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" The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Southeast Asia: Media Reception in English-language Publications and Projection in National Education Policies "
Balakrishnan, Pravindharan
Sobe, Noah
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1053043
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| Doc. No
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TL52160
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| Main Entry
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Balakrishnan, Pravindharan
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| Title & Author
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The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Southeast Asia: Media Reception in English-language Publications and Projection in National Education Policies\ Balakrishnan, PravindharanSobe, Noah
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| College
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Loyola University Chicago
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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M.A.
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| student score
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2019
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| Note
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209 p.
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| Abstract
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This thesis is a two-fold study focusing on the media reception and projection of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in five Southeast Asian countries. In this context, media reception studies look at how the media in each country makes meaning out of its PISA scores. Projection is how a country uses policies from high-performing PISA countries/economies in its own education system. This research provides five different case studies that explore the reception and projection of PISA in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. A region historically, culturally, and geographically varied but synonymous with a strong culture of education testing, results from large-scale assessments, such as PISA, are taken as seal of approval of national education systems. Nonetheless, reception and projection studies of PISA are often overlooked by scholars. Thus, this study aims to address this gap. To measure the reception of PISA in the countries, I used an original dataset of one hundred and forty-four texts from English-based online media and think tank literature. From the findings, the media reception of PISA varies in each country. Nonetheless, PISA has situated itself as a dominant tool in assessing and benchmarking Southeast Asian national education systems. In Singapore, the media reception of PISA is used to reaffirm its education system. In Vietnam, PISA scores are used to indicate the nation’s economic growth. The media reception of both of these are countries are positive due to its high-ranking in PISA. Meanwhile, in Thailand and Indonesia, PISA ranking is used to spark ‘crisis talk’ and call for policy reform. The disqualification of Malaysia in PISA 2015 results in limited media coverage of PISA. In other words, the discourse of PISA was largely absent from the Malaysian media. To examine the projection of PISA in national education systems, I analyzed recent education policy from each country. My analysis shows that although there is an increasing convergence of education policies across the five countries, this does not support the claim that education officials or policymakers utilize the ‘projector screen’ of PISA onto national education policies. I highlight that the PISA uptake in the Southeast discourse is driven by (1) the need to be a PISA-winner as PISA rankings indicate a good-performing education system; (2) success in PISA relates to economic prosperity; and (3) poor PISA performance leads to crisis talk and then call for policy reform.
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| Descriptor
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Education
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Education policy
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| Added Entry
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Sobe, Noah
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Loyola University Chicago
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