ERIC Number: EJ1172481
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
EISSN: N/A
Understanding Business Interests in International Large-Scale Student Assessments: A Media Analysis of "The Economist," "Financial Times," and "Wall Street Journal"
Steiner-Khamsi, Gita; Appleton, Margaret; Vellani, Shezleen
Oxford Review of Education, v44 n2 p190-203 2018
The media analysis is situated in the larger body of studies that explore the varied reasons why different policy actors advocate for international large-scale student assessments (ILSAs) and adds to the research on the fast advance of the global education industry. The analysis of "The Economist," "Financial Times," and "Wall Street Journal" covers publications on 'PISA', 'TIMSS', and related search items over the period 1996-2016. The three media outlets vary in terms of ILSA reporting. "The Economist" and "Financial Times" tend to focus on PISA, whereas the "Wall Street Journal" pays greater attention to TIMSS than PISA. The content analysis of 59 articles yields interesting results about how the business-oriented readership of the three media outlets frames public education and why it sees education as a profitable business opportunity. The three most common narratives, reflecting the business logic, are the following: (i) public education is in crisis; (ii) there is no correlation between spending and education outcome; and (iii) school accountability, teacher performance, and decentralisation represent the most effective policies to improve the quality of education. Drawing on these three common narratives, the financial media outlets present a particular vision of how to improve education; a vision in which the private sector is supposed to play a major role.
Descriptors: Meta Analysis, International Assessment, Educational Practices, Content Analysis, Periodicals, Trend Analysis, Commercialization, Consumer Economics, Elementary Secondary Education, Achievement Tests, Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Mathematics Tests, Mathematics Achievement, Science Tests, Science Achievement, Qualitative Research, Newspapers
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Program for International Student Assessment; Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A