1.  Background | 19/12/2007

The Pisa story

The question of whether education can be measured or compared has produced many altercations. Yet the question of comparability disappears behind the force of the comparisons: today, almost no country can avoid PISA. » more

Tests for Europe's schoolchildren

It was the advent of the Pisa study that internationalised education policy, write political scientists Kerstin Martens and Stephan Leibfried. With its Pisa study the international organisation [the OECD] developed an instrument for comparing national education systems. ... Even if a country wanted to it could no longer escape international competition - or the Pisa. ... The times of nation state-oriented policy are coming to an end, and no one is more aware of this than the closely interwoven EU member states. Internationalisation is inevitable - and also represents a great opportunity. This is another thing Pisa has taught us, because with its Pisa study the OECD triggered a long overdue debate about education, integration and family policy which up to that point had been inconceivable in Germany. ... Even our 'holy' triadic school system is now under discussion and has already been reformed in some German states. No matter how intense the debate becomes over the next few weeks, Pisa is not a curse but a blessing."

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