The increasing concerns of the impact of the Programmes for International Student Assessment (PISA) on education policymaking along with its global reach call for the need of evaluating PISA's impact on student learning. However, most extant studies focus on arguing its impact at the policy level, without taking a further look into it at the local…

This paper aims to analyse the applications for raising students' and schools' academic performance in the context of equal opportunities in education in such countries as Canada, Finland and Singapore with high achievement in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) in 2018 and thus to make recommendations to our country- Türkiye. A…

Drawing on Kane's argument-based approach to validity and Toulmin's later work on cosmopolitanism and diversity, this paper asks whose validity arguments and evidence are being presented in International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs), where and when. With a case study of the OECD's PISA for Development, we demonstrate that validity arguments are…

The OECD is an inevitable force in contemporary education. This paper illustrates how the OECD affects recent education policy-making in Iceland with a particular focus on recent documents establishing the new Education Policy 2030 in Iceland and on OECD reports that directly relate to this policy. We illustrate the relationship between these…

The new "Framework for Junior Cycle" (DES. 2012. "A Framework for Junior Cycle." Dublin: Stationery Office) in Ireland aimed to introduce short courses and develop key skills but the proposed phasing out of the Junior Certificate examinations resulted in widespread controversy. Drawing on policy documents and related research,…

This study explores the multidimensionality of engagements with international large-scale standardised assessments (ILSAs). The objective is to understand how different policy actors--government, media, and citizens--rationalise, report, and perceive China's PISA participation. First, government archive analysis traces a decade of documents…

The impact of the PISA study on Polish education policy has been significant, but probably different from any other country. Poland has not experienced the so-called "PISA shock," but its education system has been benefiting considerably from PISA. For experts and policy makers, it has been a useful and reliable instrument that has made…

In recent years Finnish comprehensive education has often been discussed in both, academic and public forums, in terms of its relatively high learning outcomes and perceived efficiency. Yet what has often been lacking in cross-country comparisons is a critical socio-historical analysis of contingent nation-specific events and features as well as…

This paper examines to what extent and how the data and results of PISA have been used for various education stakeholders and to what extent PISA affect educational policy and practices in Hong Kong. From the point of view of the government, PISA has played an important role in supporting and legitimising government educational reform since 2000.…

Background: This paper analyses the role of, and approach to, policy referencing and borrowing in Hong Kong's recent reforms that culminated in the creation of its New Academic Structure and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education. Main argument: It argues that Hong Kong has gone further than most jurisdictions not just in responding to…

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…