Li, Xiaomin;
(2021)
PISA and PISA for ‘development’: an inquiry into the OECD’s expansion into low- and middle-income countries.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This thesis analyses PISA-D to understand its origins, the legitimation strategies which frame it, and its outcomes. The thesis begins by locating PISA-D within the evolution of OECD after the 1950s. That story, which is told briefly, is one of successful expansion. More specifically, as the global education agenda was being changed after 2015 to emphasise minimum standards of quality for all countries to be delivered by 2030, the OECD has been seeking to expand its most successful policy instrument – PISA – to include low- and middle-income countries. In 2013, it introduced PISA for Development (PISA-D) to help promote PISA as a universal measure of learning. In 2018 the results of PISA-D were released, and in 2019 it was declared a success by OECD. Clearly PISA-D has the potential to have a significant impact on various aspects of education in low-income countries. To explore these themes, this thesis was guided by a number of research questions which included: what are the origins of PISA-D and how have they shaped its contemporary form? How has PISA-D been promoted and what strategies have been employed by OECD to establish a clear role for itself in monitoring Sustainable Development Goal 4? How has PISA-D addressed the challenges that low- and middle-income countries face in engaging in PISA and what policy insights does it provide for the piloting countries? The basic approach of the thesis is through documentary research, but this was supplemented by semi-structured interviews and secondary analysis of the literature. The work has permitted new interpretations of the contributions of OECD to global educational governance, has highlighted the legitimation strategies of OECD as it expands its role, and has made clearer how the PISA-D countries are construed as backward – and as needing to learn from other, especially high-performing, countries participating in PISA.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | PISA and PISA for ‘development’: an inquiry into the OECD’s expansion into low- and middle-income countries |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| 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 - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10123592 |
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