Education reform efforts stemming from the Programme in International Student Achievement have strengthened in recent years, particularly in response to the growth of global references societies -- high achieving educational jurisdictions such as Finland, Hong Kong-China, and more recently Estonia and Singapore. Despite political rhetoric,…

In this article, a study of combined discursive emphasis on the concepts "culture for learning" and "learning outcomes" in recent education policy messages is presented. These concepts have been individually examined but seldom as parallel or converging policy messages. Inspired by discursive institutionalism, we address the…

This investigation focuses upon the nation of Finland. Described by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs ("This is Finland", n.d.) as a parliamentary democracy, Finland is a free-market economy with a young but progressive history. While the nation's scores on the 2015 triennial PISA continue to indicate above average performance on all three…

This article traces the evolution of the French policy PISA debate from 2001 to 2014 by analysing the results of two original qualitative researches. Theoretically, this debate is the outcome of specific policy configurations, which predetermine its scope, content and effectiveness. These configurations are themselves described through their…

The results of the first PIAAC survey were published in October 2013. In the case of Denmark, the survey showed that Denmark is below the OECD average when it comes to reading skills, above average with regards to numeracy and on average with regards to IT skills. In this paper we analyse how the PIAAC results were covered by the media and how…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is currently engaging in a worldwide feasibility study entitled International Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO). This feasibility study seeks to develop measures that would assess student learning outcomes that would be valid across different languages,…

Late and limited organisational differentiation is a characteristic which has, until now, distinguished the structure of education -- including teacher education - in the Nordic countries from that of the rest of Europe. However, this tradition is now challenged by utilitarian ideologies, supported by international comparison tests such as PISA…

Education reform is increasingly portrayed as a quest to achieve a "world class" education system through a process of identifying and adopting the practices of those systems whose pupils perform best in league tables of achievement. This is the rationale for the range of new policies proposed by the coalition government in the schools…

In this article we provide a critique of the interpretation and utilization of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results by the National Education Authorities in Turkey. First, we define and explain what OECD's PISA is. Second, we make an overview of the media coverage in Turkey of the PISA 2003 and 2006 results. Third, we…