SPECIAL ISSUE - Learning Assessments for Sustainability? Exploring the Interaction between Two Global Movements - Unsustainable Measures? Assessing Global Competence in PISA 2018

Oct 15, 2026

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In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and persistent poverty and deep inequities, 193 nations committed to UNESCO’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, with education positioned as pivotal. Within Goal 4, SDG 4.7 targets sustainable development and global citizenship, expected to be integrated into curricula, policy, teacher education, and student assessment. PISA’s global competence assessment is presented as a route to measure SDG 4.7. Using a material-semiotic approach, the study combines documentary analysis, interviews, and survey encounters with 15-year-olds to test whether the standardized instrument reliably guides policy and practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

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Unsustainable Measures? Assessing Global Competence in PISA 2018

Abstract

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SPECIAL ISSUE Learning Assessments for Sustainability? Exploring the Interaction between Two Global Movements education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 29 Number 122 | September 27 , 2021 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Unsustainable Measures? Assessing Global Competence in PISA 2018 Harsha Chandir & Radhika Gorur Deakin University Australia Citation: Chandir, H., & Gorur, R. (2021). Unsustainable measures? Assessing global competence in PISA 2018. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(122). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.4716](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.4716) This article is part of the special issue Learning Assessments for Sustainability? Exploring the Interaction between Two Global Movements, guest edited by Oren Pizmony-Levy and Dafna Gan. Abstract: In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence of poverty and deep inequities in the world, 193 nations have pledged to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) crafted by UNESCO in 2015. Education is seen as key to attaining all the other SDGs. Within the ‘education goal’ (Goal \#4), there is an explicit target, SDG 4.7, which focuses on‘sustainable development and global citizenship’. Nations are expected to incorporate a focus on SDG 4.7 into their curricula, policies, teacher education programs , and student assessment. PISA has now developed an assessment of ‘global competence,’ which is presented as a way to assess SDG 4.7. Through this assessment, it seeks to inform policy, curricula , and pedagogies and catalogue ‘best practices’ for developing students’‘global competence’. Given this ambition and the centrality of ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’ within the globally endorsed SDGs, it is important to analyze the extent to which the PISA assessment of global competence is usefully able to inform policy and practice and contribute to fulfilling SDG 4.7. We build upon the work of other scholars examining this question, taking a material-semiotic approach inspired by Science and Technology Studies. Empirically, our study is based on documentary analysis, interviews, and‘survey encounters’ in which we administered a curated part of the assessment to 15-year-olds and followed this exercise with interviews. We explore how the hardwon stability gained around the notion of ‘global competence’ through its inscription into the standardized survey instruments is again threatened when the survey instrument encounters diverse 15-year-olds. The survey encounters provide an opportunity to ‘test the test’, and we conclude that the PISA test of global competence is not as yet in a position to provide useful direction to policy or practice in the promotion of SDG 4.7. Keywords: PISA; sustainability; survey encounters; global competence; science and technology studies; international large-scale assessments ¿Medidas insostenibles? Evaluación de la competencia global en PISA 2018 Resumen: En el contexto del creciente fundamentalismo, las amenazas urgentes al medio ambiente y la persistencia de la pobreza y las desigualdades mundiales, 193 naciones secomprometieron a trabajar hacia los Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) elaboradospor la UNESCO en 2015. La educación se considera clave todos los demás ODS. Dentrodel “objetivo educativo”(Goal n. ° 4), el SDG 4.7 tiene como objetivo “desarrollosostenible y ciudadanía mundial”. Se espera que las naciones incorporen un enfoque en el SDG 4.7 en sus planes de estudios, políticas, programas de formación docente yevaluación de los estudiantes. PISA desarrolló una evaluación de la “competencia global” através del SDG 4.7 como una forma de informar las políticas, los planes de estudio y las pedagogías y catalogar las “mejores prácticas” para desarrollar la “competencia global” delos estudiantes. Este artículo analiza en qué medida es

FAQs

What SDG-related purpose does PISA’s global competence assessment serve?

It is designed to help assess SDG 4.7, which focuses on sustainable development and global citizenship, and to inform related policy, curricula, and pedagogies.

What methodology supports the study’s evaluation of the PISA assessment?

The study uses documentary analysis, interviews, and “survey encounters,” administering a curated assessment portion to 15-year-olds and then conducting interviews.

What is the study’s main conclusion about using PISA for SDG 4.7?

The PISA test of global competence is not yet positioned to provide useful direction to policy or practice for promoting SDG 4.7.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca