There is now an extensive body of research concerning the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and its recent additions and variations. Despite this, we argue that there is a paucity of theory-informed empirical research on the ways in which the PISA results about a nation's education system both circulate within, and are…

This paper investigated a policy-making debate in Chile, by examining the construction of the Netherlands as a new "reference society". It focused on a reform agenda that aimed at a transformation of the neo-liberal school governance model. Based on the analysis of government documents, parliamentary debates, and media materials, the…

This study examines the influence of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 results on mathematics education policy in Israel. Analyzing various documents, the study shows how these results transformed policymakers' discourse regarding mathematics education. In order to achieve improvement in Israel's ranking, the…

Prepared for a Strategic Education Governance learning seminar, this working paper analyses the ways in which the Dutch government tried to reach overarching goals in education, in a system characterised by a high degree of distributed autonomy of education institutions and the participation of multiple actors, and consequently a government highly…

This paper analyses how the impact of international student achievement studies and the recent economic crisis in Europe are influencing the development of educational policy transfer and borrowing, from East to West. This is contrasted with education reform movements in East Asia, which have long legacies of borrowing from so-called…

Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education policy to date. Understanding the role of assessments in informing system-level decision-making is a first step towards helping stakeholders improve the design and usefulness of assessments. Moreover, this understanding can help to further discussions…

In this article we attempt to analyse how OECD knowledge production is integrated with the process in which Finnish education policy takes shape. This is done by analysing the "uses" of the OECD PISA Study by Finnish central government officials. The main question posed is: How do these officials interpret the PISA results so as to…