Governments have increasingly focused on accountability systems as part of larger reforms in public sector management (OECD, 2009a). In the education sector, this has been reflected in a move away from a focus on inputs and processes to one which focuses on outcomes (Hanushek and Raymond, 2006; Hanushek, 2002). As the ultimate purpose of education systems is student learning, this naturally implies that actors should be held accountable to students’ achievement. Paradoxically, increased accountability also implies increased autonomy of actors in terms of how resources provided to them are deployed to realise the objectives to which they are held accountable. Accountability in this sense implies that actors should publicly demonstrate that they are effectively pursuing established goals, at the same time that they are given the capacity, support, and sufficient autonomy to do so.