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PISA and high-performing education systems: explaining Singapore's education success

Deng, Z; Gopinathan, S; (2016) PISA and high-performing education systems: explaining Singapore's education success. Comparative Education , 52 (4) pp. 449-472. 10.1080/03050068.2016.1219535. Green open access

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Abstract

Singapore’s remarkable performance in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has placed it among the world’s high-performing education systems (HPES). In the literature on HPES, its ‘secret formula’ for education success is explained in terms of teacher quality, school leadership, system characteristics and educational reform. This article offers an alternative explanation for the education success of Singapore and, in so doing, questions the basic assertions of the HPES literature and, in particularly, the use of PISA results as the prime indicator of the educational performance of a school system. The explanation is informed by a historical perspective on the development of the Singapore education system and based upon a body of empirical findings on the nature of pedagogical practice in classrooms, both of which are vital for understanding the educational performance of Singapore’s education system. The article concludes by addressing the implications of this analysis for educational policy borrowing.

Type: Article
Title: PISA and high-performing education systems: explaining Singapore's education success
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2016.1219535
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2016.1219535
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: PISA, pedagogy, educational reform, educational purposes, Singapore, high-performing education system, Asian education, policy borrowing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10089823
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