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Electricity market reform has fundamentally changed the environment for maintaining reliable and secure power supplies, creating a more integrated and dynamic network environment with new real-time challenges for reliable and secure transmission system operation. But despite these fundamental changes, system operating rules and practices remain largely unchanged. The major blackouts of 2003 and 2004 raised important questions about the appropriateness of these arrangements. This publication presents case studies drawn from recent large-scale blackouts in Europe, North America, and Australia. It concludes that a comprehensive, integrated policy response is required to avoid preventable large-scale blackouts in the future.
The COVID-19 crisis has amplified the many inadequacies and inequities in education systems. As the future continues to surprise us, the importance of resilience, adaptability and fairness in education will only grow. Equitable schooling means more than treating students equally and uniformly. To be truly fair and impactful, education should work to adapt to students’ differences.
Across the OECD, attention is focusing increasingly on what has been dubbed the "digital divide" - a term that refers to the gaps in access to information and communication technology (ICT). The stakes are high, as ICT is now integral to the social fabric and is the catalyst for "new economies" to emerge. Exclusion threatens the ICT "have-nots", whether individuals, groups or entire countries. Political awareness of the stakes at issue grows sharply, as indicated by the prominence of the digital divide in G-8 discussions.
Education and learning lie at the heart of these issues and their solutions. They are the lifeblood of our 21st century knowledge societies, and ICT is critical to them. The gaps that define the "learning digital divide" are thus as important as the more obvious gaps in access to the technology itself. Learning is central in the still more fundamental sense that the machines and equipment are useless without the competence to exploit them. Nurturing this competence is in part the job of schools and colleges, in part dependent on the learning that takes place throughout life in homes, communities, and workplaces.
This volume meets an important need in the contemporary international literature on education policy, lifelong learning, and economic and social development. It presents analysis of the "learning digital divide" in different countries - developed and developing - and the policies and specific innovations designed to bridge it. The evidence shows that ICT can be the solution to inequalities rather than their cause - digital diversity and opportunity rather than digital divide.
Enormous investments are being made in computers and Internet connectivity for schools. The aim is to provide high-quality learning and teaching and equip young people for the knowledge society. But how are the benefits of this educational investment to be realised? It calls for much more than installing the hardware, and is not simply a matter of using ICT to do traditional things in different ways. Schools have to learn to change and to change to new ways of learning.
There is an urgent need for quality software and digital materials for use in schools. Teachers - and students - must become discerning and knowledgeable ICT users. The school environment has to be fully supportive of ICT, making available expert assistance and advice to the teacher in this rapidly-changing field. New forms of curriculum and assessment are called for, new ways of organising schools, if the dramatic educational potential of ICT is to be delivered and realised.
Such a demanding "learning to change" agenda is the subject of this international report. It is illuminated by the views of individual students, who used ICT enthusiastically in their own learning, and shared their experiences in an OECD international network. The report looks at the vast educational possibilities arising from the Internet, bringing together the school, the home and the wider community. It examines how ICT, which is the subject of teacher professional development, can largely be the means for its delivery. There are numerous examples of promising practice and principles for the future.
In OECD countries, the number of cities and regions which put learning, education, research and innovation at the heart of their development strategies is rapidly increasing and bringing together governments, the private sector and society. The growing interest in learning cities and regions reflects the fundamental shifts which are taking place. Cities are becoming more knowledge-based and organised as never before around learning and human skills. Today, these factors are central not only to individual success but also to gaining national, regional and urban economic advantage. Comparative advantage is increasingly dependent on human resources, knowledge creation, and continuous, incremental innovation rather than on access to physical capital and raw materials.
This book presents different approaches to regional development based on knowledge and innovation in Andalusia, Spain (and some other countries). Potential applications to areas similar to Andalusia are also given. The study contains a synthesis of the presentations and discussions of the conference held in Malaga, Spain, on the 30th September and 1st October 1999, that focused on the current situation of the region, analysing its evolution over the last twenty years, and evaluating the policies already implemented in the region. A diagnosis of the present socio-economic system has been made in order to measure the applicability of policies that would help Andalusia to develop into a learning region, built on human, social, cultural and "synergetic" capital.
This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) provides information on the sources, production processes, pathways and use patterns of chemicals used as additives in plastics to assist in the
estimation of releases of chemicals to the environment.
This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Leeks Standard. This brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus, it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade of leeks.
This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Leeks Standard. This brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus, it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade of leeks.
CO2 emissions from energy production and consumption are a major contributor to climate change. Thus, stabilising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by reducing these emissions is an increasingly urgent international necessity. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) represents one of the most promising potential solutions to contain emissions resulting from continued use of coal and other fossil fuels. However, challenges such as a lack of legal and regulatory frameworks to guide near-term demonstration projects and long-term technology expansion must be addressed to facilitate the expanded use of CCS.
In October 2006, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) convened with legal experts,to discuss the range of legal issues associated with expanded use of CCS and to identify ways to facilitate further CCS development and implementation Participants examined gaps and barriers to the deployment of CCS and identified recommendations to guide further development of appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks.
This publication provides policymakers with a detailed summary of the main legal issues surrounding the CCS debate, including up-to-date background information, case studies and conclusions on the best legal and regulatory approaches to advance CCS. These strategies can be used to enable further development, deployment and demonstration of CCS technology, potentially an essential element in global efforts to mitigate climate change.
With almost 70% of the operating nuclear power reactors over 30 years of age, countries around the world are assessing whether to allow reactor operation past the 50 60 year mark and potentially up to 80 years. Ensuring a proper legal framework for the long term operation (LTO) of nuclear power reactors is a key component of such considerations.
The aim of this report is to provide insights into the various laws, regulations and policies that contribute to different countries' approaches to LTO. By collecting information from more than 20 NEA member and non member countries, this report highlights both commonalities among approaches as well as possible reasons for variations. Ultimately, the information gathered can serve as a vital resource for future exchanges respecting the legal aspects of LTO, with a view to further development and strengthening of the collective understanding of these issues.
This report offers an empirical tool to help planners, statisticians, policy makers and advocates understand people's everyday legal problems and experience with the justice system. It sets out a framework for the conceptualisation, implementation and analysis of legal needs surveys and is informed by analysis of a wide range of national surveys conducted over the last 25 years. It provides guidance and recommendations in a modular way, allowing application into different types of surveys. It also outlines opportunities for legal needs-based indicators that strengthen our understanding of access to civil justice.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies are set to play an important role in putting the global energy system on a path to net zero. Successfully deploying CCUS relies on the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks to ensure the effective stewardship of CCUS activities and the safe and secure storage of CO2.
Several countries have already developed comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks for CCUS. These form a valuable knowledge base for the growing number of countries that have identified a role for CCUS in meeting their climate goals, but which are yet to establish a legal foundation for CCUS, and particularly for CO2 storage. Increasingly, existing frameworks are also being tested as more commercial CCUS projects are developed, with important learnings for regulators.
This IEA CCUS Handbook is a resource for policy makers and regulators on establishing and updating legal and regulatory frameworks for CCUS. It identifies 25 priority issues that frameworks should address for CCUS deployment, presenting global case studies and examining how different jurisdictions have approached these issues. The handbook is supported by a webbased legal and regulatory database, and model legislative text that is found at the end of this report.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken long-accepted beliefs about education, showing that learning can occur anywhere, at any time, and that education systems are not too heavy to move. When surveyed in May 2020, only around one-fifth of OECD education systems aimed to reinstate the status quo. Policy makers must therefore maintain the momentum of collective emergency action to drive education into a new and better normal. This Handbook provides practical guidance to support them to do just that. It presents the current state-of-play in over 40 education systems, and efforts to improve pedagogical practices in the midst of the pandemic. It proposes three key lessons and related policy pointers for the current academic term and beyond. Drawing on concrete examples of COVID-19 policy responses from primary to tertiary, as well as impactful pre-crisis policies, it addresses the policy areas of flexible learning, educator skills, and student equity. The Handbook has been prepared with evidence from the Education Policy Outlook series – the OECD’s analytical observatory of education policy. As such, it benefits from a decade of policy analysis, outcomes from the Education Policy Reform Dialogues 2020, and the development of an actionable Framework for Responsiveness and Resilience in education.
This book assesses experience in reforming electricity markets in OECD countries over the past decade, focusing on the issues that are critical for successful liberalisation. Experiences and examples in the study are drawn mainly from the UK, Australian, Nordic and North Eastern United States (the PJM interconnection) markets, which have all operated with considerable success for a number of years. The issues covered in the study are: the rationale and benefits of liberalisation; the governance required to create effective competition; the role of prices and transparent wholesale markets; consumer protection; incentives for investment, and impact of addressing security of supply and environmental policy.
This report compares the performance of 15-year-olds in the United States in PISA against the global patterns and trends. But it goes beyond the aggregate level analysis that have so far been published in the PISA 2012 reports, to give analysis of student performance on individual mathematics test items in order to reveal students’ strengths and weaknesses. Considering this also in the context of the relationship between PISA and the Common Core Standards for Mathematics can help connect these results to what the United States aspires to teach in classrooms and help inform teaching practices that can support performance improvement.
For decades Japan has remained at or near the top of international assessments of student learning; and in the past decade, students in Japan have become more engaged in learning. However, the government aspires to improve learning outcomes even further. Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for Japan focuses on how Japan is reforming its education system not only to produce better learning outcomes, but to equip students with the skills they need to navigate through the unpredictable labour market of the future and to participate in society as active citizens.
This is the second in a series of reports examining how education systems are handling the challenge of preparing their students for a world of interconnected populations, rapid technological change, and instantaneous availability of vast amounts of information. Like the first volume, Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for the United States, this report presents examples from other countries with consistently high-performing education systems or countries that, by redesigning policies and practices, have been able to improve their education outcomes, as measured by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the world’s most comprehensive and rigorous survey of students’ skills and attitudes towards learning.
The story of Korean education over the past 50 years is one of remarkable growth and achievement. Korea is one of the top performing countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey and among those with the highest proportion of young people who have completed upper secondary and tertiary education. Korea is continuously exploring ways to improve its education system and has dramatically increased government investment in education over the last decade. Nevertheless, further reforms are needed to spur and sustain improvements. Rapid globalisation and modernisation are also posing new and demanding challenges to equip young people of today and tomorrow with skills relevant to the 21st century.
The report Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for Korea aims at helping Korea to identify and address education policy challenges in an international perspective. To this end, it examines the Korean education system through the prism of PISA, considers recent policy developments and suggests specific policy options to foster improvements. The report also provides an in-depth analysis of the experience of other high-performing countries.
This report presents a summary of the trends in Mexico’s performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and considers them in relation to the PISA target established by the Mexican government. Trends regarding access to education by 15-year-olds and equity as indicated by the impact of socio-economic background on students’ performance are also examined.
The report shows that the performance gains that Mexico has achieved since Mexico’s President Calderón established the PISA performance target have been significant and Mexico seems well on track to meet its 2012 target. In addition, the report reviews Mexico’s performance compared to other countries in the OECD, the G20, and to similar economies to also highlight that improvement is still needed. Based on a comparison of performance between Mexican schools, the report also shows that relatively higher performance is not dictated by socio-economic background.
The report concludes by drawing together evidence from PISA and an examination of a selection of today’s highest performing education systems in order to provide a long-term perspective for educational improvement in Mexico.
US President Obama has launched one of the world’s most ambitious education reform agendas. Under the heading “Race to the Top”, this agenda encourages US states to adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace: recruit, develop, reward, and retain effective teachers and principals; build data systems that measure student success; and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices and turn around their lowest-performing schools.
But what does the “top” look like internationally? How have the countries at the top managed to achieve sustained high performance or to significantly improve their performance? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides the world’s most extensive and rigorous set of international surveys assessing the knowledge and skills of secondary school students. This volume combines an analysis of PISA with a description of the policies and practices of those education systems that are close to the top or advancing rapidly, in order to offer insights for policy from their reform trajectories.