The focus in this article is on Brazilian education policy, specifically quality assurance and evaluation. The starting point is that quality, measured by means of large-scale assessments, is one of the key discursive justifications for educational change. The article addresses the questions of how quality evaluation became a significant feature of Brazilian education, and how international organisations are related to this. The notion of measurement emerged at the beginning of the 20th century among an active educational community, strongly inspired by US educational thinking and supported by instrumental educational cooperation with US agencies and universities. Largescale assessment became more and more popular in the 1960s-1980s, mainly within this setting. Educational indicators have been under development since the 1990s, alongside the educationrelated programmes of international organisations. Drawing on earlier research and documents, the article analyses historical and political influences from both international and national actors on the emergence of quality assessment in Brazilian basic education. The authors also point out

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This paper investigates datafication in schools through an analysis of the enactments of quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policies in Brazil. In doing so, I question how data permeates and changes school environments, school actors' conduct and their imaginaries. QAE policies encompass large-scale assessments, indicators, rankings and other steering mechanisms, but importantly connect data to quality in education. Here, I analyse the discourses of school actors (principals, coordinators, supervisors, teachers, students and parents) from three Brazilian public schools collected through semistructured interviews (n = 28). Data manifests in those schools as a technology of government. Schools enact QAE policies in distinct ways, incorporating the idea of governmentality, but also proposing alternative patterns of action.

This article investigates changes in the interference of the private sector in Brazilian public education, following the military dictatorship through today, focusing on evaluation policies that introduce data for education governance and results-based management. This research identifies changes related to educational policies and practices influenced by managerial models, showing the progressive disconnection of the public character from educational institutions. The political–educational context of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina and its capital, Florianópolis, serves as the empirical case. Qualitative content analysis explores how ideas from the private sector have been integrated into Brazilian public education and how evaluation and the use of data according to the logic of that sector contribute to incorporating managerial practices into public education governance. Interviews with key actors in the field of education in Santa Catarina and Florianópolis reveal how the private sector influenced political developments in education. The analysis indicates that education governance in that context follows the principles of New Public Management, associated with public–private interactions, providing a specific type of rationality to the field of education.

In our present research we address the question of whether it is valid to apply the QAE (Quality Assurance and Evaluation) umbrella concept, which was formulated to explain new phenomena in European educational governance, to similar developments in Brazilian basic education. This led us to reflect on the possible pitfalls and potential strengths of using umbrella concepts as analytical tools. This article presents this exploration and its operationalization. We confronted in-built assumptions in QAE with the contested, consensual and creative use of the notion of quality in Brazilian basic education, and looked for relationships. Our analysis shows that the Brazilian developments reiterate the relationships concerning global interconnectivity, and challenges those pertaining to conformity. We argue that the main risks of using umbrella concepts seem to concern the reproduction of understandings, which frequently leads to the disregarding of deviation.

Introduction: reflective researchOne of our research project's assumptions is that the topic of quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) is political: it is an important framing factor for education, a major interest for many different stakeholders, and a governance tool (Nóvoa & Yariv-Mashal 2003). In this respect, it is possible that our research will be used for political purposes, an aspect most of our research participants and fellow researchers certainly recognise. Self-reflection is therefore essential.In Chapter 1, we discussed our ontological and epistemological premises and how the analytical framework on which we draw, Comparative Analytics of Dynamics in Education Politics (CADEP), directs our focus to three dimensions we see as relevant for an understanding of the questions raised in complexity studies and the approaches of political science to contingency. While the previous chapter addressed the "why" question of our research, here we open more broadly the questions "how" and "what". There is no simple answer to these questions, because the shared view of scholars is that research is never as straightforward as research reports describe -and in this respect, this book is no exception. Our research journey has taken a route with paths, streets, cul-de-sacs, and wanderings through uncharted territories. As a research consortium, we have held CADEP as a compass, while continuously debating its interpretation. A description of this journey is needed for validity: indeed, sharing our journey is as important as arriving at our destination. In this chapter, we therefore chart it as fully and as critically as possible.We believe the key to maintaining validity in a qualitative research project such as ours is to adopt a reflective approach throughout. We share the view iterated by many scholars, but which Alvesson and Sköldberg (2009) aptly describe and summarise, that interpretation, and the interpretation of interpretation, is the key feature of research. They state that reflective research considers four elements, which we highlight here and discuss further in the following sub-chapters.• Researchers should be conscious of the interpretation made. We have channelled the interpretations from the outset with the help of the CADEP analytical framework. Despite this shared analytical starting point, Interpretation: comparing three dimensions of dynamicsWe continue this reflection on the nature of our research by addressing the question of our analytical framework in relation to those of others. Our research concentrates on understanding the political dynamics in QAE. To

Fabricating education through PISA? An analysis of the distinct participation of China in PISAPISA allows for comparisons and contributes to the distribution of certain types of capital among countries, which is converted into soft power. Education has been considered an important pillar of the increased status and power China holds globally. However, Chinese participation in PISA differs from other countries, whereby only some of China's wealthiest areas participate rather than the entire country. Our research investigates China's distinct participation in PISA and its political implications through an analysis of the discourses of China and the OECD. Our findings point towards an intertwinement between local agency and global scripts regarding Chinese involvement in PISA.

Este trabalho visa analisar os questionários socioeconômicos que acompanharam a Prova Brasil 2011, direcionados aos alunos do 5° e do 9° ano do Ensino Fundamental, com base na teoria sociológica de Pierre Bourdieu. Esta opção foi intencional, pois algumas das categorias de análise deste sociólogo, como capital cultural, por exemplo, podem ser percebidas de forma implícita em tais questionários. Entretanto, outras abordagens teóricas também seriam possíveis, corroborando o uso de estruturas teóricas coerentes e consistentes para analisar dados, sejam eles quantitativos ou qualitativos. Não se pretende investigar os dados coletados por estes questionários neste momento, mas analisar as questões e o tipo de informações que tal instrumento pode oferecer aos pesquisadores. Considera-se imprescindível que qualquer análise de dados esteja fundamentada em um aporte teórico adequado, razoável e relevante para o problema de pesquisa, independentemente dos autores ou perspectivas adotados.