Short communication    |    Open Access
Curricular Studies & Perspectives 2026, Vol. 2(2) 86-92

Global Standardization, the PISA Effect, and Education Trade in the Age of the Learning Mind and the Producing Machine: A Cognitive and Socio-Political Synthesis

Bilal Duman

pp. 86 - 92   |  DOI: https://doi.org/10.29329/csp.2026.1481.1

Publish Date: October 30, 2026  |   Single/Total View: 0/0   |   Single/Total Download: 0/0


Abstract

In an era of rapidly spreading generative artificial intelligence (AI), the production, circulation, and processing of knowledge are moving beyond the monopoly of the human mind and becoming a human–machine partnership. For centuries, producing, circulating, and learning knowledge was the privilege of the human mind; generative AI systems are turning this privilege into a shared domain. Machines that write texts, solve problems, ask questions, and generate explanations are now ordinary features of classrooms, libraries, and research laboratories. Education systems, however, are being shaped not only by a technological and cognitive transformation but also by the understanding of curricula as a global product, by international comparative assessments such as PISA, and by an increasingly commercialized global education market. This article critically examines the benefits and harms of imposed global standards, the influence of PISA on Turkish curricula, and the implications of international curriculum transfer and education trade for stakeholders. In an age when algorithmic work is delegated to machines, it foregrounds epistemic autonomy, metacognitive awareness, and adaptive curricula as the focus of a humane education.

Keywords: Curriculum as a global product, policy borrowing, policy lending, PISA effect, curriculum transfer and decontextualization, whose standards?, whose knowledge?, cognitive offloading, epistemic autonomy, cognitive architecture, TPACK, metacognitive awareness


How to Cite this Article?

APA 7th edition
Duman, B. (2026). Global Standardization, the PISA Effect, and Education Trade in the Age of the Learning Mind and the Producing Machine: A Cognitive and Socio-Political Synthesis. Curricular Studies & Perspectives, 2(2), 86-92. https://doi.org/10.29329/csp.2026.1481.1

Harvard
Duman, B. (2026). Global Standardization, the PISA Effect, and Education Trade in the Age of the Learning Mind and the Producing Machine: A Cognitive and Socio-Political Synthesis. Curricular Studies & Perspectives, 2(2), pp. 86-92.

Chicago 16th edition
Duman, Bilal (2026). "Global Standardization, the PISA Effect, and Education Trade in the Age of the Learning Mind and the Producing Machine: A Cognitive and Socio-Political Synthesis". Curricular Studies & Perspectives 2 (2):86-92. https://doi.org/10.29329/csp.2026.1481.1

References

    Apple, M. W. (2000). Official knowledge: Democratic education in a conservative age (2nd ed.). Routledge.

    Apple, M. W. (2004). Ideology and curriculum (3rd ed.). RoutledgeFalmer.

    Ball, S. J. (2012). Global Education Inc.: New policy networks and the neo-liberal imaginary. Routledge.

    Duman, B. (2008). Öğrenme-öğretme sürecindeki entelektüel şizofrenizm [Intellectual schizophrenism in the learning–teaching process]. Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 6(2), 287–321.

    Duman, B. (2015). Neden beyin temelli öğrenme [Why brain-based learning] (4th ed.). Pegem Akademi.

    Eğitimi Araştırma ve Geliştirme Dairesi Başkanlığı. (2010). PISA 2009 projesi ulusal ön raporu [PISA 2009 project national preliminary report]. Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı.

    Meyer, H.-D., & Benavot, A. (Eds.). (2013). PISA, power, and policy: The emergence of global educational governance. Symposium Books.

    Phillips, D., & Ochs, K. (2003). Processes of policy borrowing in education: Some explanatory and analytical devices. Comparative Education, 39(4), 451–461. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305006032000162020

    Sellar, S., & Lingard, B. (2013). The OECD and global governance in education. Journal of Education Policy, 28(5), 710–725. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2013.779791

    Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Ed.). (2004). The global politics of educational borrowing and lending. Teachers College Press.

    Verger, A., Lubienski, C., & Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Eds.). (2016). World yearbook of education 2016: The global education industry. Routledge.

    Young, M. (2008). Bringing knowledge back in: From social constructivism to social realism in the sociology of education. Routledge.