Meyer , Zahedi et al. (2014) lamented that PISA takes the attention “away from the less measurable or immeasurable educational objectives.” In that spirit we propose to look at the challenges to education as a strong humanising value and good represented by PISA style assessments. Despite acknowledging that PISA “does not cover everything that is important in education”, the OECD claims that it “provides an important reality check” (Irish Times 18/11/2014), as it is based on an “empirical metric or evidence base.” If the unquantifiable remains unexplored, the issue of validity appears to have been dangerously sidetracked. We question whether OECD (2013) has worryingly distorted the purposes of assessment by associating assessment itself chiefly with an “empirical metric or evidence base” (ibid). Nussbaum (1990, p.36) refers to the tendency to reduce quality to quantity as an ethical immaturity. We make a case for the recovery of worthwhile educational purposes and practices that, like the delicate ecology of genuine educational encounters and the immeasurable good therein, can become drastically eroded. Finally we ask whether the reduction of quality to quantity can be seen as a form of ethical myopia which underestimates its negative impact on equity and –paradoxically- on accountability (Ranson, 2003). This is all the more tragic when it happens as a result of well-meaning educationalists who have lost touch with the good of education.

Meyer, H. , Zahedi, K. et al. (2014) Open Letter to Andreas Schleicher, OECD, Paris, available at http://bildung-wissen.eu/fachbeitraege/nein-zu-pisa-offener-brief-an-andreas-schleicher.html accessed on 21/11/14 Irish Times (18/11/2014) OECD boss defends PISA tests against criticisms from academics, 18 November 2014 Nussbaum, M. C. (1990) Love’s knowledge: essays on philosophy and literature Oxford, Oxford University Press. OECD (2013) PISA 2012 Results in Focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know, available at http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf accessed on 21/11/14 Ranson, S. (2003) Public Accountability in the Age of Neo-liberal Governance, Journal of Education Policy, 18 (5), 459-480.