Bringing a Political 'Bite' to Educational Transfer Studies: Cultural Politics of PISA and the OECD in Japanese Education Reform

Though the field of education policy has always been international, with national education policies in constant interaction with 'examples elsewhere' and with 'international consensus' (Schriewer 2000), it has become considerably more globalised in recent years both qualitatively and quantitatively (Beech 2006b). Today, for instance, intergovernmental organisations have a powerful influence over domestic politics of education reform both in the North and the South, whether or not the transnational impact is 'real' or 'imagined' (Steiner-Khamsi 2004). In particular, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has emerged as 'one of the most powerful agents of transnational education governance' (Grek 2009: 24). In clear contrast to its declining influence in economic policy (Amiya-Nakata 2007; Woodward 2007), in the field of education policy the OECD enjoys a current global presence, contributing to the increasing 'convergence' in education policy around the world (Ball 2008; Bieber and Martens 2011; Grek 2009; Wiseman and Baker 2005). The Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) has become the most powerful instrument of the OECD's education agenda (Grek 2009; Kallo 2009; Rizvi and Lingard 2006).