The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning outcomes attained around the world, and allow educators and policy makers to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries. This is one of six volumes that present the results of the PISA 2018 survey, the seventh round of the triennial assessment. Volume IV, Are Students Smart about Money?, examines 15-year-old students' understanding about money in the 20 countries and economies that participated in this optional assessment.

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Albania has made improvements in access to education and in raising learning outcomes over the last two decades, moving from one of the lowest performers in the Western Balkans to one of the fastest improvers. However, a large share of students in Albania continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies needed for work and life and disparities persist across population groups. This review, developed in co-operation with UNICEF, provides Albania with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Albania, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.

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On 28 April, Colombia formally became a member of the OECD, the 37th country to do so in the Organisation’s near 60-year history. To celebrate the occasion, we are pleased to provide you with access to the OECD’s substantial resources focusing on Colombia, including:

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Understanding teachers and school leaders as "professionals" means having high expectations of them as advanced knowledge workers. It means they should not only conduct their work in an effective manner, but also strive to improve their skills throughout their career, collaborate with colleagues and parents to work towards school improvement, and think creatively about the challenges they face. However, if we expect teachers and schools leaders to act as professionals, we should treat them as such. This report aims to provide an in-depth analysis of teachers’ and school leaders’ perceptions of the value of their profession, their work-related well-being and stress, and their satisfaction with their working conditions. It also offers a description of teachers’ and school leaders’ contractual arrangements, opportunities to engage in professional tasks such as collaborative teamwork, autonomous decision making, and leadership practices. Based on the voice of teachers and school leaders, the report offers a series of policy recommendations to help strengthen the professionalisation of teaching careers.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest international survey asking teachers and school leaders about their working conditions and learning environments, and provides a barometer of the profession every five years. Results from the 2018 cycle explore and examine the various dimensions of teacher and school leader professionalism across education systems.

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The first five years of a child’s life is a period of great opportunity, and great risk. The cognitive and social and emotional skills that children develop in these early years have long-lasting impacts on their later outcomes throughout schooling and adulthood. The International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study was designed to help countries assess their children’s skills and development, to understand how these relate to children’s early learning experiences and well-being. The study provides countries with comparative data on children’s early skills to assist countries to better identify factors that promote or hinder children’s early learning.

Three countries participated in this study in 2018: England (United Kingdom), Estonia and the United States. The study directly assessed the emergent literacy and numeracy, self-regulation and social-emotional skills of a representative sample of five-year-old children in registered school and ECEC settings in each participating country. It also collected contextual and assessment information from the children’s parents and teachers. This comparative report sets out the findings from the study as a whole.

Individual country reports presenting the findings in each participating country (England (United Kingdom), Estonia and the United States) are also available. These country reports also provide comparative data on children’s early skills with children from the other two countries who also participated in the study, to better identify factors that promote or hinder children’s early learning.

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The Republic of Serbia’s education system performs well compared to other countries in the Western Balkans. There have been improvements in access to education and international assessments show that learning outcomes are on the rise. However, a large share of Serbian students continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies and efforts to achieve educational excellence are jeopardised by limited institutional capacity and low levels of public spending on education. This review, developed in cooperation with UNICEF, provides Serbia with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Serbia, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.

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The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning outcomes attained around the world, and allow educators and policy makers to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries. Here are three of the six volumes that present the results of the PISA 2018 survey, the seventh round of the triennial assessment.

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Georgia has made remarkable progress in expanding education access and improving education quality. Nevertheless, the majority of children in Georgia leave school without mastering the basic competencies for life and work. Moreover, students’ background is becoming a greater influence on their achievement. This review, developed in partnership with UNICEF, provides Georgia with recommendations to strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on helping students learn. It will be of interest to countries that wish to strengthen their own evaluation and assessment systems and, in turn, improve educational outcomes.

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In the wake of the technological revolution that began in the last decades of the 20th century, labour-market demand for information-processing and other high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills have been growing substantially. Based on the results from the 33 countries and regions that participated in the 1st and 2nd round of the Survey of Adult Skills in 2011-12 and in 2014-15, this report describes adults’ proficiency in three information-processing skills, and examines how proficiency is related to labour-market and social outcomes. It also places special emphasis on the results from the 3rd and final round of the first cycle of PIAAC in 2017-18, which included 6 countries (Ecuador, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru and the United States). This report's Reader’s Companion, which describes the design and methodology of the survey and its relationship to other international assessments of young students and adults, is also available.
The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), was designed to provide insights into the availability of some of these key skills in society and how they are used at work and at home. The first survey of its kind, it directly measures proficiency in three information-processing skills: literacy, numeracy and problem-solving in technology-rich environments.

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The staff working in schools are the most important resource for today’s education systems, both educationally and financially. This report aims to provide guidance for the design of human resource policies that strengthen, recognise and preserve the positive impact that teachers, school leaders and other school staff have on their students. It offers an in-depth analysis of how human resource policies can make the best use of available resources to create supportive working environments and build both individual and collective professional capacity in schools. This includes the design of entry requirements, career structures, salary schedules and working time arrangements to attract, retain and motivate high-quality staff; the effective and equitable matching of staff with schools through fair and transparent staff funding and recruitment; and informed investments in professional learning, from initial preparation to continuing development. Throughout its analysis, the report looks at implementation challenges and considers under which conditions human resource policy reforms are most likely to have the desired effects on schools and their staff. This report is the third in a series of thematic comparative reports bringing together findings from the OECD School Resources Review.

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For most children, early childhood education and care (ECEC) provides the first experience of life in a group away from their families. This experience plays a crucial role in children’s learning, development and well-being. The benefits of high-quality ECEC are not restricted to children’s first years of life. However, little is known about this first experience. What do children learn and do in ECEC settings? With which staff do children interact at their centres? Do all children face the same opportunities to enrol in high-quality settings? What are the main spending priorities to raise the quality of ECEC? These are key questions for parents, staff and policy makers.

The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) is the first international survey that focuses on the ECEC workforce. It offers an opportunity to learn about the characteristics of the workforce, the practices they use with children, their beliefs about children’s development and their views on the profession and on the sector. This first volume of findings, Providing Quality Early Childhood Education and Care, examines multiple factors that can affect the quality of ECEC and thereby can influence children’s learning, development and well-being.

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What is the nature of childhood today? On a number of measures, modern children’s lives have clearly improved thanks to better public safety and support for their physical and mental health. New technologies help children to learn, socialise and unwind, and older, better-educated parents are increasingly playing an active role in their children's education. At the same time, we are more connected than ever before, and many children have access to tablets and smartphones before they learn to walk and talk. Twenty-first century children are more likely to be only children, increasingly pushed to do more by “helicopter parents” who hover over their children to protect them from potential harm. In addition to limitless online opportunities, the omnipresent nature of the digital world brings new risks, like cyber-bullying, that follow children from the schoolyard into their homes.

This report examines modern childhood, looking specifically at the intersection between emotional well-being and new technologies. It explores how parenting and friendships have changed in the digital age. It examines children as digital citizens, and how best to take advantage of online opportunities while minimising the risks. The volume ends with a look at how to foster digital literacy and resilience, highlighting the role of partnerships, policy and protection.

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