in Higher Education: The case of studies on “managerial competencies”

Abstract

The analysis of educational public policies should focus its evaluation and monitoring strategies on the empirical recognition of processes. However, this article argues that the substitution of observation of educational experience with perception surveys and indirect documentation is a reality, often using tools that methodologically cannot represent the empirical level. To illustrate this, UNESCO's principles of policy evaluation and monitoring are contrasted with a study that claims to determine the relationship between leadership competencies and the management of teaching talent in public educational institutions in Lima, Peru. The methodological contradiction between these two formulations is analyzed epistemologically in order to model the problem. The conclusions are: a) a model characterization of the absence of situational and immersive observation of educational experiences in evaluation and monitoring cases; and, in this sense, b) the confusion between the perception/narrative axis and the reality of practices axis. The findings have significant implications for the design of leadership training policies and professional development programs in the Latin American context.