The PISA calendar

Periodical
Educational Philosophy and Theory
Volume
52
Year
2020
Issue number
6
Page range
625-639
Relates to study/studies
PISA 2012
PISA 2015

The PISA calendar

Temporal governance and international large-scale assessments

Abstract

This article analyses international large-scale assessments in education from a temporal perspective. The article discusses and compares the different conceptions of time in the early international assessments conducted in the 1960s and 1970s by the IEA with the PISA studies conducted by the OECD from the year 2000 onwards. The paper argues that there has been a shift in the ways that the assessments structure time. The early IEA surveys were characterized by a relative slowness, lack of synchronization and lack of trend analyses. PISA, by contrast, is characterized by high pace, simultaneous publication of results around the world and regular and recurrent studies making the analysis of trends possible. The emergence of this new time regime, it is argued, has implications for how education is governed. At the transnational level, it strengthens the influence and importance of OECD as a significant policy actor. At the national level, as educational discourse and policy adapts to the temporalities of the PISA calendar, two kinds of effects can be distinguished. First, there is a tendency towards searching for “retrotopian” solutions for contemporary problems. Second, there is a tendency towards acceleration and short-term planning when it comes to educational reforms.