Page 26 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 26
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 1–2
They [policy makers, teachers, educators] know how important it is for
their students to enter a global economy where they will be competing
for the best jobs with young people from all over the world. And in a
global economy the benchmark for educational success is no longer im-
provement by national standards alone, but the best-performing educa-
tion systems internationally.
Students, once again, enter a “global economy”, not a global world.
The difference is not a philosophical one. Rather, it has important polit-
ical, ethical and pragmatic bearings. Entering a global world, in fact, is a
global process, in that all of one’s and others’ personality are involved in
such an encounter: new relationships emerge, and new encounters are be-
ing made. On the contrary, when entering “a global economy” individual
features come to be subservient and reduced to the economic features of
life. Living, then, comes to be reduced to competition “for the best jobs”,
meaning that other human beings come to be seen as your competitors—
and that is why education is a performance-based system and PISA dan-
gerously narrows down education to a zero-sum game, one in which one
wins if one’s opponents lose.
However, as previously argued, benchmarking educational success is
the key-means by which OECD’s politics is accomplished—and, in fact,
“Measuring Student success around the World”, as PISA homepage re-
cites (OECD, 2016), appears the key-objective of PISA’s politics.
The same concepts are expressed in another video, titled Use data to
build better schools. I quote three significant passages and then provide my
commentary:
So this tells us that, in a global economy, it is no longer national improve-
ment that is the benchmark for success, but the best performing edu-
cation systems internationally. The trouble is that measuring how much
time people spend in school or what degree they have got is not always a
good way of seeing what they can actually do. Look at the toxic mix of
unemployed graduates on our streets, while employers say they cannot
find the people with the skills they need. And that tells you that better
degrees don’t automatically translate into better skills and better jobs
and better lives. [...]
High-performing systems also share clear and ambitious standards
across the entire spectrum. Every student knows what matters. Every
student knows what’s required to be successful. [...]
If we can help every child, every teacher, every school, every principal,
every parent see what improvement is possible, that only the sky is the
24
They [policy makers, teachers, educators] know how important it is for
their students to enter a global economy where they will be competing
for the best jobs with young people from all over the world. And in a
global economy the benchmark for educational success is no longer im-
provement by national standards alone, but the best-performing educa-
tion systems internationally.
Students, once again, enter a “global economy”, not a global world.
The difference is not a philosophical one. Rather, it has important polit-
ical, ethical and pragmatic bearings. Entering a global world, in fact, is a
global process, in that all of one’s and others’ personality are involved in
such an encounter: new relationships emerge, and new encounters are be-
ing made. On the contrary, when entering “a global economy” individual
features come to be subservient and reduced to the economic features of
life. Living, then, comes to be reduced to competition “for the best jobs”,
meaning that other human beings come to be seen as your competitors—
and that is why education is a performance-based system and PISA dan-
gerously narrows down education to a zero-sum game, one in which one
wins if one’s opponents lose.
However, as previously argued, benchmarking educational success is
the key-means by which OECD’s politics is accomplished—and, in fact,
“Measuring Student success around the World”, as PISA homepage re-
cites (OECD, 2016), appears the key-objective of PISA’s politics.
The same concepts are expressed in another video, titled Use data to
build better schools. I quote three significant passages and then provide my
commentary:
So this tells us that, in a global economy, it is no longer national improve-
ment that is the benchmark for success, but the best performing edu-
cation systems internationally. The trouble is that measuring how much
time people spend in school or what degree they have got is not always a
good way of seeing what they can actually do. Look at the toxic mix of
unemployed graduates on our streets, while employers say they cannot
find the people with the skills they need. And that tells you that better
degrees don’t automatically translate into better skills and better jobs
and better lives. [...]
High-performing systems also share clear and ambitious standards
across the entire spectrum. Every student knows what matters. Every
student knows what’s required to be successful. [...]
If we can help every child, every teacher, every school, every principal,
every parent see what improvement is possible, that only the sky is the
24
