The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study, Pisa and the decline of the OECD's testing regime
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12725366 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Diana Sousa (0000-0003-0631-2235, University College London, corresponding author), P Morris (0000-0002-7448-0727, University College London), P Mo (0000-0002-1637-1653, University College London) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Globalisation Societies and Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1476-7724 • E-ISSN: 1476-7732 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14767724.2025.2601162 |
| OpenAlex | W7124432222 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 43 |
International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have had a global influence on education in recent decades, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has played a leading role, most notably with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The organisation's latest ILSA is the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), a test of five-year-olds, which first reported in 2020. The OECD has portrayed IELS as significant, describing it as ‘a great example’ and the ‘future of assessment’. We locate IELS within the OECD's ILSA testing regime and its extensive critiques. Subsequently, through an analysis of IELS documentation, we explore its rationale and processes and then contrast these with its reported outcomes. We demonstrate that IELS has failed to deliver on its intentions and acutely manifests many of the problems that critics of ILSAs have identified. We argue that IELS has contributed to the waning interest in the OECD's testing regime and that other approaches to comparative research should be given greater attention
Academic achievement · Achievement test · Comparative education · Educational attainment · Immigration · Study abroad · Early Childhood Education and Development · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · School Choice and Performance
The OECD and Transnational Governance
Science by streetlight and the OECD’s measure of global competence
Has Peak Pisa passed? An investigation of interest in International Large-Scale Assessments across countries and over time
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study
Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents
Measuring and misrepresenting the missing millions
Capturing the spark
A NeverEnding story
Buying, selling and outsourcing educational reform
The waning legitimacy of international organisations and their promissory visions
Global governance and the promissory visions of education
Scripting solutions for the future
Politics, science and hysteresis
Promises promises’
Pisa, policy and persuasion
Introducing the special issue on ‘Comparative studies in early childhood education
Governance by numbers 2.0
The development of professional expertise in preschool teaching in Japan, China, and the United States
A historical perspective on the OECD’s ‘humanitarian turn’
The future we want’? – the ideal twenty-first century learner and education’s neuro-affective turn
Learning from comparative ethnographic studies of early childhood education and care
What is wrong with evidence based policy, and how can it be improved
Comparing Southern Europe
Gender differences in scholastic achievement
The exhausted futures of neoliberalism
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |