Research project in Transnational Dynamics in Quality Assurance and Evaluation Politics of Basic Education in Brazil, China and Russia (BCR), 2014-2017
Faculty of Education, University of Tampere, Finland
- Brazil team: Associate Professor Jaakko Kauko (leader of the consortium and team leader), Dr Vera Centeno (post-doctoral fellow), Dr Helena Candido (doctoral student), Íris Santos (research fellow).
- Russia team: Professor Tuomas Takala (team leader), Dr Nelli Piattoeva (university lecturer), Galina Gurova (doctoral student), Anna Medvedeva (research fellow).
Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning and Education (CELE), University of Turku, Finland
- China team: Professor Risto Rinne (team leader), Dr Johanna Kallo (post-doctoral fellow), Olli Suominen (doctoral student), Zhou Xingguo (doctoral student).
Quality Assurance and Evaluation (QAE) has globally become one of the most powerful framing factors for learning. The consequences are not always positive, as evaluation may have strong unintended side effects, as shown in numerous studies. The research evidence, however, mainly focuses on liberal, advanced societies. The case countries in our study are the three large and increasingly powerful nations of Brazil, China and Russia. They are characterised as ‘future societies’ and strive to overcome their dependency on global models to establish a position of stronger sovereignty in the global arena.
The main research objective of the project was to explore how the intertwinement of the local, the sub-national, the national, the regional, and the global scales constructs the local dynamics in QAE politics and thus shapes local learning environments in the case countries.
The project developed and probed a new theoretical and methodological approach, Comparative Analytics of Dynamics in Education Politics (CADEP), towards comparative understanding of education systems and open avenues for mutual learning.
The results of the project are published in the open-access book Politics of Quality in Education: A Comparative Study on Brazil, China, and Russia (Routledge 2018).
