This text focuses on the study of a KRT (Knowledgebased Regulation Tool), within the wider framework of the new modes of regulation in education, and use of instruments in public action. The world economy is gradually more knowledge-based. Knowledge emerges as a tool for policy-making and for regulating social actors, and legitimating the political decision-making. We choose the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) as an example of a KRT. The article is based on six case-studies, with interviews and document analysis. Our goal was to study the circulation and use of PISA, in Belgium, Scotland, France, Hungary, Portugal and Romania, trying to show that PISA is indeed a KRT, thus proving the circular relationship between knowledge and policy, because as a policy instrument it produces knowledge, and as a scientific tool it produces policy.
Knowledge based regulation tools; PISA; Educational policies; Regulation