The rise and/or fall of Baby PISA testing

Abstract

In the paper, we take the neoliberal approach to education as our starting point and proceed to look at how the test-based approach to assessment affects the shaping of global education policy and practice. The focus of the paper is on the latest global neoliberal trend to come from the OECD network of standardized testing - the IELS study, often referred to as Baby PISA. In view of the fact that the launching of this study has met with a range of reactions by early education experts, we provide an overview of the history of this study, its implementation, and the key critiques of Baby PISA testing. Finally, we examine the question of what neoliberalism has achieved with the standardization of education, and propose a discussion about alternative approaches to education, as well as to assessment. The approaches we highlight are based on an understanding of the complexity of the world we live in, in which we must find a way to live together and participate with purpose. We conclude that education does not need uniformity, but rather diversity, whose educational value lies in the "ethics of meetings".