In the 21st century, international interaction in social, economic, cultural, and educational fields has increased. Consequently, international standards have become essential in national education policies, reforms, and practices. As an international assessment, PISA has started to function as a prominent tool in this regard. However, the impact…

The need to solve the common global challenges at a systemic level in a collaborative, equitable, and culturally sensitive way naturally connects Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC). The purpose of this article is to explore how ESD and IoC can strengthen each other and provide a more…

Despite a groundswell of evidence for transformative education, manifestos for 'transformative pedagogy for global citizenship' remain under-theorized and pay limited attention to implications for practice. This paper connects theory and practice through analyzing a curriculum development project that sought to produce a framework for 'engaged…

Due to European agreements and policy expectations, national authorities are revising their formal curricula in line with an evidence-oriented policy. The article explores how new trends in formulating curricula can be regarded as an outcome of experts' semantics and impact on education policy. The article reanalyses documentation from a project,…

This paper brings together the main strengths and challenges currently facing Scottish education and outlines approaches to the ways forward. Knowledge about how to improve education systems has grown rapidly over the last two decades. One key challenge facing Scotland, and no doubt many other countries, is in ensuring a smooth "learner…

Singapore's Education System has evolved over time and so has Mathematics Education in Singapore. The present day School Mathematics Curricula can best be described as one that caters for the needs of every child in school. It is based on a framework that has mathematical problem solving as its primary focus. The developments from 1946 to 2012…

Michael Young's article "Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach" ("JCS, 45", 2) is discussed from the starting point that the claimed crisis is constructed from a decisive solution, that is the solution determines what is a crisis. But curriculum research and curriculum theory are in need of…

This paper describes the development and intended uses of the Early Grades Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), which measures essential early mathematical knowledge and skills that are foundational to more sophisticated mathematical abilities, predictive of later achievement, and teachable. Administering the EGMA can provide policy makers,…

This paper examines the outstanding performance of Shanghai, China on PISA 2009 and its effects on other national systems and within the global education policy field. The OECD's PISA is helping to create this field by constituting the globe as a commensurate space of school system performance. The effects of Shanghai's success are considered in…

Since Finland emerged in 2000 as the top-scoring Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), researchers have been pouring into the country to study the so-called "Finnish miracle." How did a country with an undistinguished education system in the…

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…

Increasing the share of vocational secondary schooling has been a mainstay of development policy for decades, perhaps nowhere more so than in formerly socialist countries. The transition, however, led to significant restructuring of school systems, including a declining share of vocational students. Exposing more students to a general curriculum…

The history of education in France, with its inherited link between the Republic and the religion of knowledge, produces a specific form of educational functioning, consubstantial to a tradition of selection and a symptomatic lack of what elsewhere is called a curriculum. While the recent introduction of the "common grounding of knowledge and…

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) focuses on young people's ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. This orientation reflects a change in the goals and objectives of curricula themselves, which are increasingly concerned with what…

Competence in mathematics is integral to a wide range of disciplines, professions and areas of life. This Eurydice report reveals crucial elements of the policies and practices that shape mathematics instruction in European education systems, focusing on reforms of mathematics curricula, teaching and assessment methods, as well as teacher…