LAUSR

PISA has become a significant event in the education universe – our equivalent of the Olympics. Yet, as with other complex phenomena, the degree of confidence embodied in the pronouncements it generates tends to be inversely related to the level of understanding of those making them. Against this background, the explicit aim of this timely, informative and engaging book is to provide an accessible introduction to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment. The book seeks to dispel some of the prevalent myths and fallacies in relation to performance and comparison of school systems, and that helps people: (1) to understand how PISA shapes educational thinking and practice; and (2) to join the debate about PISA from an informed position. A recurring theme in the book is the tension between a complex social reality and the tendency to simplify that reality – a tendency driven by the desires, purposes and ambitions of individuals and groups who may lack the time, inclination, motivation or ability to engage with nuance and complexity. Following a general introduction that explains the history and background of PISA, the book takes the reader through a discussion of a number of key themes, such as how the ‘raw’ information from PISA gets inflected through the multiple agendas of various groups and organisations, including politicians, policy makers and, not least, the media who want a sensational story that will sell, but also the OECD itself which clearly has an interest in PISA taking centre stage in educational debates and discussions. The notion of stories is apt here, as it reminds us that there is no single true version of PISA; rather its results and their meanings are always storied into existence by, and shaped according to the values and priorities of, multiple sectors and institutions. Of course, the predominant way in which policy makers and the media love to tell the story of PISA is in terms of rankings. A key message of the book is that such readings are unhelpful distractions that simplify the complex realities PISA has the potential to reveal, while overlooking the complications – such as the federal nature of educational provision in countries such as Australia and Canada and the size of the margins for statistical uncertainty – that influence what can, and just as importantly what can’t, be inferred from the results. All this means that, as the authors repeatedly suggest, making comparison is complex. For one thing, and in addition to the considerations already flagged above, are we really measuring the same thing when literacy in, say, Japan, has quite different meanings and associations as compared to literacy in the UK or the USA? Then, there is the practical matter of the varying degrees of preparation students in different contexts receive before taking the test – a not inconsiderable matter when, as is also the case in other non-content related tests such as the international tests of English proficiency, IELTS and TOEFL – familiarity with the test format plays a significant role in relation to outcomes. And lurking in the background is the pitfall of equating correlation with causation, either in terms of educational ‘inputs’ (for example, class size, teacher qualification and school hours) and PISA, or in relation to variations in external measures, such as GDP, which can all too easily, but simplistically and fallaciously, be read as consequent upon variations in PISA results. The book makes its points in relation to these various issues through clear case studies and examples to provide a balanced, level-headed discussion of PISA and international testing. This is not a book for those seeking a polemical text in order to affirm a pre-existing, anti-testing position. But for anyone open to a detailed, informed, nuanced and insightful analysis of the powerful and pervasive phenomenon that PISA, and large-scale testing more widely, has become, reading this accessible, engaging and often very witty book offers rich rewards. Indeed, The Global Education Race is a book I would recommend to all educational practitioners but would go further and suggest it become required reading for educational policy makers, in order to promote and facilitate greater levels of data and research literacy and hence more critical and informed debate on the role of testing, data, measurement and comparison in education.