Blog

Below an overview of blogposts that I have written.  The headings serve as links

to the blog in question.   

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Commitment to social dialogue in education in the European Union: rhetoric or game-changer?

(w/ Emiliano Grimaldi and Tomasz Gajderowicz)

Educational International, 18 May 2021

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"In the recently concluded project “ Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in Europe”, we sought to start addressing this knowledge gap by examining how the complex dynamics between education reform, privatisation and social dialogue have unfolded in French-speaking Belgium, Italy, Poland and Sweden since the financial crash in 2008. [...] we investigated whether fair social dialogue and industrial democracy in education are being undermined by the combination of reform pressures, privatisation, technocratic governance, budgetary constraints and limited investment. Was the ‘ ‘new start for social dialogue’ proclaimed by the European Commission in March 2015 a game changer or merely rhetoric?"

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The need for strategy and teacher activism in transnational governance

Worlds of Education, 23 March 2020 

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"Today, the OECD launches “Teachers and School Leaders as Valued Professionals” as the second volume of the TALIS 2018 Results. Being the largest international research programme focused on teachers and school leaders, TALIS is a prime example of how transnational education governance offers opportunities as well as challenges for educators and their democratic voice."

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The possibilities for South-North dialogue in education research 

Worlds of Education, 27 March 2018

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"In this week, the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) is taking place in Mexico City. ... the conference theme is “Re-Mapping Global Education: South-North Dialogue”. The theme problematizes the fact that knowledge production and exchange also in comparative education research usually remains a monologue in which “experts” of the North (like, high-income countries) speak to and study the South (low and mid-income countries)."

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Learning assessment and assessment learning: International large-scale assessment and the politics of capacity-building 

Globalisation, Education & Social Futures, University of Bristol, 28 June 2016

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"Everybody agrees that it is a problem in so many ways that the remarkable increase in access to education in low and middle-income countries over the last decades is often accompanied by less than basic levels of competences among students. In this sense, the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on quality education makes perfectly sense. Yet, major points of contention remain concerning how to address the issue, who are involved in developing indicators and putting international large-scale assessment (ILSA) frameworks into place, and which learning domains are to assessed."

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VAM, school effectiveness and the politics of distraction

Worlds of Education, 29 February 2016

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"... the distinctive hope in the power of education that comes with school effectiveness might verge into a politics of distraction when the use of statistical tools as policy instruments is taken too far. The most obvious example is the use of value-added models (VAM) in school and teacher evaluation frameworks. These have become widespread especially in the US and England during the last decade. VAM is based on the assumption that it is possible to create complex statistical models that capture the essential and universal factors in what makes some schools and teachers more effective than others without sacrificing the complexity of education, teaching and learning."

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Distance, proximity and Australia in global education governance 

Globalisation, Education & Social Futures, University of Bristol, 7 December 2015

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"The relations between OECD and Australia are particularly interesting because the country since it became OECD member in 1971 has embraced its membership in a way that is tempting to interpret as a prime expression of the tyranny of distance 

traditionally held as a main tenet of Australian collective identity and policy. Or indeed a love affair thriving on that distance and remoteness from Europe as Chris Duke would put it in 2003. The distance metaphor should probably not be exaggerated in our changing world of geopolitical alliances and trade partnerships. But, the point to be made here is that Australia has been very engaged also in OECD activities in education."

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A critical review of Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA)

Worlds of Education, 30 September 2015

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"The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) has cultivated an important niche in the contemporary learning assessment industry and currently exerts matchless influence on assessment policies globally, especially in low income countries. EGRA is an individually administered oral assessment of the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in early grades and has been designed as an inexpensive diagnostic tool for measuring student progress in reading"

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The Politics of Indicator Development in the Education 2030 Framework for Action 

NORRAG NEWSbite, 9 July 2015

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"As the process of defining the Education 2030 Framework for Action becomes nearer to completion, this post takes a critical look at one prominent submission to the post-2015 education debate: the OECD Universal Basic Skills report. In the report, the OECD effectively proposes that PISA should be extended to the entire globe to monitor and drive that “all youth acquire basic skills” (page 15). The bold OECD proposal is not so surprising, even though it is hard to take seriously given the substantial 

critiques of the programme."