ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 includes a study of how the Swedish government commissioned the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to evaluate the quality of the Swedish compulsory school system. The study illustrates transnational policy flows in education. Different approaches are brought together in a common analytical framework: curriculum theory (CT) and discursive institutionalism (DI). The analyses show how the OECD, as a global education policy actor, is influencing education policy discourses on different levels and in different arenas in specific ways. Three main policy messages in the global coordinative discourse presented by the OECD are the value of benchmarking performances, evidence-based policy and the state as enabler. These messages, legitimised by experts, thus set the agenda for curriculum reforms by framing problems and solutions for schools.
