Abstract
In 2015 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) started a new initiative oriented to early childhood. The International Early Learning and Well-being study, also known as pre-school PISA, is an international standardised test for early childhood education. This article aims to (1) critically systematise the discussion around IELS, (2) examine the main critiques and (3) reflect on the potential implications for Latin America. Drawing on a critical revision of available information and recently published academic work, this paper analyses the emergence, development and results of the first round of IELS. Then, it argues that IELS is constructed around three main reductions: the reduction of the political to the technical, the reduction of diversity to decontextualised comparison and the reduction of shared learning to a network of global testing and measurement. Finally, it presents some final reflections around the soft power of standardised testing in early childhood in Latin America from the lenses of decoloniality and the diversity of contexts in and within the region.
Early childhood education; Pre-school; PISA; Sstandardised testing; OECD; Latin America