EDUC90929 Chap.11 Globalisation and PISA in Education Policy
Globalisation and PISA in Education Policy
The Week 6 materials describe globalisation as widening and intensifying cross-border relations while resisting the idea of one inevitable process. Economic, political, cultural, social and technological globalisations interact with national histories, institutions and local enactment. Policy convergence, emulation, path dependence and vernacular globalisation help explain why similar language can produce different policy forms. The phrase “policy mobility” is not taught in the Week 6 materials; it appears only in the Week 1 reference list and is therefore omitted from this chapter.
The Week 6 pre-seminar page names two required readings: Mertanen and Brunila (2024), on OECD youth education policies and imagined futures, and Hong, Lingard and Hardy (2023), on Australian international-student policy and discourses of diversity. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2021/2 chapter is assigned as pre-reading. Use the articles for their arguments, methods and conclusions; the local page confirms citation metadata and status but does not justify inventing findings from titles.
International large-scale assessments compare system-level patterns using sampled learners and contextual information. IEA studies and OECD PISA differ in philosophy, content authority, grade-based versus age-based cohorts and governance. Their data can support comparison, association and trend questions, but cross-sectional associations do not establish cause and ranking is not a complete measure of educational quality. A policy-influence claim must trace measurement into public narrative, political attention, decision and enactment in one context.
The Week 6 overview names Bacchi's WPR approach. The subject materials available here are too thin to teach its full method, so this chapter uses only a bounded problem-representation orientation: ask how the problem is constructed, which assumptions make it possible, what is silent and which effects follow. Read the assigned Canvas source for the canonical method.
What this chapter covers
- 01Multiple globalisations and national mediation
- 02Policy convergence, emulation, path dependence and local enactment
- 03Global state and non-state education-policy actors
- 04IEA studies compared with OECD PISA
- 05PISA influence, cautious inference and a bounded WPR signpost
Moving from a PISA association to a policy claim
- 2Identify the population, sampled cohort, measured domain and comparison being used.
- 2Separate observed association or ranking from a causal claim.
- 2Add relevant national, curricular, institutional and historical context.
- 2Specify alternative explanations and evidence needed for the proposed mechanism.
- 2Reach a bounded conclusion and recommend triangulation.
Key terms
- Globalisation
- The widening and intensification of cross-border economic, political, cultural, social and technological relations in forms mediated by context.
- Policy convergence
- A movement toward similar policy language, instruments or models across systems.
- ILSA
- An international large-scale assessment designed to compare system-level patterns using sampled learners and contextual data.
- PISA
- The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment of samples of 15-year-olds in selected literacy domains.
- WPR
- Bacchi's named 'What is the Problem Represented to be?' approach; the full method must be learned from the assigned source.
Globalisation and PISA in Education Policy FAQ
Are all international large-scale assessments run by the OECD?
No. The subject compares IEA studies such as TIMSS and PIRLS with the OECD's PISA, noting differences in philosophy, cohorts and governance.
Can PISA data prove that one policy caused a national result?
Not by itself. The design supports comparison and association, while causal claims require additional design, contextual evidence and a demonstrated mechanism.
Does this chapter teach the full WPR method?
No. The approach is named and used only as a cautious problem-representation signpost because the substantive method is thin in the subject materials available here. Read the assigned source on Canvas.
Which Week 6 readings are required?
Mertanen and Brunila (2024), “Fragile utopias and dystopias?”, and Hong, Lingard and Hardy (2023), on Australian international-student policy, are the two required articles. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2021/2 chapter is assigned pre-reading. Record each source's policy object, context, method, argument, evidence and qualification after reading; titles and citation metadata do not establish findings.
How can PISA influence policy without causing it directly?
PISA produces a bounded system comparison. Governments, media and stakeholders interpret the result, create narratives and direct attention; political and administrative actors then select instruments mediated by national history and institutions. Evidence of a minister citing a score establishes agenda use, not a complete causal chain. Decision records, competing explanations, reform design and enactment evidence are needed to show influence.
Assessment move
Build three linked notes. First compare IEA and OECD PISA across philosophy, content authority, cohort, organisation and governance. Second trace a global idea through actor, instrument, national mediation and local enactment. Third map each PISA influence claim from measurement to comparison, narrative, attention, decision and later policy effect. For every quantitative claim, record domain, sample, uncertainty, comparison, inference limit and missing educational purpose; do not reproduce the scrambled ranking table. Read Mertanen and Brunila (2024), Hong, Lingard and Hardy (2023), and the UNESCO pre-reading for their full arguments. Treat WPR as a Canvas reading signpost, not a memorised framework supplied by this guide. End each paragraph by distinguishing what PISA evidence can contribute from what contextual evidence must establish.
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