Global league tables, big data and the international transfer of educational research modalities

The international transfer of educational policy and practice has long been a key theme in comparative research and scholarship. Recent years have seen renewed attention to the processes of international policy transfer, with new understandings emerging from innovative theorising and analysis. This article examines the nature and implications of such work, explores the potential for further theoretical and methodological advances, and considers why and how future comparative research might engage in: critical analyses of the use of findings derived from international comparisons of performance and achievement; socio-cultural contributions to the emerging ‘big data’ debate; and empirically grounded studies of the international transfer of educational research and evaluation modalities.