Pisa, International Comparisons, Epistemic Paradoxes

Abstract

This paper critically analyze the forms of knowledge that are tested in PISA from a critical realist perspective. After a initial and fundamental differentiation between two forms of knowledge, unmasks false beliefs or assumptions about the characteristic features of these two forms of knowledge and about the problematic relationship between knowledge and its assessment. The relationship between knowledge and its assessment is further aggravated by various 'examination technologies' such as whether an incentive is attached to the taking of the test, the students' motivation to take the test and the test format, which might favour some groups in comparison with others. International comparative student assessments (like PISA) face the additional difficulty of trying to construct curriculum-free tests underpinning the idea of a universal form of knowledge. This notion makes a number of reductionist assumptions and does not account properly for cultural differences which might affect test performance in several ways. The final criticism is directed at the way PISA results are published in comparative national tables thereby putting emphasis on position rather than score.