The philosophical, methodological and empirical problems in OECD’s approach to creativity within PISA 2022

Creativity has become a key discourse of the 21st century. Because of this, developing a measure of young people’s creative capacity was embedded within PISA 2022. The OECD's approach to creativity is framed within its ‘third-phase’ of policy-making. This differs from previous economist understandings through the recognition of imagination; a re-engagement with foundational knowledge; and a melding of neo-vocationalist and humanist ideologies. Using mixed methods – qualitative documentary analysis of planning documents and quantitative analysis of data from the PISA Test – this paper argues that the attempt to bring creativity within the purview of PISA measurement is conceptually and methodologically problematic. The paper’s documentary analysis illustrates that its ‘third phase’ framework is conceptually inconsistent and that its creative thinking measurement is theoretically permissive and, consequently, methodologically fragile. The paper demonstrates how this theoretical inconsistency is reflected in the measurement tools and the data from the PISA Test. Consequently, the paper argues that the data has limited explanatory power and utility for policy-makers and educators. We conclude that attempts to develop an international measure using a composite creativity metric is theoretically incoherent and methodologically unrealisable and that the OECD’s creative thinking measure could be counterproductive for the promotion and fostering of creativity within education.