He was once memorablydescribed by Michael Gove asone of the two most important peoplein worldeducation, but German statistician Andreas Schleicher is still not exactly a household name.
He is best known among teachers for founding theProgramme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), a global study used torankcountriesbytheir students’ performance in reading, maths and science every three years.
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Hundreds of thousands of 15-year-olds around the world complete the tests in each cycle, after which they receivea score in the three main subject areas.These scores are then used to compilean international ranking, which allows nations to compare their performance with fellow participantsacross the globe.
The rise of the Pisa boss
Mr Schleicher’s official title isdirector for education and skills and special adviser on educationpolicy to the secretary-generalat the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In addition to running the Pisa tests, this makes him responsible forthe OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis), the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (Piaac), and the development and analysis of benchmarks on the performance of education systems (Ines).
Mr Schleicher is generally considered to have a fairlyprogressiveattitude towards education policy.However, he has been known to favour traditional approaches.
For example, he recently gave a glowing report to a secondary dubbed the UK’s“strictest school”.
In a blog about, Mr Schleicher presented the North London secondary -which has attractedcontroversy for an uncompromising approach to discipline -as an example of “teacher-directed instruction”.
However, the Pisa chief said he would not want his own children to go to the Wembley school, admitting he had “trouble” with itssilent-corridors policy.
Michaela founder and headKatharine Birbalsinghtold91thata “real connection” was made with Mr Schleicher and that she was surprised to find out they agreed on most education topics.
“It’s interesting because I have always imagined him to be quite a progressive, and yet he and I agreed on most things - nearly 100 per cent,” she said. “We just agreed on and connected in terms of our beliefs of what is right in education.”
A former physics student, who receiveda master’s degree in maths and statistics from Deakin University in Australia, Mr Schleicher is a man of many talents -including fluency in four languages:German, English, Italian and French.
He has won a number of awards, including the Theodor Heussprize, awarded in the name of the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany for “exemplary democratic engagement”.
What has Schleicher said about the UK?
