Published date: Oct 31 2024

Journal Title: Gulf Education and Social Policy Review

Issue title: Gulf Education and Social Policy Review (GESPR): Volume 5, Issue 2

Pages: 93–117

DOI: 10.18502/gespr.v5i2.16218

Emily Winchipewinchip@gmail.comZayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) participates in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with the aims of educational improvement and future economic development. The PISA results are significantly comparison oriented with every country listed for each part of the test, index or relationship described in the results reports. This research was conducted by analyzing each mention of the UAE in the three main results documents for the PISA 2022. Through critical thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2012), the uniqueness of UAE schools, students and the PISA results emerged. These three main themes are discussed along with my experience at the UAE PISA 2022 results announcement in December 2023. The article concludes with a discussion of the use of comparison in spite of the uniqueness of the UAE, the implications for the usefulness of the PISA results considering the differences of the UAE, the implications of using PISA results for education policy, and how UAE education policy may be constrained by a focus on PISA results.

Keywords: Education policy, Comparative education, Standardized testing, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

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