Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics, Democracy

The widespread use of the measurement of educational outcomes in order to compare the performance of education within and across countries seems to express a real concern for the quality of education. This book argues that the focus on the measurement of educational outcomes has actually displaced questions about educational purpose. Biesta explores why the question as to what constitutes good education has become so much more difficult to ask and shows why this has been detrimental for the quality of education and for the level of democratic control over education. He provides concrete suggestions for engaging with the question of purpose in education in a new, more precise and more encompassing way, with explicit attention to the ethical, political and democratic dimensions of education.

Gert J. J. Biesta is Professor of Education at The Stirling Institute of Education, University of Stirling, UK, and Editor-in-Chief of Studies in Philosophy and Education. He is the author of Beyond Learning: Democratic Education for a Human Future (Paradigm 2006) and coeditor of The Philosophy of Education, by George Herbert Mead (Paradigm 2008).