Numbers as Grids for Globalizing Curriculum in Tanzania

• In Event: 61.070 - Sheraton Roundtable 10 - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 61.070-1 - Pedagogies of Biotechnology, Numbers as Grids, and Project-Based Learning in the Post-Truth Era

Abstract

This paper discusses the notion of a “globalized curriculum” by investigating how the international assessment models promote cosmopolitanism. The focus is on the internationalization of Tanzania’s education system through the Program for International Student Assessment for Development (PISA for Development). I intend to demonstrate how the treatment of numbers as neutral entities, and comparative practices in education, devoid of historical understanding of the involved nations, facilitate fabrication of humankind through “Othering.” And the fabrication process orders what is seen and acted upon. I argue that educational policies introduced to various nation-states by international organizations such as PISA are rooted in neoliberalism, and the policies seek to align the target nation states to the global economy.

Author

• Cecilia Kyalo, University of Wisconsin - Madison