Never Waste a Crisis: Understanding the Welsh Policy Response to PISA in the Context of the Globally Structured Reform Agenda

Abstract

This article considers the nature of the globally structured reform agenda including the role of international organisations and the development of new supra-national modes of governance. It discusses the impact of this agenda on education policy within national education systems with a particular focus on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as an example of the globally structured reform agenda. It explores the role PISA has in global educational governance and in influencing the transfer of policy between education systems. Policy responses to PISA are critically discussed with a particular focus on the response in Wales. It is argued that new supra-national modes of governance shape education systems and the transfer of policy between them, but that they are also used as a tool to further domestic political agendas in order to bring about reforms.