ABSTRACT
Education policy making has become widespread across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. This chapter reviews common trends and factors since 2008 that have influenced policy making from a comparative perspective, summarize challenges, and propose possible future directions for evidence-based whole system reform. It deals with a review of implications for education policy analysts and policy makers. Whereas policies focus on some evidence-based—vocational education and training (VET), equity, and professional capital—reforms appear political, short-lived, incoherent, and unsystematically evaluated for impact in some countries. International comparative efforts such as the Project for International Student Assessment (PISA) have provided the metrics to compare education systems across the world. One of PISA's concrete contributions has been to show that there are education systems that achieve equity and quality at the same time. Education policy making depends on policy, politics, and people.
