Curse or Blessing? Chinese Academic Responses to China’s PISA Performance

This chapter will look at the academic responses to China’s PISA performance as articulated in Chinese academic journals and educational newspapers. These responses belong largely to four different types: (i) Learning from PISA and its implications for assessing educational quality; (ii) establishing China as an educational role model; (iii) contrasting the Chinese system’s exam-efficiency with individual or social welfare; and (iv) questioning the positive correlation of educational assessments with educational quality. An ensuing section will then discuss the potential motives and agendas behind the Chinese embrace or, alternatively, rejection of PISA. The conclusion will relate these perceptions and projections to the wider transnational, hegemonic educational policy regimes that permeate the implementation of, and conclusions drawn from, PISA.