Tracing the French policy PISA debate: A policy configuration approach

Abstract

This article traces the evolution of the French policy PISA debate from 2001 to 2014 by analysing the results of two original qualitative researches. Theoretically, this debate is the outcome of specific policy configurations, which predetermine its scope, content and effectiveness. These configurations are themselves described through their political, institutional, professional and cognitive dimensions. Thus, three configurations are highlighted, all of which favour different public discourses: the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is seen as a topic only interesting to insiders (2001–2004), then as a politicised ranking (2005–2010) and, finally, as a tool purely for communication (2010–2014). The article shows that the major effect of PISA on the French education policy debate was to confirm and legitimate pre-existing opinions and policy stances, and that PISA was progressively scooped out from its statistical content.

Fifteen years of research on PISA effects on education governance: A critical review

“…Indeed, from the moment when it was established that cross-period comparisons were solid (with PISA 2000 in literacy in particular), that France results were falling below the average of the OECD and that social background was a key explanatory variable in the French case, the French PISA policy debate progressively merged with ancient and very classical public debates on the 'school crisis' and its origins. In that process, each policy actor provided typical and highly predictable explanations which very often quoted PISA, but without developing its statistical content (Pons, 2016).…”

“…The perspective proposed by Michael Dobbins and Kerstin Martens (2012) is different again: the context is captured through an analysis of institutional 7 balances at work in this country whose system has a strong capacity to resist change. Other authors try to provide a more systemic analysis of policy contexts by addressing the various 'ecological 138 | PONS relationships between policies and practices' in various countries (Chung, 2016) or through a policy configuration approach (Pons, 2016).…”

“… The author does not mention any example for this category. Retrospectively, and only to some extent, France could have been an example, especially at the time when this article was written (Pons, ). The US is also a good example (Martens & Niemann, ).…”

“… In France, for instance, it has been regularly put forward by activists and scholars working for the research institute of a federation of teachers’ unions (FSU‐ Fédération syndicale unitaire ) who criticised the growing ‘new global [and neol‐iberal] educational order’ that international organisations are shaping (Pons, ).…”

An Examination of the Influence of International Large Scale Assessments and Global Learning Metrics on National School Reform Policies

“…These reforms included a refocusing on fundamental skills through the revision of the primary school curricula with a particular focus on literacy and science, and decentralizing funding so that schools have control over their budgets. According to Dobbins and Martens (2012), France's PISA results, which were preceded by the country's poor performance on the 1997 OECD's International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), resulted in public upset that provided government officials with the opportunity to quickly move forward with the intended structural reforms aimed at improving student performance, accountability, and school and teacher autonomy (see also Pons, 2016). This last reform effort -increasing pedagogical and financial autonomy for schools and teachers -reflects the French government's policy borrowing of what they perceive to be key drivers behind Finland's "miracle" PISA ranking (Dobbins & Martens, 2012).…”