Sam Sellar

A critique of what lies behind the use of data in contemporary education policy While the science fiction tales of artificial intelligence eclipsing humanity are still very much fantasies, in Algorithms of Education the authors tell real stories of how algorithms and machines are transforming education governance, providing a fascinating discussion and critique of data and its role in education policy.Algorithms of Education explores how, for policy makers, today’s ever-growing amount of data creates the illusion of greater control over the educational futures of students and the work of school leaders and teachers. In fact, the increased datafication of education, the authors argue, offers less and less control, as algorithms and artificial intelligence further abstract the educational experience and distance policy makers from teaching and learning. Focusing on the changing conditions for education policy and governance, Algorithms of Education proposes that schools and governments are increasingly turning to “synthetic governance”-a governance where what is human and machine becomes less clear-as a strategy for optimizing education.Exploring case studies of data infrastructures, facial recognition, and the growing use of data science in education, Algorithms of Education draws on a wide variety of fields-from critical theory and media studies to science and technology studies and education policy studies-mapping the political and methodological directions for engaging with datafication and artificial intelligence in education governance. According to the authors, we must go beyond the debates that separate humans and machines in order to develop new strategies for, and a new politics of, education.

A critique of what lies behind the use of data in contemporary education policy While the science fiction tales of artificial intelligence eclipsing humanity are still very much fantasies, in Algorithms of Education the authors tell real stories of how algorithms and machines are transforming education governance, providing a fascinating discussion and critique of data and its role in education policy.Algorithms of Education explores how, for policy makers, today’s ever-growing amount of data creates the illusion of greater control over the educational futures of students and the work of school leaders and teachers. In fact, the increased datafication of education, the authors argue, offers less and less control, as algorithms and artificial intelligence further abstract the educational experience and distance policy makers from teaching and learning. Focusing on the changing conditions for education policy and governance, Algorithms of Education proposes that schools and governments are increasingly turning to “synthetic governance”-a governance where what is human and machine becomes less clear-as a strategy for optimizing education.Exploring case studies of data infrastructures, facial recognition, and the growing use of data science in education, Algorithms of Education draws on a wide variety of fields-from critical theory and media studies to science and technology studies and education policy studies-mapping the political and methodological directions for engaging with datafication and artificial intelligence in education governance. According to the authors, we must go beyond the debates that separate humans and machines in order to develop new strategies for, and a new politics of, education.

This book fills a gap in the literature by focusing on globalization with regard to the rescaling of educational accountabilities, linked to international and national testing regimes and their impact. In particular, this book examines the impact and effects of this global framework in two illustrative nations: Australia and Canada. The focus on these two nations, which have very different forms of federalism, allows for consideration of the rescaling of politics and policies in the context of globalization and for an analysis of the complex rescaling of educational accountabilities. It is the first book to document and analyse the multi-scalar, relational and differentiated effects in national schooling systems of this rescaling of educational accountability. The authors also consider the ways in which these accountability regimes have rearticulated social justice and equity policies within nations in reductive ways. It offers scholars and policy makers both a methodology and an epistemological framework grounded in critical policy sociology for doing education policy analysis in a time of neo-liberal globalization.

Globalizing Educational Accountabilities analyzes the influence that international and national testing and accountability regimes have on educational policy reform efforts in schooling systems around the world. Tracing the evolution of those regimes, with an emphasis on the OECD’s PISA, it reveals the multiple effects of policy as numbers in countries with different types of government and different education systems. From the effect of Shanghai’s PISA success on nations trying to compete economically to the perverse effects of linking funding to performance targets in Australia, the analysis links testing and accountability to new modes of network governance, new spatialities, and the significance of data infrastructures. This highly illustrative text offers scholars and policy makers a critical policy sociology framework for doing education policy analysis today.