Chapter 15: Concluding Thoughts: Tying it All Together With a Comparative Look at the Education of Young Adolescents

It has been noted that formal education (i.e., schooling) is the most commonly found institution and the most commonly shared experience in the contemporary world (Dale & Robertson, 2003). It is not surprising that in an increasingly international world, characterized by a “knowledge economy,” that the relative success of national educational systems has become an explicit concern of policymakers. Specifically, policymakers are focused on their country’s production of human capital which significantly contributes to the civic and economic development of the country and, ultimately, to that country’s ability to be globally competitive.

Policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned with national standards as reported in the international comparisons of student achievement (e.g., Trends in Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS] and Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA]). Rightly or wrongly, there is a widespread international assumption that those countries with the most “successful” education systems (i.e., defined as a high ranking on the international comparisons) will forge ahead in the global economy of this postmanufacturing age. In short, it is believed that the means must be found to encourage (require, force, or even cajole) students to learn more and to do so in more efficient and effective ways. As a consequence of this, there has been a tendency to want to borrow policies and practices that appear to be effective in producing high academic performance on tests like TIMSS and PISA.