How effective are school systems in providing young people with a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills that will equip them for life and learning beyond school? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses student knowledge and skills at age 15, i.e. toward the end of compulsory education. The PISA 2012 survey covers mathematics, reading, science and problem-solving. For the first time, PISA 2012 also included an assessment of the financial literacy of young people and an optional computer-based assessment of mathematics.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has revolutionised many aspects of people's personal and professional lives. As computers and the Internet have reached a central role in everyday life, students who have not acquired basic skills in reading, writing and navigating through a complex digital landscape will find themselves unable to participate fully in the economic, social and cultural life around them. By analysing PISA 2012 data, it is possible to examine how students’ access to ICT devices and their experience in using these technologies evolve in recent years.

As family structures change, so do the relative ages of parents. More women and men are waiting until later in life to start a family. They do so for a number of reasons, including planning for greater financial security and emotional maturity, taking more time to find a stable relationship, and committing to their careers before turning their attention to having children. As younger and older parents are also more likely to be in the workforce today, there is a growing need for early childhood education. In addition, there is increasing awareness of the key role that early childhood education plays in the cognitive and emotional development of the young.

Young people who are neither in employment nor in education or training (the “NEET” population) are at risk of becoming socially excluded – individuals with income below the poverty-line and lacking the skills to improve their economic situation.

As national economies become more interconnected, governments and individuals are looking to higher education to broaden students’ horizons. By pursuing high level studies in countries other than their own students may expand their knowledge of other cultures and languages, and better equip themselves in an increasingly globalised labour market. Some countries, particularly in the European Union, have established policies and schemes that promote such mobility to foster intercultural contacts and help build social networks.

Educational attainment is a commonly used proxy for the stock of human capital – say, the skills available in the population and the labour force. As globalisation and technology continue to re-shape the needs of labour markets worldwide, the demand for individuals with a broader knowledge base and more specialised skills, e.g. advanced analytical capacities, and complex communication skills, continues to rise. As a result, more individuals are pursuing higher levels of education now than in previous generations, leading to significant shifts in attainment levels over time within countries.

Teachers’ salaries represent the largest single cost in formal education and have a direct impact on the attractiveness of the teaching profession. They influence decisions to enrol in teacher education, become a teacher after graduation, return to the teaching profession after a career interruption, and/or remain a teacher (as, in general, the higher the salaries, the fewer the people who choose to leave the profession).

Expenditure on education is an investment that can foster economic growth, enhance productivity, contribute to personal and social development and reduce social inequality. The proportion of total financial resources devoted to education is one of the key choices made by governments, enterprises, students and their families. The demand for high-quality education, which can translate into higher costs per student, must be balanced against other demands on public expenditure and the overall tax burden. Policy makers must also balance the importance of improving the quality of educational services with the desirability of expanding access to educational opportunities.

Educational institutions in OECD countries are mainly publicly funded, although there are substantial and growing levels of private funding at the tertiary level. At this level, the contribution to the costs of education by individuals and other private entities is more and more considered an effective way to ensure funding is available to students regardless of their economic backgrounds.