The letter authored by Dr. Heinz-Dieter Meyer and other scholars, published on theguardian.com on May 6th, contains several false claims about the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pisa program. Contrary to their assertions, there is no evidence to indicate that Pisa or any other educational comparisons have led to a move towards short-term solutions in the realm of education policy. In fact, Pisa has enabled policymakers to consider a vast array of policy options that are based on international comparisons and has provided numerous opportunities for creating a more strategic policy approach. By fostering international collaboration, Pisa has also created important opportunities for policymakers and other stakeholders to collaborate across borders. For instance, the International Summit of the Teaching Profession is an annual event that brings together ministers and union leaders to explore ways of elevating the status of the teaching profession.
Although some reforms take time to bear fruit, several countries have achieved rapid progress in the short term, including Germany and Poland, which have shown observable steady progress every three years. For the record, Pisa does not engage in public-private partnerships or any other sort of alliances of the kind promoted by Dr. Meyer. Instead, the OECD has full responsibility for the development, implementation, and reporting of Pisa, under the guidance of a governing board. Technical services that are necessary for Pisa’s development may be contracted out to institutions, companies, or individuals that demonstrate superior qualifications, through a transparent and public call-for-tender process.
Peter Wilby, in another article on the same platform, alleged that Pearson is overseeing the Pisa 2015 assessment. However, this is a false statement. Pearson was simply one of several contractors selected through a competitive process to develop and implement Pisa 2015. The company’s contract to create the assessment framework has finished and hence, Pearson no longer participates in Pisa 2015’s development.
Andreas Schleicher,
Acting director of education, OECD
