Assessment and recommendations

Since the OECD review of education in Turkey in 2007, the country has achieved a major expansion of school participation at the same time as significant improvements in the quality and equity of student learning outcomes. However, the gap in educational achievement compared with most member countries of the Organisation for Economic Development and Co‑operation (OECD) remains wide and represents a constraint for future growth and productivity (OECD, 2016[1]). International data shows that while more students than ever before are reaching basic levels of numeracy and literacy, a large share of those entering high school still has weak foundations in these essential domains (below Level 2 in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA]). Conversely, only 1% of students in Turkey demonstrate, by age 15, the types of higher order skills needed to participate fully in a modern knowledge economy, and this share has not increased in more than a decade (Level 5 and above in PISA) (OECD, 2016[2]).