On the supranational spell of PISA in policy

Abstract

Background: PISA results appear to have a large impact upon government policy. The phenomenon is growing, with more countries taking part in PISA testing and politicians pointing to PISA results as reasons for their reforms.

Purpose: The aims of this research were to depict the policy reactions to PISA across a number of jurisdictions, to see whether they exhibited similar patterns and whether the same reforms were evident.

Sources of evidence: We investigated policy and media reactions to the 2009 and 2012 PISA results in six cases: Canada, China (Shanghai), England, France, Norway and Switzerland. Cases were selected to contrast high-performing jurisdictions (Canada, China) with average performers (England, France, Norway and Switzerland). Countries that had already been well reported on in the literature were excluded (Finland, Germany).

Design and methods: Policy documents, media reports and academic articles in English, French, Mandarin and Norwegian relating to each of the cases were critically evaluated.

Results: A policy reaction of ‘scandalisation’ was evident in four of the six cases; a technique used to motivate change. Five of the six cases showed ‘standards-based reforms’ and two had reforms in line with the ‘ideal-governance’ model. However, these are categorisations: the actual reforms had significant differences across countries. There are chronological problems with the notion that PISA results were causal with regard to policy in some instances. Countries with similar PISA results responded with different policies, reflecting their differing cultural and historical education system trajectories.

Conclusions: The connection between PISA results and policy is not always obvious. The supranational spell of PISA in policy is in the way that PISA results are used as a magic wand in political rhetoric, as though they conjure particular policy choices. This serves as a distraction from the ideological basis for reforms. The same PISA results could motivate a range of different policy solutions.     

Teacher preparation: A collaborative model

Abstract

Criticism of education and teacher preparation persists. The “Teachers Educating and Motivating Students,” or TEAMS, model was developed to address this criticism. The TEAMS model has been structured using a Professional Development School (PDS) concept as the core component. The model is a competency‐based, structured block program featuring concurrent enrollment in groups of courses and a corresponding field component.

Evaluation of the TEAMS program is a continuing process. Completion of a “perceptions” survey and a workplace competencies instrument by students and mentors/administrators revealed that the TEAMS program is accomplishing intended goals. Furthermore, t tests revealed only one significant difference in perceived adequacy between students and mentors/administrators on the workplace competencies. The data also revealed an overall positive attitude toward the project and satisfaction regarding the achievement of workplace competencies.     

Object Properties and Object Kind: Twenty-One-Month-Old Infants' Extension of Novel Adjectives

Three experiments examined the conditions under which infants acquiring English succeed in mapping novel adjectives, applied ostensively to individual objects, to other objects with the same property (color or texture). Twenty-one-month-old infants were introduced to a target (e.g., a yellow object) and asked to choose between (1) a matching test object (e.g., a different yellow object) and (2) a contrasting test object (e.g., a green object). Infants hearing the target labeled with novel adjectives were more likely than those hearing no novel words to choose the matching test object. Infants also revealed an emerging distinction between novel adjectives and nouns. Finally, infants' expectation regarding the extension of adjectives appears to unfold within the support of a familiar basic-level category. Infants extended novel adjectives to the matching test object when all objects were all drawn from the same basic level category; they failed to do so when the objects were drawn from different basic level categories.     

Leadership in online learning in higher education: Why instructional designers for online learning should lead the way

With the increase in demand for online education at the university level has also come the “recognition that in order to be effective, such programs cannot simply be on‐line replicas of the instruction delivered in classrooms” (Reiser, 2001, p. 64). An environment of collaboration with a shared vision is needed to bring faculty expertise together with online learning design and technological expertise. This article addresses why and how instructional designers should lead the way.