ABSTRACT
Assessment is centre stage within global education systems. Ostensibly the power of high-stakes global comparative testing systems, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TiMMs), and Progress in International Reading and Literacy (PIRLS), are used as signifiers of a nation's educational performance, which lead to assessment shaping global educational systems. It is important to understand the significance of this form of assessment, and its use in national and global interpretations of how specific learning outcomes are characterised and measured. It is only through understanding how and why this form of assessment prevails that the argument that is developed as the central strand of this book can be usefully positioned. This chapter provides an important foregrounding for some of the classroom-focused practices that are explored. It adds a rationale for a different approach to understanding and supporting pupils' learning, through feedback, which is subsequently examined.
