The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of school assessment in Bhutan, briefly, as a background to considering the present and future school assessment issues especially as they relate to quality concerns and educational improvement in Bhutan. A benchmark for Bhutan, the National Educational Assessment (NEA) programme in Bhutan was inspired by a 2002 initiative in South Asia funded by the World Bank. In this paper, we address how the 2003 NEA was developed. Emerging issues are discussed including methods of reporting and the concept of "benchmarking" in three senses of that term. Technical issues are also addressed in the context of the desire to administer another comparative NEA in 2010. Out of these developments, the Bhutan Board of Examinations has developed ideas about expanding access to system-wide assessment data to different levels of stakeholders in order to achieve improvements. A 2x2 matrix is provided identifying four key questions around judgments of educational achievement at two key levels (system and school) within and between these levels. This matrix represents a model of the evolution of assessment in Bhutan. This paper should be of interest to education systems in developing countries that have undertaken or intend to undertake national educational assessment programmes.

There is a widespread perception of recent deteriorating human values in Bhutan. Bhutan is promoting the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in school education as one way to address this issue. Change agents' collective beliefs in their capacities to facilitate change can influence success at the institutional level. However, there is very little research on efficacy beliefs of change agents internationally and such research is nonexistent in Bhutan. This paper explores the collective efficacy beliefs at the school level, where teachers and principals work as change agents for GNH Education. (This is a part of an on-going mixed method PhD study focusing on self- and collective efficacy beliefs of principals and teachers, their perceptions of importance, support systems, and actions and impacts.) Data were gathered from principals/vice principals (N = 244) and teachers (N = 1633) of 155 schools employing tailored self-administered questionnaires with substantial parallel content. Based on the standardised collective efficacy scores, the sample schools were clustered using hierarchical cluster analysis. There were some significant differences between clusters. The paper finishes with implications for stakeholders in GNH Education.

The fundamental role of vision and mission in organisational effectiveness has been well documented. They have been reported to reflect a sense of common purpose and can be a source of inspiration. It has become the norm for schools in Bhutan to develop vision and mission statements to guide them in their daily activities. In 2010, the Royal Government of Bhutan introduced Gross National Happiness (GNH) Education as a new paradigm for education. However, there has been no empirical study to show whether the school vision and mission are congruent with current educational developments and GNH Education in particular. The vision and mission statements of four case study schools were examined to determine if their content was indicative of GNH Education. Two schools were chosen as 'efficacious' and two 'inefficacious', in terms of implementing GNH Education, based on the collective efficacy score of each relative to 155 others that participated in a national survey. The statement analyses generally indicate lack of evidence for up-to-date school vision and mission statements. This paper presents implications in terms of vision and mission statements. The need for a large-scale study related to school vision and mission is also discussed.

The focus on Educating for Gross National Happiness in schools is both on pedagogy and curriculum as well as extra-curricular programmes. Pre-service teacher training has been the focus of the Ministry of Education and the Royal University of Bhutan for many years now, but only recently has there been a major push to integrate pedagogical practices with the values and principles of Gross National Happiness (GNH)- the Educating for Gross National Happiness (EGNH) initiative. There is a greater awareness that both teacher-centred and curriculum centred pedagogical practices may not be conducive to both the principles of GNH, nor to the future economic activity of the country. However, the implementation of EGNH ideas has been problematic, especially in translating them into classroom practices. Both pre- and in-service education has a big job ahead of them. This chapter explores the challenges in fully realising the potential of the EGNH initiative and plots a way forward. The authors argue that the teachers need to undergo fundamental changes to their basic assumptions, beliefs, and actions about the EGNH initiative if it is to be successfully implemented.

The task of creating a conducive learning environment and successful implementation of educational innovations depend heavily on the talents, efficacy beliefs and values of teachers and principals. In order to assist with more deeply exploring the efficacy of schools in implementing GNH Education, lighthouse schools were identified in the first stage of a sequential mixed methods investigation (Sherab, 2013). In this first stage, 'Zhabdrung' Primary School was selected as an 'efficacious' case study school in implementing GNH Education, based on expert advice and later validated by its collective efficacy score relative to 155 other schools that participated in a national survey. This case study, undertaken during the second stage, examined the lived experiences of the school as they implemented GNH Education. Data were mainly gathered through semi-structured interviews and observations. Findings indicate that the efficaciousness of this school was mainly attributable to promotion of GNH values and principles through various innovative extra-curricular programmes. However, little had been initiated in terms of infusion through regular curricular programmes. This study also unveiled that the hidden curriculum has the potential to impact students either negatively or positively. The paper presents implications and suggestions for better implementation of the vision of GNH Education.