This article presents the discussion and the conclusion of an "EERJ" Special Issue on accountability policy forms in four European educational systems aimed at identifying how global schemes and instruments of accountability are integrated into national governance patterns. The comparative discussion indicates that accountability instruments and schemes take the form of singular trajectories that are neither a continuation of the national histories nor an indexation on global governance models. It also emphasises the need to better conceptualise how power relations in the interface between the global and national scenes, as well as within national contexts, shape the accountability forms.