Directorate for Education and Skills

OECD WORK ON
EDUCATION
& SKILLS
Message from the Secretary-General
The challenges faced by 21st-century economies and societies are daunting:
addressing the human and social consequences of an international
financial crisis, meeting development goals, encouraging green growth and
responding to climate change, ageing societies and the knowledge economy.
Education is a critical part of any response.
Knowledge increases both wealth and well-being: university graduates in
most countries earn more.
Our research shows that people who complete upper secondary education
are much more likely to report good health than those who do not.
Yet education systems need to do a much better job in providing equitable
educational opportunities – starting in early childhood, and continuing
throughout life. They need to equip people with knowledge, skills and tools
to stay competitive and engaged.
Education is an investment in the future. Our work on education aims to
make that investment strong, effective and fair.
Angel Gurría
OECD Secretary-General
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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Foreword
The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills helps individuals and nations
to identify and develop the knowledge and skills that drive better jobs and
better lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion. We encourage
countries to compare their experiences and learn from each other, and
we accompany them in the difficult process of policy implementation.
Our global metrics help countries to see what is possible in education and
to set meaningful aspirations in terms of measurable goals achieved by
the world’s education leaders. Our PISA surveys show how much school
systems vary in their progress towards equipping learners with the critical
thinking and creative problem-solving skills that are so crucial at a time
when the kinds of things that are easy to teach and easy to test are
also easiest to digitise, automate and outsource. Through TALIS, we seek
to strengthen the teaching profession and to devise more innovative
learning environments with the 21st-century pedagogies that will shape
21st-century learners.
Our aspiration is to help every learner, every parent, every teacher and every
policy maker see that only the sky is the limit to improving education - and
that improving education is the key to a better and fairer society.
Andreas Schleicher
Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor
on Education Policy to the Secretary-General
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
What does the OECD do?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) promotes policies to improve
the economic and social well-being of people around
the world. It provides a forum in which governments
can work together to share experiences and seek
solutions to common problems. The organisation
works with governments to understand what drives
economic, social and environmental change. It measures
productivity and global flows of trade and investment,
analyses and compares data to predict future trends,
and sets international standards on a wide range of
activities and products, from agriculture and tax to
the safety of chemicals.
Drawing on facts and real-life experience, the OECD
recommends policies designed to improve the quality
of people’s lives. The organisation works with business,
through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee
to the OECD, with labour, through the Trade Union
Advisory Committee, and with other civil society
organisations. The common thread of the OECD’s work
is a shared commitment to market economies backed
by democratic institutions and focused on the wellbeing of all citizens.
The OECD also looks at issues that directly affect
people’s daily lives, like how much individuals pay in
taxes and social security, how much leisure time they
enjoy, how well countries’ school systems are preparing
their young people for modern life, and how countries’
pension systems will look after their citizens in old age.
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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Who we work
with
How we are
governed
The OECD develops analysis and best practices together
with its 34 member countries and with over 40 partner
countries and economies. The Directorate for Education
and Skills helps countries to answer important questions
facing education policy makers and practitioners alike:
how to identify and develop the right skills and turn
them into better jobs and better lives; how best to
allocate resources in education to support social and
economic development; and how to offer everyone
the chance to make the most of their abilities at every
age and stage of life.
The work of the Directorate for Education and Skills
is overseen by the Education Policy Committee and
is delivered by that Committee and three other bodies:
the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
Governing Board; the Institutional Management in
Higher Education Governing Board; and the Programme
for International Student Assessment Governing Board.
While the Education Policy Committee provides strategic
oversight, each of these bodies has its own mandate,
membership, budget and programme of work under
the governance of the OECD Council.
We also work with other international organisations,
such as UNESCO, the World Bank, UNICEF and
the European Training Foundation, leading NGOs, social
entrepreneurs, and the private sector. We collaborate
with the European Commission on projects of
mutual interest.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Education and Skills at the OECD
Building on the priorities formulated by the SecretaryGeneral of the OECD, the Education and Skills
directorate aims to achieve two overarching goals to
make reform happen:
•Strengthen employability, social participation
and inclusive growth
The directorate encourages governments to develop
the skills of all members of society and ensure that
those skills are used effectively, since human capital
and skills play a crucial role in generating better jobs
and better lives for individuals and in supporting
inclusive societies.
•Strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency
of institutions to make reform happen
The directorate works with governments to identify and
better understand the factors behind successful reforms
and provides direct support to member countries
that are designing, adopting and implementing reforms
in education and skills policies.
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Performance & equity
Strength of the relationship between
performance and socio-economic
status is below the OECD average
OECD
average
Strength of the relationship between
performance and socio-economic
status is not statistically significantly
different from the OECD average
Mean PISA score
in mathematics
Strength of the relationship between
performance and socio-economic
status is above the OECD average
600
Shanghai-China
Singapore
Chinese Taipei
550
500
450
400
Hong Kong-China
Korea
Liechtenstein
Austria Switzerland
Japan
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Slovenia
Belgium
Poland
Macao-China
Estonia
Germany
Viet Nam
Finland
Denmark
France
Canada
Australia
Ireland
Iceland
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Latvia
Norway
Portugal
Italy
Spain
Luxembourg
Sweden
United
Slovak
Lithuania
Hungary
Israel
States
Russian Federation
Republic
Turkey Croatia
United Arab Emirates
Greece
Serbia
Bulgaria
Romania
Malaysia
Kazakhstan
Chile
Thailand
Mexico
Argentina
Montenegro
Uruguay
Jordan
Costa Rica
Qatar
Brazil
Tunisia
Peru
Colombia
Indonesia
OECD
average
350
25%
Less
equity
20%
15%
10%
Percentage of variation in performance explained
by the PISA index of economic,
social and cultural status
5%
0%
Greater
equity
Measuring education and skills
opportunities and outcomes
It is crucial that decisions about
education policy are made based
on the best evidence possible.
The triennial Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) studies the extent to which
15-year-old students nearing the end of compulsory
education have acquired the key knowledge and skills
that are essential for full participation in modern
societies. PISA tests students’ creative and critical
thinking skills and their capacity to apply what they
have learned in reading, mathematics, science and 21stcentury, real-world skills. It also measures how equitably
countries offer education opportunities to their young
citizens, and gathers information about students’ social
and emotional skills and students’ attitudes towards
learning. The assessment allows countries to compare
their education policies and practices with those of the
highest-performing and rapidly improving systems in
the world and to learn from the comparisons.
The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD
Programme for the International Assessment
of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), can be seen as
a kind of “PISA for adults”. The survey measures
adults’ proficiency in the key foundation skills –
literacy, numeracy and the ability to solve problems
in technology-rich environments – that adults use in
the workplace, at home and in their communities.
It also gathers information on the degree to which these
skills, as well as some “soft” skills, like communicating
and working with others, are actually used, and their
relationship with social and economic outcomes.
Analysis of data from the Survey of Adult Skills
gives participating countries a good indication of
the strengths and weaknesses in their workforce – and
where their education and training systems have room
for improvement.
Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators offers
a snapshot of the state of education in more than
40 countries. This annual compendium of statistics
covers the structure, finances and performance of
education systems, describes who participates in
and benefits from education, and examines the school
environment.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Teachers’ needs for professional development
Percentage of lower secondary teachers
reporting that they have a high need
for professional development in:
8%
18%
Knowledge
of the
curriculum
19%
9%
School
management
and administration
ICT skills for teaching
New technologies
in the workplace
9%
Knowledge and
understanding
of the subject
field(s)
9%
13%
Pedagogical
competencies in
teaching subject
field(s)
22%
Student behaviour
and classroom
management
Teaching students
with special needs
10%
Approaches to
developing crossoccupational
competencies for
future work or
future studies
12%
Approaches
to individualised
learning
10%
12%
Teaching in
a multicultural
or multilingual
setting
Teaching
cross-curricular
skills
11%
Student career
guidance and
counselling
11%
Student evaluation
and assessment
practice
Opening the “black box”
of learning processes
An understanding of how
students learn and how
teachers teach is at the core
of education policy.
The youngest of our citizens deserve the best possible
start in life. Since many OECD countries have increased
public spending on early childhood education and
care in recent years, the Directorate for Education and
Skills is investing more to develop data to help countries
evaluate the effectiveness – and cost-effectiveness
– of their policies and practices. A staff survey will
elicit information on the qualifications, professional
development, practices and working conditions among
staff of early childhood education facilities. The OECD
is also investigating ways to assess and compare
child outcomes, both cognitive and socio-emotional,
internationally. The data from both the staff survey
and the child outcomes work will enable policy makers
and others to identify the factors that influence the
quality and equity of early education. In addition, the
directorate offers countries in-depth, customised
reviews of their early childhood education and care
policies and provision. The current focus is on how
well children make the transition from pre-primary to
primary education.
Since the quality of an education system depends
largely on the quality of its teaching, the OECD gathers
information about today’s teachers with the aim
of helping countries build a high-quality teaching
profession. The Teaching and Learning International
Survey (TALIS) examines teachers’ work and attitudes,
and the role of school leaders. Teachers and school
leaders in lower secondary schools in 34 countries and
economies participated in the most recent survey in
2013. Some countries also surveyed teachers in primary
and upper secondary education, and those teaching
in the schools that participated in PISA in 2012. TALIS
is also examining initial teacher preparation across
countries, and is developing a video study that aims to
go beyond teachers’
self-reports to record and measure teaching practices
in the classroom. In addition, the Innovative
Teaching for Effective Learning project is investigating
the issue of teacher quality by studying teachers’
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Opening the “black box” of learning processes
pedagogical knowledge base and how new knowledge is
incorporated into the teaching profession.
Every year since 2011, the OECD, Education International,
and OECD and partner countries convene an
International Summit on the Teaching Profession
where education ministers, union leaders and other
teacher leaders gather to discuss the kinds of policy
responses required to improve teaching and learning.
Much of the discussion is informed by data and analysis
from TALIS and PISA.
The PISA-based Test for Schools is a studentassessment tool geared for use by schools and networks
of schools to support research, benchmarking and schoolimprovement efforts. The assessment allows schools
to compare themselves with other schools operating in
similar socio-economic environments in their country,
as well as with schools in other education systems.
It provides descriptive information and analyses about
15-year-old students’ skills in reading, mathematics
and science, and about how they apply those skills.
The assessment also gathers information about students’
socio-economic background, their attitudes towards
learning, and the learning environment in school, and
how all of these are associated with student performance.
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
The aim of the project is to provide local, national
and international peer-to-peer learning opportunities,
including a way of sharing good practices to identify
“what works” to improve learning.
The Centre for Effective Learning Environments
(CELE) Learning Environments Evaluation
Programme (LEEP) produces instruments and
analyses that inform school leaders, researchers, policy
makers and others about how investments in the
learning environment, including the physical learning
environment and technologies, translate into better
education, health, social and well-being outcomes, and
lead to more efficient use of education resources.
Recognising the importance of higher education
in developing highly skilled adults, and the share of
countries’ public and private resources allocated to this
sector, the directorate will begin new work in 2015
focused on system-level performance. Among the issues
to be addressed are how to benchmark performance of
higher education systems, how to respond to emerging
trends, such as MOOCs and globalisation, and how to
ensure that higher education is relevant to the labour
market and financially sustainable.
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The directorate’s work on higher education also
includes the Assessment of Higher Education
Learning Outcomes (AHELO) project, which aims
to help countries improve their systems of higher
education by evaluating student performance at
that level across the globe, and the OECD Higher
Education Programme (IMHE), which is a forum in
which representatives of higher education institutions
exchange experiences and benefit from shared reflection
on the issues that concern them. The Programme’s
work includes monitoring and analysing policy making,
gathering data, and sharing new ideas.
Given shrinking public budgets, shifting demographics
and the growing importance of education in knowledgebased societies, countries also need to consider how
to provide the best learning opportunities to achieve
the best learning outcomes equitably and efficiently.
A major new project on the effective use of resources
examines and develops policy advice on the use,
distribution and management of resources for education
at the school level.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Correlation between labour productivity
and the use of reading skills at work
The line is
the best linear
prediction.
GDP per hour
worked (in USD)
Netherlands
Germany
3.8
Ireland
3.6
Spain
Italy
Denmark
Australia
Finland
Japan
Slovak Republic
Poland
Less
Czech
Republic
United
States
Sweden
Austria
3.4
3.2
Norway
England/
N. Ireland (UK)
Canada
Korea
Estonia
Use of reading skills at work
More
Building and using skills
for better jobs and better lives
Without proper investment in
skills, people languish on the
margins of society, technological
progress does not translate into
economic growth, and countries
can no longer compete in an
increasingly knowledge-based
global society.
Countries are looking for more guidance from
the OECD on how to strengthen employability and
employment through work-based learning and
training. To this end, the organisation is launching
a new area of work that aims to better co-ordinate
work-based learning with classroom learning,
and ensure that the outcomes of both are fully
recognised; tackle unemployment and improve
recruitment; and exploit new technology to pursue
distance learning and other options in work-based
learning.
Vocational education and training (VET)
systems, which prepare individuals for professional,
managerial and technical jobs in expanding fields,
such as health care, as well as in traditional trades,
like plumbing and sanitation, are now under
intensive scrutiny to determine how they can deliver
more effectively the skills needed in the labour
market and adapt to fast-changing demand.
The OECD has examined initial, largely upper
secondary, VET through its Learning for Jobs
project, and post-secondary VET systems through
its Skills beyond Schools project.
In addition, the Directorate for Education and Skills
co-ordinates the OECD’s Skills Outlook, which
gathers the organisation’s collective insights on how
skills are developed, made available to the labour
market, and actually used in the workplace. The Skills
Outlook is overseen by the Skills Strategy Advisory
Group, which is composed of representatives from
committees across the OECD, reflecting the need
for a whole-of-society approach to skills to improve
economic and social outcomes.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Learning
environment
Attainment
Skills
Research
& Innovation
in education
Evaluation
& Quality
assurance
Economic
& Social
outcomes
Internationalisation
Access &
Participation
Finance
& Funding
Trends
shaping
education
School
leadership
Equity
Organisation
& Governance
Teachers
Assisting countries with policy
development and implementation
A well-formulated, responsive
education policy will not deliver
results if it is not implemented
effectively.
OECD and partner countries look to our expertise to
review their education and skills systems and assist
them in developing and implementing policies to
improve those systems. We help in various ways.
Our web-based, data-rich EducationGPS gives policy
makers, researchers and the general public easy access
to nearly all of our statistics and information on
education at the click of a mouse. Our Education Policy
Outlook provides systematic comparative analysis on
education policies and reforms across OECD countries.
In combination with national country profiles, it shows
how different countries respond to the challenges facing
their education systems.
We also produce country notes that summarise a
country’s performance against certain key indicators.
Deeper analysis is offered in individual country
reviews of specific policy areas, such as evaluation and
assessment, the effective use of resources, or vocational
education and training.
On a broader scale, the directorate conducts wideranging diagnostic reviews of national policy on
education, using its stock of comparative evidence and
expertise, and co-ordinates the OECD’s collaboration
with countries to build a “whole-of-government”
approach to their national skills strategies,
formulating and adopting skills policies at national,
regional and local levels.
Tailor-made reviews are prepared for countries that
have specific requests, such as advice on implementing
a new policy, evaluating recent reforms, or helping
to build capacity. While addressing the specific needs of
a given country, this work also builds a shared knowledge
base that benefits all OECD and partner countries.
Beyond accompanying countries in their national reform
efforts, our Governing Complex Education Systems
programme aims to build more adaptable and resilient
institutions and help education systems become
smarter and more efficient. It works to reinforce trust
and improve equity by building collaborative networks
among all stakeholders in society.
And a new pilot project, Transforming Schools
into Learning Organisations, aims to examine why
education reform is too often unsuccessful, and how
to improve schools’ ability to effect change. The pilot
project will focus on two or three education systems,
with the aim of expanding the survey to include many
more countries in the coming years.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Likelihood of positive social and economic
outcomes among highly literate adults
According to the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills, compared to adults who scored at the lowest levels of literacy proficiency, highly literate
adults are this many times more likely to report that they:
2.6
have a say in what
the government does
2.9
earn high wages
2.5
participate
in volunteer activities
2.1
2.3
have high levels
of trust
are in good
to excellent
health
2.2
are employed
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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Exploring new frontiers
and approaches
Global reach has been an
integral part of the OECD
mission from its beginning.
Partner countries’ involvement
in OECD work is mutually
beneficial and essential for
keeping the OECD inclusive
and relevant.
Our Education and Social Progress project aims to
develop a better understanding of how social and
emotional skills are shaped. It focuses on the wider
benefits of such skills for both individuals and society,
including better jobs, healthier lifestyles, active citizenship,
safer societies, and greater life-satisfaction; the power
of social and emotional skills, such as perseverance and
resilience, in driving young people’s success in life; and
the role family, school and community play in developing
children’s skills.
In the wake of the recent global economic downturn,
the OECD launched a new programme to reflect on
the roots of, and lessons learned from, the crisis.
The programme, entitled New Approaches to
Economic Challenges (NAEC), seeks to help
countries identify the trade-offs, complementarities
and unintended consequences of their policy choices,
and improve and better target the OECD’s policy
advice. In the spirit of NAEC, the Education and Skills
directorate will use the data gathered by PIAAC to
build a better understanding of the interrelationships
among the skills available – and used – in a country,
that country’s productivity and potential for
innovation, and such broader outcomes as social
cohesion and trust.
After pioneering work on measuring innovation
in education, the OECD Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation (CERI) project, Innovation
in Education, will provide countries with a framework
to assess their progress in developing an innovation
ecosystem for education, including educational research
and development, a regulatory framework, school and
institutional organisation, and the use of technology to
improve educational outcomes. CERI’s work on Skills
and Education for Innovation has identified the skills
used by employees holding highly innovative jobs and
provides education policy makers and practitioners with
evidence of the effects of different types of curricula,
pedagogies and assessments on the development of
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Exploring new frontiers and approaches
skills for innovation. After producing reports on how to
foster skills for innovation through arts education, math
and science education, and problem-based learning,
the directorate will synthesise this work and begin
exploratory work on assessing creative and critical
thinking skills in formal education settings.
Our publication Trends Shaping Education offers
an overview of key economic, social, demographic
and technological trends, and raises questions about
their potential impact on education. It aims to inform
strategic thinking and stimulate reflection and discussion
on the challenges facing education, whether in schools,
universities or in programmes for older adults.
The Directorate for Education and Skills is exploring new
frontiers geographically too. The OECD engages with
a large number of economies outside its membership,
which it refers to as partner countries. Many are
actively involved in core OECD activities, for example as
participants or associates in OECD committees, working
groups or expert groups. Several key partners, namely
Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa, have
comprehensive relations with the OECD. The Education
and Skills directorate conducts periodic surveys of
the education systems of partner countries as well as
member countries.
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
In addition, the PISA for Development project aims
to increase participation in the triennial assessment
of 15-year-olds among developing countries. To do
so, the OECD is developing enhanced PISA survey
instruments that are more relevant for the contexts
found in developing countries, but that produce
scores that can be compared on the same scales as
the main PISA assessment. The pilot project, which
involves seven countries from the developing world,
several development partners (members of the OECD
Development Assistance Committee, the World Bank,
UNESCO, UNICEF and other UN bodies and regional
organisations) and the OECD, is also developing a way to
include 15-year-olds who are not enrolled in school.
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OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
Our staff
The OECD Directorate
for Education and
Skills delivers its work
through four divisions
guided by a common
set of strategic
objectives.
Andreas Schleicher
Director for Education
and Skills, and Special Advisor
on Education Policy to the
Secretary-General
Yuri Belfali
Division Head
Early Childhood and Schools
The division aims to enrich
the international evidence base on
schools and early childhood settings
in order to develop targeted policy
advice to countries for improving
the quality, equity and efficiency of
learning opportunities. Key resources
are the Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA)
and the Teaching and Learning
International Survey (TALIS).
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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Deborah Roseveare
Dirk Van Damme
Division Head
Innovation and Measuring
Progress
Bringing together the work on
measuring progress, research and
innovation – mainly organised
through the INES (Indicators of
Educational Systems) and CERI
(Centre for Educational Research
and Innovation) – the division
reviews the current state of
education, measures progress
and innovative developments in
education, and provides indicators
and research data upon which other
activities can be built.
Division Head
Skills Beyond School
Richard Yelland
Division Head
Policy Advice and
Implementation
Drawing on the data, evidence
and analysis developed by the
Directorate for Education and Skills,
the division co-ordinates
the provision of advice on education
policy to OECD members and other
countries, both collectively and
individually, across all sectors of
education.
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With skills now at the forefront
of the OECD policy agenda,
the division’s work spans measuring
adult skills, policy-relevant analyses
of the development and use of
skills among youth and adults, and
advice to countries on building more
effective skills systems at national,
regional and local levels. The division
also offers analysis and policy
advice on building skills through
more effective vocational education
and training and higher education.
OECD EDUCATION & SKILLs
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