A NeverEnding story: tracing the OECD's evolving narratives within a global development complex

This paper applies insights from narrative theory to analyse the OECD’s transition to providing humanitarian large-scale assessments under the SDGs, situating this within the evolving dynamics of a global development complex. The perspective is guided by the thematic interests of the special issue, with the goal of enriching understanding of both the OECD’s changing positions and capacities in the global field, and the theories, ideas and styles of reasoning it has employed (as well as how they operate). The paper takes its starting point from recent scholarship in international relations (IR) that has applied narrative to the study of international organisations, highlighting the central role of strategic narratives in forging world order and in establishing organisational legitimacy. We describe the core narrative as akin to a Three Act Play (with five stages) which we use as a heuristic device to trace the entwined development stories of PISA and the advent of Humanitarian Assessment in international development

Global Salvation Inc.: Sir Michael Barber's education for the apocalypse and the church of Deliverology®

Drawing on insights from philosophy and theology, we explore the relationship between religion, data and global education policy through an analysis of the career of Sir Michael Barber, widely regarded as an authority on the reform of public services and an influential policy entrepreneur. The analysis provides a novel perspective which illuminates how secularised salvation narratives and apocalyptic symbolism have become more prominent in his work as he rose to become a global actor. The story is entwined with the turn towards New Public Management (NPM) in education, the rise of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), and the transition from speculative faith to salvation through the ‘science of delivery’. We follow Barber's role in formalising the faith as a secular political theology, and promoting it globally through Delivery Units and the management doctrine of Deliverology®. The analysis closes by reflecting on the practical implications of the movement, which is now woven into the institutional ideologies and reform strategies of major international organisations, agencies and corporations as part of a wider shift towards New Global Management (NGM) in global education governance

Survival and exopolysaccharide production of lactic acid bacteria grown on grape pomace

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 31, 2011).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Azlin Mustapha.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.Microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) used by the food industry, are typically produced using refined substrates. In this study we consider the possibility of using a food industy by-product, grape pomace, as the substrate. Five species of Lactobacillus were grown in chambourcin grape pomace and water at 21[degrees]C. Adjusted pH trials were also run. Survival study - Plate counts and pH were collected at intervals over a 120 d period. ANOVA comparision of regression lines fitted to the plate counts for each species confirm a slower population decline in pH-adjusted samples (p=4.8e-6). The exception, L. fermentum, grew in the unadjusted sample. ANOVA comparision of the regression lines fitted to the pH values for each species indicated a difference (p=1.6e-6) between pH-adjusted and unadjusted samples. The pH of many of the unadjusted samples rose over the course of the study possible due to malolactic fermentation. With the notable exception of L. fermentum, we conclude that grape pomace is a poor substrate for long-term survival of the species tested. EPS study - samples were grown for 4 d and the soluble fiber extracted by ethanol precipitation and freeze-dried. Significant differences were found between the quantity of extract recovered from pH-adjusted and unadjusted samples (p=1.8e-3). This difference is probably due to hydrolysis of the substrate by the base. FTIR spectra were collected for extract and peaks found at 1543, 1448 and 1404 cm-1 in some of the treated samples which suggests the presence of EPS. Further investigation is necessary to confirm these findings.Includes bibliographical reference

Piloting PISA for development to success: an analysis of its findings, framework and recommendations

In 2018 the OECD published the findings of its PISA for Development (PISA-D) pilot project which was undertaken to make the regular PISA framework more accessible and relevant to low- and middle-income nations. This would encourage such nations to join PISA as part of the OECD’s Learning Framework 2030 and provide them with ‘contextualised’ policy recommendations. In 2019 the OECD declared the project a success. We analyse and compare the PISA-D reports as well as its portrayal as a success. We suggest that, whilst PISA-D clearly made technical adjustments relating to the longstanding challenges which face low-income nations engaging in comparative assessments it replicates rather than addresses those challenges. Drawing on literature on organisational legitimacy and the politics of expertise, we interpret the PISA-D pilot as a political strategy primarily deployed to legitimate and extend rather than evaluate the project

Curriculum Development: A Report for the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO)

This report examines the development and revision of curricula in jurisdictions, regions and countries round the world. In addition, it provides examples which could further inform the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s (IBO) own curriculum development. We identified thirteen countries and jurisdictions that we thought likely to be productive locations for learning in relation to curriculum development and reform: Finland; Massachusetts, USA; Scotland; Ontario, Canada; Netherlands; Mexico; Germany; England; Chile; Singapore; New Zealand; Victoria, Australia; and Queensland, Australia. Our sources of information included government documents as well as books, and academic and professional journal articles. We collected information about a wide range of issues, from the organization of schooling in these different countries, to the aims and purposes of their curricula, and their arrangements for delivery and assessment

The Arecibo Galaxy Environments survey IV: the NGC7448 region and the HI mass function

In this paper we describe results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environments Survey (AGES). The survey reaches column densities of ~3x10^18 cm^-2 and masses of ~10^7 M_O, over individual regions of order 10 sq deg in size, out to a maximum velocity of 18,000 km s^-1. Each surveyed region is centred on a nearby galaxy, group or cluster, in this instance the NGC7448 group. Galaxy interactions in the NGC7448 group reveal themselves through the identification of tidal tails and bridges. We find ~2.5 times more atomic gas in the inter-galactic medium than in the group galaxies. We identify five new dwarf galaxies, two of which appear to be members of the NGC7448 group. This is too few, by roughly an order of magnitude, dwarf galaxies to reconcile observation with theoretical predictions of galaxy formation models. If they had observed this region of sky previous wide area blind HI surveys, HIPASS and ALFALFA, would have detected only 5% and 43% respectively of the galaxies we detect, missing a large fraction of the atomic gas in this volume. We combine the data from this paper with that from our other AGES papers (370 galaxies) to derive a HI mass function with the following Schechter function parameters alpha=-1.52+/-0.05, M^*=5.1+/-0.3x10^9 h_72^-2 M_O, phi=8.6+/-1.1x10-3 h_72^3 Mpc^-3 dex-1. Integrating the mass function leads to a cosmic mass density of atomic hydrogen of Omega_HI=5.3+/-0.8x10^-4 h_72^-1. Our mass function is steeper than that found by both HIPASS and ALFALFA (alpha=1.37 and 1.33 respectively), while our cosmic mass density is consistent with ALFALFA, but 1.7 times larger than found by HIPASS

Science by streetlight and the OECD’s measure of global competence: A new yardstick for internationalisation?

Educational institutions have been among the most active social organisations responding to and facilitating processes associated with globalisation. This has primarily been undertaken through the attempts of schools and universities to ‘internationalise’ their student intake, staffing, curricula, research, and assessment systems. Amongst the many benefits associated with the promotion of ‘internationalisation’ is that it will provide students with attributes such as global citizenship, skills or competencies that will contribute to improving tolerance, respect and harmony between nations and cultures. Various nations and global agencies actively promote such goals and global citizenship is included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Positioned as a response to the Sustainable Development Goals, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has developed a metric to compare the ‘global competency’ of 15-year-old pupils, which was incorporated into the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018. We analyse the rationales for this decision, the conception of ‘global competence’ adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and how these have changed since its inception in 2013. We also explore how it will be measured and how the organisation deals with what it describes as ‘the most salient challenge affecting PISA’. We argue: (i) the official conception of ‘global competence’ finally adopted was strongly influenced by the organisation’s quest to position itself as the agency responsible for monitoring progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, and then amended to match what could be easily measured; and (ii) although the organisation presents its global competencies using a humanitarian discourse, it is framed by its economic mission

The OECD and IELS: Redefining early childhood education for the 21st century

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has unveiled plans to move into the field of early childhood education through the introduction of the International Early Learning Study (IELS), a new comparative test of five-year olds that is being piloted in three nations. This article explores the dynamics of this new project and serves three purposes. First, we situate IELS within the OECD’s broader agenda in education governance, and with regard to its existing comparative assessments, namely the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Second, we identify the main commentaries and critiques of the OECD’s activity and assessments, specifically relating to PISA. In the concluding section we anticipate a possible future when such tests are established in the early childhood education sector and reflect on its possible impact. We argue that the advent of comparative testing of five-year olds heralds an attempt to introduce a new paradigm for early childhood education, one which stresses cognitive skills and children’s role as future sources of human capital