Browse by: "2013"

Gender equality in terms of economic and financial opportunities is becoming increasingly relevant at both national and international level. The need to address the financial literacy of women and girls as a way to improve their financial empowerment, opportunities, and well-being has been acknowledged by the G20 Leader’s Declaration in June 2012, as well as part of a wider horizontal OECD project on gender equality. The OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) established a dedicated workstream in 2010 to address the needs of women for financial education under the support of the Russia/World Bank/OECD Trust Fund for financial literacy and education.

This book collects the work carried out within this workstream, including policy guidance to help policy makers address women's and girls' needs for financial education, and a comprehensive analysis of the current status of knowledge on gender differences in financial literacy and policy responses in terms of financial education for women and girls.

What does it mean for education that our societies are increasingly diverse? How is global economic power shifting towards new countries? In what ways are the skills required in the world of work changing?

Trends Shaping Education 2013 brings together international evidence to give policy makers, researchers, educational leaders, administrators and teachers a robust, non-specialist source to inform strategic thinking and stimulate reflection on the challenges facing education, whether in schools, universities or programmes for older adults. It will also be of interest to students and the wider public, including parents.

The trends presented are based on high-quality international data, primarily from the OECD, the World Bank and the United Nations. The charts contain dynamic links so that readers can access the original data. Trends Shaping Education 2013 is organised around five broad themes, each with its own “Find out more” section: A global world, Living well, Labour and skill dynamics, Modern families and Infinite connection.

The ‘basic skills’ of literacy and numeracy are among the most fundamental attributes of human beings and their civilization, lying at the root of our capacity to communicate and live and work together, to develop and share knowledge, science and culture. Their contribution to workforce skills have increasingly been recognized as critical to economic success, while evidence on gaps in adult basic skills and the link with economic and social outcomes has also been growing, both at national and international level (e.g. International Survey of Adult Skills of 1994-98 and Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey of 2003-2007). Most tellingly, there has been a belated realization that despite universal basic education in advanced countries, some adults have slipped through the net, leaving them with very weak literacy and numeracy. All of these factors underline the importance of the OECD’s new international Survey of Adult Skills.

This report on skills in the US draws out the policy implications of the Survey for the US, while also making use of some additional data collected for the Survey on the US alone. The study does not directly evaluate relevant US policies and programs – such as schooling and adult education. Instead it identifies in the results of the Survey some key lessons about the strategic objectives and directions which should form a frame for policy development in the US, including policy on adult learning and schooling.

In some countries the concept – not to mention the use – of teacher appraisal sparks discussion whenever it is mentioned. According to what criteria? Who decides? And what should the results of teacher appraisals be used for? But education stakeholders are beginning to find some agreement in the idea that teacher appraisal can be a key lever for focusing more on teaching quality and continuous professional development for teachers, in keeping with the growing recognition that the quality of teaching affects student learning outcomes. Teacher appraisal also provides opportunities to incentivise, recognise and reward teaching competence and high performance, which, in turn, may help to address concerns about the attractiveness of teaching as a career choice and about the image and status of teachers, including teachers’ feelings that their work is not sufficiently valued.

The third International Summit on the Teaching Profession, hosted by the Netherlands, the OECD and Education International, brings together education ministers, union leaders and other teacher leaders from high-performing and rapidly improving education systems, as measured by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), to discuss how teacher quality is defined and what standards are set and by whom; what systems are in place for teacher evaluation and how evaluations are conducted; and how teacher evaluation contributes to school improvement and teacher self-efficacy.

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? Countries increasingly use a range of techniques for student assessment, teacher appraisal, school evaluation, school leader appraisal and education system evaluation. However, they often face difficulties in implementing evaluation and assessment policies. This may arise as a result of poor policy design, lack of analysis of unintended consequences, little capacity for school agents to put evaluation procedures into practice, lack of an evaluation culture, or deficient use of evaluation results.

This report provides an international comparative analysis and policy advice to countries on how evaluation and assessment arrangements can be embedded within a consistent framework to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. It builds upon a major 3-year review of evaluation and assessment policies in 28 countries, the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes. As well as analysing strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, the report provides recommendations for improvement including how results should be incorporated into policy and practice.

The report discusses the results of the OECD “Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs” (TSME) project which examines access to training by SMEs across seven regions in six OECD countries: New Zealand, Poland, Belgium, UK, Turkey and Canada. The book analyses the policy issues related to both low access by SMEs, and how to recognise the increasing importance of informal training and skills development methods. The book looks at how both formal and alternative ways of training and skills development interact and identifies impacts at three levels; for the firm and employees; for the industry; and for the local area where the firm is located.

The report pays special attention to the development of entrepreneurial skills and the emerging area of “green skills”. This focus is not just because ‘green skills’ represent the next new training opportunity – the de-carbonisation of economies that will occur over the coming decades represents an industrial transformation on the scale of the microelectronics revolution - but in many ways the response to the green economy is at an emerging stage- this means we have the opportunity to implement lessons from previous successful practices into a skill development area that will have enormous reach.

In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians and visitors sense that the country’s considerable potential can be realised, and education is rightly seen as crucial to this process. As opportunities expand, Colombians will need new and better skills to respond to new challenges and prospects.

The government is therefore determined to address key challenges confronting tertiary education in the country: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. Colombia has more than a decade of progress under its belt, and the energy to reach ambitious policy goals. Getting there in practice will involve dialogue and consensus-seeking among all stakeholders, as well as new resources and new rules.

Growth and diversity have characterised higher education in OECD countries for fifty years. Chile is no exception and has experienced dramatic increases in the number of students, the range of institutions and the programmes that they offer. But wider participation and diversification are only part of the story. Chilean society remains highly unequal in economic and social terms, and the quality of the academic, technical and professional programmes on offer is uneven. The establishment of a culture of quality in higher education which goes beyond accreditation, and the provision of accurate and reliable information, have become issues of concern not only to institutions, students and employers but to a wider public.

This report  analyses the performance of the relatively young higher education quality assurance system (SINAC-ES). It provides a set of key principles that the OECD review team believes both reflect international practice and are relevant for Chile. The report makes a set of recommendations about the place of the SINAC ES in Chilean higher education and society; the focus of its work; its structure and leadership; and the functions of licensing; accreditation and information that it carries out.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society.

This series of country reports focuses on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society.

This series of country reports focuses on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives.

Are students well prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Can they analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Have they found the kinds of interests they can pursue throughout their lives as productive members of the economy and society?

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer these questions through the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student knowledge and skills. PISA 2012 Assessment and Analytical Framework presents the conceptual framework underlying the fifth cycle of PISA. Similar to the previous cycles, the 2012 assessment covers reading, mathematics and science, with the major focus on mathematical literacy. Two other domains are evaluated: problem solving and financial literacy. Students respond to a background questionnaire and, as an option, to an educational career questionnaire as well as another questionnaire about Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Additional supporting information is gathered from the school authorities through the school questionnaire and from the parents through a third optional questionnaire. Sixty-six countries and economies, including all 34 OECD member countries, are taking part in the PISA 2012 assessment.

This is the latest of the influential series of OECD reports on Innovative Learning Environments. “Learning leadership” is fundamental because it is about setting direction, taking responsibility for putting learning at the centre and keeping it there. This becomes increasingly complex in 21st century settings, calling for innovation and going beyond the heroics of individual leaders. Many need to be involved, bringing in diverse partners at different levels.

This is all explored in this volume. It clarifies the concepts and the dimensions of learning leadership, relating it to extensive international research and identifying promising strategies to promote it. Specific examples are drawn from Austria, Australia, Canada, Israel, Norway, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. There is an extensive overview that addresses the “why, what, how, who, where, and when” of learning leadership. Among the international experts contributing to this volume are James Spillane, John MacBeath, Louise Stoll, and Clive Dimmock.

This report will prove to be a valuable resource for all those interested in schooling. It will be of particular interest to teachers and teacher educators, advisors and researchers, the voluntary sector and teacher associations, and, first and foremost, education leaders themselves.