It reviews the drivers behind the development of a testing scheme, the purposes associated with its implementation and different criteria that feed into the test design. While it is difficult to discern exactly which driver may have distinctly played a role in a nation’s decision to administer standardised tests, it is nonetheless important to identify the underlying currents and intersecting trends steering assessment systems (Mons, 2009). The primary drivers identified are: 1) New Public Management, 2) Standards-based assessment, 3) International competition, 4) Increasing demand for 21st Century Skills, 5) Test industry pressure. There has also been a growing emphasis on quantitatively measuring outcomes and objectives and reforms towards decentralisation and autonomy which have contributed to the need to develop new means to monitor education systems (Mons, 2009: 5).