Problem-Solving as a Governing Knowledge: "Skills"-Testing in PISA and PIAAC.

Autor/in	Bacchi, Carol
Titel	Problem-Solving as a Governing Knowledge: "Skills"-Testing in PISA and PIAAC.
Quelle	In: Open Journal of Political Science, 10 (2020) 1, S. 82-105 PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2164-0513
DOI	10.4236/ojps.2020.101007
URN	urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-74818-2
Schlagwörter	Poststrukturalismus; Kognitive Kompetenz; Problemlösen; Genealogie; Problemlösen; Poststrukturalismus; Kognitive Kompetenz; Genealogie
Abstract	This article scrutinizes critically a pervasive knowledge shaping contemporary sociopolitical relations and spaces - "problem-solving knowledge". It develops the argument that, as a governing knowledge, "problem-solving" is increasing in intensity and scope, with a range of negative and potentially dangerous effects. As a case study, the article examines how problem-solving knowledge operates in the OECD "skills" assessment programs PISA and PIAAC, with a particularly worrying connection between so-called "cognitive abilities" and labour market performance. It considers how this "turn to cognition", with its associated moralism, divides "citizens" into those who either can or who cannot solve "problems", producing "more productive" and "less productive" categories of people. More broadly, these programs illustrate how treating "problems" as self-evident referents is deeply depoliticizing, highlighting the importance of examining how governing takes place through problematization. Through tracing the emergence and functioning of "problem-solving" as a knowledge practice, the article encourages reflection on how problem-solving knowledge has come to be taken-for-granted as "truth" and on how it operates to limit political debate and to regulate political subjects.
Erfasst von	GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim
Update	2022/1