Abstract

This study examines the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), one of the most influential tools of global education reform discourses in the 21st century. The study focuses on the governing role of statistical data in the discourse constructed by the international comparative assessment, referring to the global educational governance of the OECD. Disturbingly, the systematic collection and distribution of data does not merely quantify student achievement. Rather, students and participating countries are also qualified and classified. Here, OECD’s PISA statistics act as a governing technology enabling the comparisons; through PISA’s statistics, the OECD has largely fostered the test-driven education reform trends worldwide. In this study, statistical data are examined as political instruments visualizing intangible concepts, constructing definitions of good practice and improvement, and fabricating the individuals whose knowledge and skills are normalized. In conclusion, it is necessary to rethink the new sociopolitical instrument – PISA’s statistics – not as a master rationale to reform the educational system of each country, but as a mere reference point based on the system’s distinctiveness.

摘要

本研究考察了国际学生评估计划 (PISA)，它是 21 世纪全球教育改革话语中最具影响力的工具之一。研究重点关注统计数据在国际比较评估构建的话语中的治理作用，参考经合组织的全球教育治理。令人不安的是，系统地收集和分发数据并不仅仅量化学生的成绩。相反，学生和参与国也是合格和分类的。在这里，经合组织的 PISA 统计数据充当了一种能够进行比较的管理技术；通过 PISA 的统计，经合组织在很大程度上促进了世界范围内以考试为导向的教育改革趋势。在这项研究中，统计数据被视为可视化无形概念的政治工具，构建良好实践和改进的定义，并制造知识和技能正常化的个人。总之，有必要重新思考新的社会政治工具——PISA 的统计数据——不是作为改革每个国家教育体系的主要理由，而仅仅是基于体系独特性的参考点。