The alarming ubiquity and influence of numbers as measures of literacy have been accompanied by strong critique of the use of numbers in policy (Desrosieres,1998; Porter, 1996). These arguments can be summarised as follows: (a) quantification cannot capture the complexity of education and is inherently reductive; (b) numbers are becoming hegemonic and marginalising other ways of knowing; (c) numbers are a technology of governmentality and should be resisted; and (d) numbers are being misused in policy and should be viewed with suspicion. In this presentation, I will argue that whilst all of these criticisms are legitimate and useful, they are not sufficient. Taking a cue from scholars in Science and Technology Studies, I will suggest that measurements of literacy are performative – that is, world-making – processes. I will explore the consequences of such an understanding for critique, and propose that a ‘sociology of measurement’ is required to adequately and effectively critique the ever-expanding field of literacy measurements. To craft my argument, I will focus on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and draw upon a range of interviews with PISA and OECD officials and measurement experts that I have conducted across several related projects from 2006 to 2014 (see Gorur, 2014 and forthcoming). While PISA makes an ideal case study, I suggest that the argument I develop here holds for a critique of numbers in general and applies not only to other literacy assessments, but more widely to the current translations of the world into numbers across a range of social policy terrains.

Desrosières, A. (1998). The Politics of Large Numbers - A History of Statistical Reasoning, Trans. C. Naish. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press. Porter, T. (1995). Trust in Numbers - The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton; Chichester: Princeton University Press. Gorur, R. (2014). Towards a Sociology of Measurement Technologies in Education Policy. European Educational Research Journal, 13:1, 58-72. Gorur, R. (Forthcoming). Producing Calculable Worlds: Education at a Glance. Discourse: Studies in Cultural Politics of Education, Special issue on policy enactments, assemblage and agency in educational policy contexts.