Rethinking the pattern of external policy referencing: media discourses over the ‘Asian Tigers’’ PISA success in Australia, Germany and South Korea

Abstract

The article compares how the success of the ‘Asian Tiger’ countries in PISA, especially PISA 2009, was depicted in the media discussion in Australia, Germany and South Korea. It argues that even in the times of today's ‘globalised education policy field’, local factors are important in determining whether or not a country becomes a reference society for educational reform. The article aims to uncover some of these factors, identifying the globally disseminated stereotypes about Asian education, economic relations and the sense of ‘crisis’ induced through the relative position and change of position in PISA league tables in the countries in question.

Notes on contributors

Florian Waldow is Professor of Comparative and International Education at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.

Keita Takayama is a senior lecturer teaching sociology of education in School of Education, University of New England, Australia. He has written a number of articles on media's receptions of PISA data in multiple nations.

Youl-Kwan Sung is associate professor at the Graduate School of Education in Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea.

Notes

1. Standardised large-scale assessments of pupil achievement are just one example for this type of study (although perhaps the most prominent one). Another prominent example is constituted by rankings of higher education institutions, such as the (in)famous Shanghai ranking.

2. Australian political leaders have consistently called for deeper engagement with Asia since the 1990s, often translated into the demands to introduce Asian languages and culture to school children. This trend was further augmented more recently by Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (2007–2010) and his initiative to improve Australian children's ‘Asia literacy’.

3. Yutori education refers to a Japanese national curricular reform implemented in 2002, emphasising an integrated curriculum, student-centred activity, cooperative learning and less competitive assessment (Takayama 2007).