PISA for Schools: Topological rationality and new spaces of the OECD’s global educational governance

Monday 25 April 2016, 4.00 to 5.30 pm, Room 728, UCL Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL

Presenters

Steven Lewis and Bob Lingard, School of Education, The University of Queensland.

This presentation will critically examine the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD’s new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)-based Test for Schools (“PISA for Schools”). PISA for Schools is part of the expanding education work of the OECD, building upon main PISA to enable school-to-schooling system comparisons. We examine the development of PISA for Schools, the nature of the instrument, and some initial effects of its introduction. Our theoretical framework focuses on new structural implications associated with globalization. We draw upon 33 interviews with personnel at the OECD and at relevant edu-businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Pertinent documents and web-based media are also analyzed.

Steven Lewis has just completed a PhD in the School of Education at The University of Queensland on PISA for Schools. He is a former secondary science teacher and is now working as a researcher on two Australian Research Council funded research projects, one on data infrastructures in education, the other on educational federalism. He has recently published in the British Journal of Sociology of EducationJournal of Education PolicyComparative Education Review and Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

Professor Bob Lingard is a Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Education at The University of Queensland, Australia. He is the editor/author of 23 books, the most recent of which are: the co-authored, Globalizing Educational Accountabilities (Routledge, 2016), the single authored Politics, Policies and Pedagogies in Education (Routledge, 2014),  Changing Schools (Routledge, 2012), co-edited with Terry Wrigley and Pat Thomson,  Globalizing Education Policy  co-authored with Fazal Rizvi (Routledge, 2010) and Educating Boys: Beyond Structural Reform (Palgrave, 2009), co-authored with Martin Mills and Wayne Martino.

The seminar is free to attend, but prior registration would be helpful: to register, please contact .