The growth and spread of large-scale assessments and test-based accountabilities: a political sociology of global education reforms

Abstract

The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is expanding internationally and reaching countries that seemed to be immune to this education reform approach until quite recently. Accordingly, more and more educational systems in the world are articulated around three main policy principles: accountability, standards and decentralisation. National large-scale assessments (NLSAs) are a core component of the GERM; these assessments are increasingly used for accountability purposes as well as to ensure that schools achieve and promote centrally defined and evaluable learning standards. In this paper, we explore these trends on the basis of a new and original database on NLSAs, as well as on data coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) questionnaires. In the paper we also discuss how different theories on policy dissemination/globalisation explain the international spread of NLSAs and test-based accountability worldwide, and reflect on the potential of a political sociology approach to analyse this globalising phenomenon.

Reforming governance through policy instruments: how and to what extent standards, tests and accountability in education spread worldwide

“…National large-scale assessments (NLSAs), which usually rely on the external evaluation of students' learning through standardized tests, are the governance instrument that has spread fastest in education systems recently. In the last two decades, the number of NLSAs being enacted globally has expanded exponentially, with their presence being especially important in OECD and middle-income countries (Ramirez, Schofer, & Meyer, 2018;Verger, Parcerisa, & Fontdevila, 2018). Furthermore, NLSAs, beyond a data collection device, have become an intrinsic component of test-based accountability systems (TBA).…”

“…The assemblage of NLSAs, standards and accountability constitutes 'a coherent and effective political dispositif' (cf. Ball, Junemann, & Santori, 2017, p. 4) that, according to international data sources, is being increasingly enacted to monitor teachers' performance and promote competitive pressures among schools (Teltemann & Jude, 2018;Verger et al, 2018). In countries with TBA systems in place, school actors face consequences of a different nature (material, reputational, individual, collective, etc.…”

“…A 'socio-historic' approach to policy instruments The emerging demand for global skills in increasingly inter-dependent economies, the challenges generated by technological innovation, and the comparisons of educational systems deriving from international large-scale assessments are contributing to the expansion of similar education reforms globally (Verger et al, 2018). To a great extent, standardized evaluations and TBA have become central instruments of an education reform approach that situates learning achievement as a key driver of national success in an increasingly competitive economic environment (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010).…”

Bncc, Agenda Global E Formação Docente

“…Desde os anos de 1990, após a aprovação da Constituição de 1988 e o início da discussão de uma nova LDB, começam a existir, de forma mais intensa, debates em torno do que deveria ser um currículo para a Educação Básica, por vezes, um debate menos direto, por vezes, mais direto. Logo após a aprovação da nova LDB, em 1996, este debate aparece com mais força com a discussão dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais GENTILI, 1996;BRASIL, 1997). De lá para cá, houve uma série de debates, ações, movimentos, críticas, defesas (nem sempre muito explícitas) em torno da necessidade ou não de um currículo nacional.…”

Análisis Político de Discurso: Herramientas conceptuales y analíticas para el estudio crítico de políticas educativas en tiempos de reforma global

“…Bajo los principios de política educativa de rendición de cuentas, estandarización y descentralización/privatización (Verger, Parcerisa & Fontdevila, 2019), actualmente la GERM se expande crecientemente en el campo internacional y alcanza países que parecían ser inmunes a este movimiento de reforma global. Por lo general, el modelo que orienta este alcance cada vez mayor es el de Nueva Gestión Pública (NGP), un programa de reforma del sector público que aboga por la implementación de las lógicas y mecanismos del sector empresarial como estrategia para alcanzar mayor eficiencia en las burocracias modernas (Verger & Normand, 2015), así como también por el desarrollo de un nuevo ethos concomitante con la ideología de mercado (Anderson & Herr, 2015;Smith, 2014).…”