International Organisations and the Shared Construction of Policy ‘Problems’: Problematisation and Change in Education Governance in Europe

Abstract

Over recent years, research has shown the ways that national governments have seemingly ceded some of their autonomy in education policy development to international organisations (IOs) in the context of globalisation and one of its conduits, Europeanisation. This article develops the idea that IOs, and particularly the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have had significant policy influence within the context of education policy development in the European education space. The article focuses on an examination of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the more recent Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in order to discuss processes of problematisation and normalisation of the notions of 'skills' and 'competencies' by the two major European IOs, the OECD and the European Commission. It examines the ways both concepts have turned into a policy problem in need of soft governance through new data, standards and policy solutions.

Adult numeracy and the totally pedagogised society: PIAAC and other international surveys in the context of global educational policy on lifelong learning

“…This has provided legitimation for OECD's and EU's actions, and has led to the construction of the "skills and competencies agenda", its promotion as a policy problem in all sectors of education and training, and its conversion into a public issue (Grek, 2010).…”

“…• the promotion of expertise in creating comparable datasets, so that countries can measure the relative success of their education systems and shift policy orientations accordingly (Grek, 2010) • new forms of "soft governance" of national educational systems, encompassing the production and dissemination of knowledge, the publication of comparative data such as educational and social indicators, and peer reviews involving country and thematic reviews -so that these supra-national organisations are "governing by data" (Mahon & McBride, 2008;Ozga, 2009). Thus, one of the effects of international studies like PISA and PIAAC is to contribute to a "comparative turn" in educational policy-making, and, more broadly to a scientific -and thus apparently objective and neutral -approach, to political decision-making (Grek, 2010).…”

“…Thus, one of the effects of international studies like PISA and PIAAC is to contribute to a "comparative turn" in educational policy-making, and, more broadly to a scientific -and thus apparently objective and neutral -approach, to political decision-making (Grek, 2010). So, far from being simply descriptive, comparisons perform prescriptive and political functions, driving and justifying changes of an instrumental nature in many countries around the world (Novoa & Yariv-Mashal, 2003).…”

“…Others such as Lingard (2011), Ozga (2009), and Grek (2010, draw on a broadly Foucauldian perspective, in particular Foucault's (1991) notion of governmentality to link developments in education policy formation with an argument about the emergence of new forms of soft governance. This alternative form of governing encompasses several key ideas:…”

Desarrollo profesional docente en el discurso de los organismos internacionales

“…Estas tendencias supranacionales se vinculan a la redefinición de las formas de producción, acumulación y distribución de la riqueza, tanto en sus aspectos instrumentales como simbólicos, es decir, en lo que se refiere a conferir la legitimidad necesaria a estas formas (GENTILI, 1997;DE SOUSA SANTOS, 2006), y a las disputas en torno a esto. En este escenario, los Organismos Internacionales (OI) (DALLE, 1999(DALLE, , 2000(DALLE, , 2007GREK, 2010;RUTKOWSKI, 2007) y las nuevas redes de poder (BALL, 2002(BALL, , 2011, se transforman en actores clave, asumiendo protagonismos y direccionalidades diversas en relación a estos procesos. En este sentido, los OI se posicionan de manera diferenciada, asumiendo direccionalidades específicas relacionadas con diversos procesos que están teniendo lugar a nivel internacional.…”