In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence of poverty and deep inequities in the world, 193 nations have pledged to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) crafted by UNESCO in 2015. Education is seen as key to attaining all the other SDGs. Within the 'education goal' (Goal #4),…

The need to solve the common global challenges at a systemic level in a collaborative, equitable, and culturally sensitive way naturally connects Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC). The purpose of this article is to explore how ESD and IoC can strengthen each other and provide a more…

PISA for Development (PISA-D) was a pioneering pilot project designed to make PISA, which compares the performance of 15-year-olds in school, more suitable for low- and middle-income countries. This would allow the OECD to move beyond its traditional focus on more affluent nations and to play a central role in monitoring the Sustainable…

As the OECD and UNESCO increasingly work in the same geographical and thematic areas, this paper explores the interplay between the organizations in relation to the making of global learning metrics and the global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal 4. Although the organizations seek to cooperate, this paper shows how this is limited by…

The aim of this study was to investigate the status of equal opportunity in education and employment in Saudi Arabia. Analyses of existing data show that the country has made a remarkable progress in educational enrollment at all levels (K-12 and higher education). However, challenges remain in terms of academic achievement for males,…

This article investigates the importance of global competence and its incorporation in interventions from Grade 5 to Grade 12 public education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prepare learners for local and global challenges, such as sustainable development, technological innovation, climate change, etc. Using data from the Programme for…

In this study, we explore the potential of data from large-scale assessments to provide insights into how students' environmental knowledge could address the global challenge of environmental threats to humanity and the transition to sustainable development. We analyze data from the 2015 PISA survey to understand the extent to which 15-year old…

On a daily basis, a deluge of academic studies, reports and news tell us that the Earth's ecosystem is in danger. They further warn that we need more than just information to address the climate crisis, protect the environment, and promote a sustainable way of living. We need action. Education plays a pivotal role in raising awareness and…

Creativity is the driving force of technological innovation and sustainable economic growth in the knowledge society. A central question, therefore, is how education helps to enhance creativity. As East Asian countries occupy the top of performance tests such as the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), it is most important…

In 2018 the OECD published the findings of its PISA for Development (PISA-D) pilot project which was undertaken to make the regular PISA framework more accessible and relevant to low- and middle-income nations. This would encourage such nations to join PISA as part of the OECD's Learning Framework 2030 and provide them with 'contextualised' policy…

This paper applies insights from narrative theory to analyse the OECD's transition to providing humanitarian large-scale assessments under the SDGs, situating this within the evolving dynamics of a global development complex. The perspective is guided by the thematic interests of the special issue, with the goal of enriching understanding of both…

In 2018 the OECD added a set of global competence measures to its PISA programme, and reported on the outcomes in November 2020. In this paper I explore the provenance of the idea of global competence underpinning the OECD-PISA Global Competence framework and measure. The official account by the OECD references the OECD PISA Governing Board,…

"Current Studies in Educational Disciplines 2021" is published annually from the selected papers invited by the editors. This edition includes 6 sections and 14 papers from the field of Environmental Education, Science Education, Educational Technology, Mathematics Education, Assessment in Education and STEM Education. All submissions…