 | Education by the Numbers and the Making of Society: The Expertise of International Assessments Subjects: Education; Curriculum Studies; Education Policy & Politics; International & Comparative Education; Sociology of Education; Theory of Education; Higher Education; Assessment; Teaching & Learning; International statistical comparisons of nations have become commonplace in the contemporary landscape of education policy and social science. This book discusses the emergence of these international comparisons as a particular style of reasoning about education, society and science. By examining how international educational assessments have come to dominate much of contemporary policymaking concerning school system performance, the authors provide concrete case studies highlighting the preeminent role of numbers in furthering neoliberal education reform. Demonstrating how numbers serve as 'rationales' to shape and fashion social issues, this text opens new avenues for thinking about institutional and epistemological factors that produce and shape educational policy, research and schooling in transnational contexts. Sverker Lindblad is Professor of Education and Special Education at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Daniel Pettersson is Associate Professor at the University of Gävle and Uppsala University, Sweden. Thomas S. Popkewitz is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. |
