The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through ... more The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through its policy advice are well documented. This speculative paper explores the more subtle and perhaps deeper implications of the development of the PISA database, and of the secondary analysis that is performed using this database. Speculating with concepts from Science and Technology Studies, this paper suggests that PISA deflates “ontologically luxuriant objects” into “ontologically impoverished objects” through standardization and simplification. Freed from their moorings and translated into inscriptions, these ontologically impoverished objects are promiscuous, freely combining with other such objects across spaces and times in different ways to produce lessons for policy and practice. In this paper, I suggest that, while these promiscuous relations may produce mathematically defensible assertions, such findings may be ontologically absurd. Using data from interv...
Education policies around the world are responding to increased perceptions of risk by attempting... more Education policies around the world are responding to increased perceptions of risk by attempting to reduce uncertainty. They are attempting to gain clear information and identify ‘guaranteed’ solutions by finding out ‘what works’ to develop policy accordingly. They are setting up clear measures of accountability and transparency. In order to understand states of affairs and identify policy issues, huge machineries of calculation have been mobilised. Regular surveys are used to track progress and to respond to the first sign of ‘decline’. In this sense, we could say that the complexity and uncertainties of the world are transferred to the processes of calculation, which in turn render clear and less uncertain accounts of the world in the form of numbers. In this paper, I take the notion of ‘uncertainty’ to the statistical translations of the education world and the attempts made through these translations to erase uncertainty and ambiguity and provide clear, certain accounts. I explore how complex such operations are, and how the uncertainty and complexity of the world constantly challenge and stymie the attempts to tame it. I support my thesis with several empirical examples from my research on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and on Australia’s Education Revolution. I explore the dilemmas involved in these attempts to contain uncertainty (including through mathematical devices such as calculating ‘confidence intervals’), and the ways in which the world exceeds these attempts to contain its uncertainty. Using Callon et al’s (2001) notion of ‘acting in an uncertain world’, in particular their argument with regard to ‘hybrid forums’, I argue in this paper that keeping uncertainties alive can have the beneficial effect of bringing more resources and expertise forward and adding new voices into the discussion. Uncertainty can thus be an asset rather than a problem to be solved.
Permission to use the name and image of Fearless Nadia is a courtesy extended by Wadia Movieton... more Permission to use the name and image of Fearless Nadia is a courtesy extended by Wadia Movietone to the Australia India Institute for use only as the title of its Occasional Academic Papers. This is on the clear understanding that the name and image will be used only for ...
The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through ... more The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through its policy advice are well documented. This speculative paper explores the more subtle and perhaps deeper implications of the development of the PISA database, and of the secondary analysis that is performed using this database. Speculating with concepts from Science and Technology Studies, this paper suggests that PISA deflates ‘ontologically luxuriant objects’ into ‘ontologically impoverished objects’ through standardisation and simplification. Freed from their moorings and translated into inscriptions, these ontologically impoverished objects are promiscuous, freely combining with other such objects across spaces and times in different ways to produce lessons for policy and practice. In this paper, I suggest that while these promiscuous relations may produce mathematically defensible assertions, such findings may be ontologically absurd. Using data from interviews with measurement and...
From the moment Australia’s newly elected Labor government announced in 2008 its intention to int... more From the moment Australia’s newly elected Labor government announced in 2008 its intention to introduce a national assessment scheme for Australian schools, and to publish the results of these assessments on a public website, it courted controversy. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the MySchool website were introduced as part of the new government’s ‘transparency agenda’ and have been widely discussed and debated. NAPLAN is seen not only as an assessment of students, but also of the schools they attend. On the MySchool website, all of Australia’s nearly 10,000 government and non-government schools that receive government funding are required to present a range of information, including their NAPLAN results. The results are displayed in a comparative format, against the results of 59 other similar schools, as well as against its own past performance. Only selective special purpose schools are exempt from reporting their NAPLAN results.
In the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002), change... more In the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002), change in teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice is mediated by either enaction or reflection. The stimulus for change can be provided by an external source such as a professional development program or it can result from the teacher’s inevitable classroom experimentation and reflection on the consequences of that experimentation. This paper explores the role that video can play in catalysing change and facilitating teacher reflection. In particular, we examine: (i) international research employing video and the capacity of such research to inform practice and stimulate teacher reflection in both pre-service and in-service settings; (ii) the use of video in professional development programs and the choice between exemplary and problematic practice as catalysts for teacher reflection in both pre-service and in-service programs; and (iii) teacher agency and the catalytic role of video in suppor...
In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence o... more In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence of poverty and deep inequities in the world, 193 nations have pledged to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) crafted by UNESCO in 2015. Education is seen as key to attaining all the other SDGs. Within the ‘education goal’ (Goal #4), there is an explicit target, SDG 4.7, which focuses on ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’. Nations are expected to incorporate a focus on SDG 4.7 into their curricula, policies, teacher education programs, and student assessment. PISA has now developed an assessment of ‘global competence,’ which is presented as a way to assess SDG 4.7. Through this assessment, it seeks to inform policy, curricula, and pedagogies and catalogue ‘best practices’ for developing students’ ‘global competence’. Given this ambition and the centrality of ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’ within the globally endorsed SDGs, it is important t...
The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through ... more The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through its policy advice are well documented. This speculative paper explores the more subtle and perhaps deeper implications of the development of the PISA database, and of the secondary analysis that is performed using this database. Speculating with concepts from Science and Technology Studies, this paper suggests that PISA deflates “ontologically luxuriant objects” into “ontologically impoverished objects” through standardization and simplification. Freed from their moorings and translated into inscriptions, these ontologically impoverished objects are promiscuous, freely combining with other such objects across spaces and times in different ways to produce lessons for policy and practice. In this paper, I suggest that, while these promiscuous relations may produce mathematically defensible assertions, such findings may be ontologically absurd. Using data from interv...
Education policies around the world are responding to increased perceptions of risk by attempting... more Education policies around the world are responding to increased perceptions of risk by attempting to reduce uncertainty. They are attempting to gain clear information and identify ‘guaranteed’ solutions by finding out ‘what works’ to develop policy accordingly. They are setting up clear measures of accountability and transparency. In order to understand states of affairs and identify policy issues, huge machineries of calculation have been mobilised. Regular surveys are used to track progress and to respond to the first sign of ‘decline’. In this sense, we could say that the complexity and uncertainties of the world are transferred to the processes of calculation, which in turn render clear and less uncertain accounts of the world in the form of numbers. In this paper, I take the notion of ‘uncertainty’ to the statistical translations of the education world and the attempts made through these translations to erase uncertainty and ambiguity and provide clear, certain accounts. I explore how complex such operations are, and how the uncertainty and complexity of the world constantly challenge and stymie the attempts to tame it. I support my thesis with several empirical examples from my research on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and on Australia’s Education Revolution. I explore the dilemmas involved in these attempts to contain uncertainty (including through mathematical devices such as calculating ‘confidence intervals’), and the ways in which the world exceeds these attempts to contain its uncertainty. Using Callon et al’s (2001) notion of ‘acting in an uncertain world’, in particular their argument with regard to ‘hybrid forums’, I argue in this paper that keeping uncertainties alive can have the beneficial effect of bringing more resources and expertise forward and adding new voices into the discussion. Uncertainty can thus be an asset rather than a problem to be solved.
Permission to use the name and image of Fearless Nadia is a courtesy extended by Wadia Movieton... more Permission to use the name and image of Fearless Nadia is a courtesy extended by Wadia Movietone to the Australia India Institute for use only as the title of its Occasional Academic Papers. This is on the clear understanding that the name and image will be used only for ...
The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through ... more The heavy hammer methods of OECD and PISA in influencing policy through the rankings and through its policy advice are well documented. This speculative paper explores the more subtle and perhaps deeper implications of the development of the PISA database, and of the secondary analysis that is performed using this database. Speculating with concepts from Science and Technology Studies, this paper suggests that PISA deflates ‘ontologically luxuriant objects’ into ‘ontologically impoverished objects’ through standardisation and simplification. Freed from their moorings and translated into inscriptions, these ontologically impoverished objects are promiscuous, freely combining with other such objects across spaces and times in different ways to produce lessons for policy and practice. In this paper, I suggest that while these promiscuous relations may produce mathematically defensible assertions, such findings may be ontologically absurd. Using data from interviews with measurement and...
From the moment Australia’s newly elected Labor government announced in 2008 its intention to int... more From the moment Australia’s newly elected Labor government announced in 2008 its intention to introduce a national assessment scheme for Australian schools, and to publish the results of these assessments on a public website, it courted controversy. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the MySchool website were introduced as part of the new government’s ‘transparency agenda’ and have been widely discussed and debated. NAPLAN is seen not only as an assessment of students, but also of the schools they attend. On the MySchool website, all of Australia’s nearly 10,000 government and non-government schools that receive government funding are required to present a range of information, including their NAPLAN results. The results are displayed in a comparative format, against the results of 59 other similar schools, as well as against its own past performance. Only selective special purpose schools are exempt from reporting their NAPLAN results.
In the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002), change... more In the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002), change in teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice is mediated by either enaction or reflection. The stimulus for change can be provided by an external source such as a professional development program or it can result from the teacher’s inevitable classroom experimentation and reflection on the consequences of that experimentation. This paper explores the role that video can play in catalysing change and facilitating teacher reflection. In particular, we examine: (i) international research employing video and the capacity of such research to inform practice and stimulate teacher reflection in both pre-service and in-service settings; (ii) the use of video in professional development programs and the choice between exemplary and problematic practice as catalysts for teacher reflection in both pre-service and in-service programs; and (iii) teacher agency and the catalytic role of video in suppor...
In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence o... more In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence of poverty and deep inequities in the world, 193 nations have pledged to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) crafted by UNESCO in 2015. Education is seen as key to attaining all the other SDGs. Within the ‘education goal’ (Goal #4), there is an explicit target, SDG 4.7, which focuses on ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’. Nations are expected to incorporate a focus on SDG 4.7 into their curricula, policies, teacher education programs, and student assessment. PISA has now developed an assessment of ‘global competence,’ which is presented as a way to assess SDG 4.7. Through this assessment, it seeks to inform policy, curricula, and pedagogies and catalogue ‘best practices’ for developing students’ ‘global competence’. Given this ambition and the centrality of ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’ within the globally endorsed SDGs, it is important t...
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Papers by Radhika Gorur