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Tonia Bieber - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Explaining Convergence in Education Policy
    Soft Governance International Organizations and Education Policy Convergence, 2016
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber
    Abstract:

    In this chapter, Tonia Bieber demonstrates how cross-national differences of policy convergence in education can be explained. It includes the policy lessons learned from the Swiss political reactions to the three international initiatives of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Bologna and Copenhagen processes. Furthermore, it includes a mini case Study on the role of the PISA Study and the Bologna process in the USA. In doing so, Bieber demonstrates the hindering and furthering role of soft governance instruments of transnational communication and international regulatory competition filtered by the national political institutions for the convergence result of the USA, while placing special focus on international reference points.

  • A New Internationalization Trend? The PISA Study, the Bologna Process, and U.S. Education Policy
    Internationalization of Education Policy, 2014
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber, Michael Dobbins, Timm Fulge, Kerstin Martens
    Abstract:

    In this chapter, we analyse the United States’ (11,8,) reactions to international initiatives in education policy. While the country has participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Study since its beginning in 2000, the U.S. does not participate in the European Bologna initiative due to its geographical distance. However, the U.S. has assumed observer status in this process since 2005. Overall, the PISA Study and Bologna Process have not triggered any far-reaching reforms in the U.S. In fact, many political actors have only recently noticed these international initiatives. Key policy elements such as output orientation, evidence-based policy-making, an economic understanding of education, and quality assurance were already widespread in the American education system. Hence, the U.S. has shown limited tangible response to PISA, although it continuously has ranked below average. Only recently have policy-makers and stakeholders started to incorporate PISA findings into their decision-making processes. Conversely, Bologna has become a more prominently discussed topic in the higher education policy community mainly for reasons of compatibility with the new European systems. Along these lines, the scattered introduction of European-style, three-year bachelor’s programmes at individual U.S. universities provide evidence of the increasing indirect influence of Bologna.

  • Cooperation or Conflict? Education Politics in Switzerland after the PISA Study and the Bologna Process
    Internationalization of Education Policy, 2014
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber
    Abstract:

    In the past 15 years, education policy-making in Switzerland has experienced important changes. In the field of Swiss secondary education, international school rankings turned out to be major drivers of policy change. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been the most prominent example of such comparative evaluations of student skills, in the Swiss higher education sector, European and transnational influences led to diverse governance changes as well as structure-related reform activities. Above all, the European Bologna Process emerged as a novel approach In harmonizing the diverse cantonal Study structures in Switzerland.

  • The OECD PISA Study as a Soft Power in Education? Lessons from Switzerland and the US.
    European Journal of Education, 2011
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber, Kerstin Martens
    Abstract:

    Although originally created for economic purposes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has increasingly gained weight in education policy in recent years and is now regarded as an international authority in the field, particularly through its ‘Programme for International Student Assessment’ (PISA), which was highly esteemed in many countries and enabled diverse domestic education reforms. OECD derived a variety of policy recommendations from the PISA results. However, which of these were implemented at the national level and how OECD was able to achieve an impact on its member states have not yet been analysed in sufficient depth. To answer these questions, we analyse which OECD recommendations were reflected in Switzerland and the US. As their reception differs across countries, we assess under which conditions policy convergence towards the OECD ‘model’ took place. Then we elaborate on the governance mechanisms that caused policy convergence. We show that in Switzerland PISA's platform for transnational communication enabled policy learning at the expert level, thus leading to a rather high degree of policy convergence. This was not the case in the US, where PISA was regarded only as one of many studies assessing the performance of education systems.

  • Convergence through communication and competition? The internationalization of secondary and higher education policies in Switzerland
    2011
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber
    Abstract:

    Far-reaching transformations in Swiss education were pushed in the last decade by two prominent international initiatives, namely the 1999 Bologna process and the OECD’s PISA Study starting in 2000. To what extent and in which way were these soft governance initiatives able to trigger Swiss policy convergence towards their policy models? Drawing on convergence approaches, it is assumed that mechanisms of transnational communication and regulatory competition acted as driving forces of the Swiss reform wave in the last decade. Results show that Swiss secondary education policy exhibits a considerable level of convergence towards the OECD recommendations based on the PISA results, and that reforms in Swiss higher education highly conformed to the Bologna aims. While different communicative mechanisms furthered policy convergence in Swiss secondary and higher education towards the international models of the PISA Study and the Bologna process, in both cases regulatory competition was highly effective in promoting domestic reforms. Applying qualitative methods of expert interviews and document analysis, this paper contributes to research on policy convergence. It fills the research gap concerning the role of the newly emerged, but ever more influential education-political actors of the OECD and the EU as promoters and of domestic actors as both supporters and antagonists of convergence.

Eugenio Picano - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Kerstin Martens - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • A New Internationalization Trend? The PISA Study, the Bologna Process, and U.S. Education Policy
    Internationalization of Education Policy, 2014
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber, Michael Dobbins, Timm Fulge, Kerstin Martens
    Abstract:

    In this chapter, we analyse the United States’ (11,8,) reactions to international initiatives in education policy. While the country has participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Study since its beginning in 2000, the U.S. does not participate in the European Bologna initiative due to its geographical distance. However, the U.S. has assumed observer status in this process since 2005. Overall, the PISA Study and Bologna Process have not triggered any far-reaching reforms in the U.S. In fact, many political actors have only recently noticed these international initiatives. Key policy elements such as output orientation, evidence-based policy-making, an economic understanding of education, and quality assurance were already widespread in the American education system. Hence, the U.S. has shown limited tangible response to PISA, although it continuously has ranked below average. Only recently have policy-makers and stakeholders started to incorporate PISA findings into their decision-making processes. Conversely, Bologna has become a more prominently discussed topic in the higher education policy community mainly for reasons of compatibility with the new European systems. Along these lines, the scattered introduction of European-style, three-year bachelor’s programmes at individual U.S. universities provide evidence of the increasing indirect influence of Bologna.

  • When Do Numbers Count? The Differential Impact of the PISA Rating and Ranking on Education Policy in Germany and the US
    German Politics, 2013
    Co-Authors: Kerstin Martens, Dennis Niemann
    Abstract:

    Why do international comparisons have an impact on some countries while other countries do not respond? This article examines the power of international ratings and rankings (R&R) using the OECD's PISA Study and its differential impact on education policymaking as a case Study. It argues that international R&R have an impact when two conditions are simultaneously fulfilled: the evaluated topic is framed as crucial in the national discourse, and a substantial gap between national self-perception and the empirical results can be observed. After assessing the media impact of PISA on 21 OECD countries, the theoretical argument is illustrated by an evaluation of the differing reactions of two similarly poorly performing countries: Germany and the US. While the German system of secondary education was strongly affected by the international comparison, beginning with the first PISA Study in 2000, and underwent comprehensive changes, the US first responded noticeably in the public and the political discourse only...

  • The OECD PISA Study as a Soft Power in Education? Lessons from Switzerland and the US.
    European Journal of Education, 2011
    Co-Authors: Tonia Bieber, Kerstin Martens
    Abstract:

    Although originally created for economic purposes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has increasingly gained weight in education policy in recent years and is now regarded as an international authority in the field, particularly through its ‘Programme for International Student Assessment’ (PISA), which was highly esteemed in many countries and enabled diverse domestic education reforms. OECD derived a variety of policy recommendations from the PISA results. However, which of these were implemented at the national level and how OECD was able to achieve an impact on its member states have not yet been analysed in sufficient depth. To answer these questions, we analyse which OECD recommendations were reflected in Switzerland and the US. As their reception differs across countries, we assess under which conditions policy convergence towards the OECD ‘model’ took place. Then we elaborate on the governance mechanisms that caused policy convergence. We show that in Switzerland PISA's platform for transnational communication enabled policy learning at the expert level, thus leading to a rather high degree of policy convergence. This was not the case in the US, where PISA was regarded only as one of many studies assessing the performance of education systems.

  • Introduction—Education Policy in Transformation
    Transformation of Education Policy, 2010
    Co-Authors: Alexander-kenneth Nagel, Kerstin Martens, Michael Windzio
    Abstract:

    2010 is an “education year”: the results of the “Programme for International Student Assessment” (PISA)—the largest survey on students’ performance—are being published again and will continue for another round of three evaluations; the Bologna Process—the largest project to provide Europe with a comparative higher education degree system—is supposed to be implemented within the region. Although the PISA Study and the Bologna Process have by now established themselves as prominent political issues with substantial impact on the political debate all over Europe and beyond, scholars of political science and political sociology have been rather reluctant to give this field the attention needed. This volume analyzes the significant changes in the field of education policy observable since the 1990s. It deals with the impact of the PISA Study and the Bologna Process as the most prominent examples with regard to the growing role of international organizations (IOs) and their impact on national education systems.

  • Education Policy, Globalization, and the Changing Nation State—Accelerating and Retarding Conditions
    Transformation of Education Policy, 2010
    Co-Authors: Michael Windzio, Kerstin Martens, Alexander-kenneth Nagel
    Abstract:

    In many countries educational policy today is under transformation. New demands of the labor market, the necessity of lifelong learning, technological progress of education delivery, and last but not least international comparative surveys, such as the PISA Study (Programme for International Student Assessment) and the Bologna Process for a common European Higher Education Area bring about challenges for national policymaking in the field of education.

Rohan Jagathesan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Sam Sims - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • The relationship between inquiry-based teaching and students’ achievement. New evidence from a longitudinal PISA Study in England
    Learning and Instruction, 2019
    Co-Authors: John Jerrim, Mary Oliver, Sam Sims
    Abstract:

    Abstract Inquiry-based science teaching involves supporting pupils to acquire scientific knowledge indirectly by conducting their own scientific experiments, rather than receiving scientific knowledge directly from teachers. This approach to instruction is widely used among science educators in many countries. However, researchers and policymakers have recently called the effectiveness of inquiry approaches into doubt. Using nationally-representative, linked survey and administrative data, we find little evidence that the frequency of inquiry-based instruction is positively associated with teenagers’ performance in science examinations. This finding is robust to the use of different measures of inquiry, different examinations/measures of attainment, across classrooms with varying levels of disciplinary standards and across gender and prior attainment subgroups.