Presenting the Zona Nord Evaluation at the REPS Congress

On October 23, Marcel Pagès, Mauro C. Moschetti, Antoni Verger, and Edgar Quilabert presented “Reconfigurando la Gobernanza Escolar: Una Evaluación Realista del Piloto de Zonas Educativas de Barcelona” at the X Congress of the Spanish Social Policy Network (REPS), held at the Universidad de La Rioja in Logroño. The paper was presented in the panel on educational and child social-protection policies and discussed preliminary findings from the evaluation of Barcelona’s Zona Nord educational pilot.

Understanding how the pilot works

The study uses a realist evaluation approach to examine not only whether the educational zone produces change, but how, for whom, and under what conditions. The analysis builds on Intervention-Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations and an initial theory of change developed from policymakers’ perspectives and progressively refined through the research team’s participation in the implementation process. The evaluation combines pre- and post-intervention surveys, 22 interviews, and ongoing observation of the pilot.

An emerging institutional reconfiguration

Preliminary findings point to several tensions. Established competitive dynamics between schools continue to coexist with new expectations of collaboration. The zone also operates with limited autonomy, unclear competencies, and no direct control over resources, which weakens its institutional capacity. At the professional level, social, psychological, and pedagogical approaches do not always start from the same assumptions, although collaborative practices are gradually developing. At the same time, existing hierarchies and parallel administrative mandates can turn some forms of coordination into procedural compliance rather than substantive change.

The emerging picture is therefore one of gradual and partial institutional reconfiguration. The pilot is creating new spaces for collaboration and shared responsibility, but without stronger decision-making capacity and clearer competencies, the redistribution of power remains largely symbolic rather than structural.