Education as an Economic Production Factor - Implications for Accountability - PowerPoint Presentation

1. Education as an Economic Production Factor - Implications for AccountabilityDen 7. nordiske utdanningshistoriske konferansen, Trondheim september 2018Christian Ydesen, Aalborg University, Denmark

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5. Archival sourcesDanish national archives (Copenhagen and Viborg)Internal correspondence (between Danish actors as well as between Danish officials and OECD officials)Minutes from meetings, also Danish language summary records from CERI Governing Board meetings emphasizing Danish interests MemorandumsDocuments and reports that have been circulated and/or commented on in various agencies in the Danish Ministry of EducationConference papers, invitations, descriptions, preparation, participant lists etc.Australian national archives (Canberra and Melbourne)Internal correspondence (between Australian actors as well as between Australian officials and OECD officials)Minutes from meetings, including from various Australian OECD committeesMemorandumsDocuments and reports that have been circulated and/or commented on in Australia, including extensive comments from various Australian actors on OECD reviews of matters related to Australian educationConference papers, invitations, descriptions, preparation, participant lists etc.OECD archives (Paris)Summary records, comments, agendas, minutes, reports, notes by the secretariat, research papers, country reviews, country reports , working papers, conference documents and new letters

6. Economics, education, and accountabilityWe may then conclude that the wisdom of expending public and private funds on education is not to be measured by its direct fruits alone. It will be profitable as a mere investment, to give the masses of the people much greater opportunities than they can generally avail themselves of. Alfred Marshal (1842-1924), British economistThe direction of change is seen towards what may be called the technological society  – a society in which human material welfare is continuously increased by the application of science to the productive process – a society, therefore, which places education in a central institutional position as both a source of technological and cultural  change and as a vast training apparatus for the highly diversified manpower requirements of a technological economy.OECD, 1961It is not, after all, caprice which has led to the substitution of the term "investment in education" for the term of .... earlier decades, "expenditures on education.Mr. Walter W. Heller, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, October 1961Concerns about economic growth, labour force quality, and development – education underpins all these goals  Concerns about the efficiency and accountability of education systems  From the international level, education became subject to other concerns than pedagogy, didactics, educational ideals and nation-building which had hitherto dominated education in many countriesA theoretical perspective is ‘cultural political economy’ implying that capitalism frames the agendas of education

7. The OECD and accountability in educationIn 1960, OEEC director, Alexander King, described the development of indicators as an “essential prerequisite to the elaboration of sound educational programmes.” In order to secure soundness in the educational programmes “(…) the work should be based on quantitative measurements and relationship between the main "inputs" into the educational system.Forms of accountability which are limited to the consideration of quantitative measures are particularly damaging when attempts are made to incorporate those quantitative measures in ”cost-effectiveness analyses”, in which outcomes based on pupils’ test scores in specific skill areas are compared with financial inputs. One cannot quantify and thereby include in a cost-effectiveness balance sheet a school’s success in developing amongst its pupils the spark of creativity, a sense of determination, the motivation to make a contribution to life, or concern and compassion for their fellows.Report from the OECD study group on national assessment, October 1977International comparisons of educational conditions and performance are now perceived as a means of adding depth and perspective to the analysis of national situations. References to other nations’ policies and results are beginning to be routinely used in discussions of education, and comparability now belongs with accountability to that changing set of driving words which shape the current management paradigm of education.T.J. Alexander, director of the OECD Directorate for Education, 1994One of the interview respondents in Clara Morgan’s study described the PISA in the following manner: “[The] PISA is an accountability engine. It tells you hardly anything about teaching and learning. It tells you that there is a problem but it doesn’t tell you how to fix it” (Interview Respondent #7, 9 June 2006)Two turning points: The Social Indicator Development Programme, in the 1970s, for which the EDC set up the Working Group on Educational Statistics and Indicators.The International Indicators and Evaluation of Educational Systems (INES) programme established in 1988.The OECD soon after called for establishing a ’New Dialogue Between Education and the Economy’ leading to precisely the development of outcome indicators for education, as a basis for international comparisons and increased accountability (OECD 1989)  Education at a glance, 1992

8. Research aim and the selection of casesThe aim is to historically and comparatively investigate the role and importance of selected OECD policy initiatives and programmes in terms of impact on selected member-states’ accountability policies in educationReveal the historical roots of contemporary test-based accountability regimes in order to understand the workings and logics of these regimesSelecting the case countries (criteria):Founding members of the OECD (1961)Different in terms of historical and ideological context (state formation)Different in terms of education system structureAustralia – a federal system with no national education system and a liberal welfare stateDenmark – a decentralised system with a national education system and a universalist welfare state

9. The question of impactSource: Christensen, I.L. & Ydesen C.: “Routes of Knowledge: Toward a methodological framework for tracing the historical impact of international organizations” European Education, 47, 3, 2015, pp. 274-288.Reciprocity, crossings, transformations, conflicting narratives, uneven power structures and unintended impactChanges in discourse, policy, curriculum and teaching, capacity building, research, global and donor responsesSverker Lindblad, Daniel Pettersson, & Thomas S. Popkewitz. (2015). International comparisons of school results: A Systematic Review of Research on Large Scale Assessments in Education. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23176.01286Changes in discourse, concepts and practicesChristensen, I.L. & Ydesen C.: “Routes of Knowledge: Toward a methodological framework for tracing the historical impact of international organizations” European Education, 47, 3, 2015, pp. 274-288.

10. Impact on accountability policies in education - AustraliaThe goals established for Australia's schools are:Standards and CompetenciesAustralian schools to be at the forefront in achieving the highest standards when compared to the best in the world by the Year 2000.By 1995, school systems throughout Australia to have in place a comprehensive system of performance and accountability measures which will allow for valid and reliable assessments of student and teacher performance as s basis for national and international comparisons.CurriculumBy the Year 2000, Australian school systems to be utilising national curriculum statements and frameworks in all major curriculum areas which will identify common learning tasks and agreed performance standards.By 1995, Australian schools to have curriculum statements and frameworks operational In the core areas of English, Mathematics and Science .Management StructuresBy the Year 2000, to have all school systems within Australia operating with decentralised management structures with maximum responsibility for operational decisions at the school level but within a rigourous system of accountability for performance and a clear set of educational objectives for systems and for the nation.By the Year 1995, to have in place the management plans, industrial relations reforms and the management development programs necessary to achieve the above.Source: The Effectiveness of Schooling and Educational Resource Management, Country Report: Australia, Meeting of National Representatives and Experts, December 1991Note: As part of the implementation of the Activity on the The effectiveness of schooling and educational resource management, the Secretariat invited participating member countries to prepare national reports on the basis of a framework especially prepared by the Secretariat (SME/ET/90.28).

11. ConclusionsThe cold war shapes the education policies of todayIt is necessary to open up the black box – the OECD is not a monolithStruggle between experts, seats and positions in IO’s:IEA went from being a field organized/oriented toward educational research to a field organized/oriented toward educational audit and accountability (Oren Pizmony-Levy) UNESCO saw a movement from education experts to government representatives/civil servantsOECD is no exception (CERI versus the Directorate for Education and Skills)In this dynamic of knowledge bases and interests, the importance of the role of experts, professionals and their preferences, agendas and outlooks cannot be overestimated.The role of history of education:Understand the continuities and ruptures in the historical journey taken by the OECD as it became the most influential international organisation in educationUnderstand power struggles in the historical processesAn inside-out perspective that opens up the black box of the OECDDraw lessons for the future