Austria is in the process of developing and implementing a comprehensive education monitoring system that is in line with the goals of the 2017 Education Reform Act. This Policy Perspective presents the final output of this two-year collaboration between the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the European Commission and the OECD. The overall goal of this project is to support the Austrian Government in the design and implementation of a new education monitoring system that balances traditional top-down implementation processes with more bottom-up approaches that leave room for co-construction and local adaptation. This report issues a set of recommendations for the monitoring system to provide data to support quality assurance, school self-evaluation, effective governance, evidence-based policy making, and allocation and use of resources. This report can be of help for any country looking to support policy development and improvement in the education system through data-informed decision-making.

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Education systems operate in a world that is constantly evolving towards new equilibria, yet short-term crises may disrupt, accelerate or divert longer-term evolutions. This Framework for Responsiveness and Resilience in Education Policy aims to support policy makers to balance the urgent challenge of building eco-systems that adapt in the face of disruption and change (resilience), and the important challenge of navigating the ongoing evolution from industrial to post-industrial societies and economies (responsiveness). Building on international evidence and analysis from over 40 education, this framework endeavours to establish tangible, transferable and actionable definitions of resilience. These definitions, which are the goals of the framework (Why?), are underpinned by policy components of responsiveness (What?), which define priority areas for education policy makers. Policy pointers for resilience (How?) then illustrate how policy makers can apply these components in ways that promote resilience at the learner, broader learning environment and system levels of the policy ecosystem. Finally, a transversal component looks into the people and the processes undertaken in order to reach a given purpose (Who?). The report has been prepared with evidence from the Education Policy Outlook series – the OECD’s analytical observatory of education policy.

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The introduction of standardised tests in Flemish schools aims to generate regular, reliable data for educators and policy makers. At an early stage of development, this report uses a research-based framework to engage stakeholders in thinking about the opportunities standardised tests could bring for their work. It builds on feedback from key stakeholders regarding their perceptions, hopes and concerns about the introduction of standardised tests. Feedback was gathered during a series of structured discussions and a stakeholder reflection seminar. The report identifies ways to strengthen the opportunity, capability and motivation of decision makers at all levels of the education system to use evidence effectively for their respective practice – including teaching and quality assurance. The report identifies lessons learnt to support the further development of standardised tests.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are major breakthrough technologies that are transforming the economy and society. The OECD’s Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Skills (AIFS) project is developing a programme to assess the capabilities of AI and robotics, and their impact on education and work. This volume reports on the first step of the project: identifying which capabilities to assess and which tests to use in the assessment. It builds on an online expert workshop that explored this question from the perspectives of both psychology and computer science. The volume consists of expert contributions that review skills taxonomies and tests in different domains of psychology, and efforts in computer science to assess AI and robotics. It provides extensive discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, and outlines directions for the project. The report can therefore be a resource for the research community of multiple fields and policy makers who wish to obtain deeper insight into the complexity of machine capabilities.

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Estonia is currently finalising its new Education Strategy 2035, a horizon that goes beyond strict education performance and encompasses the knowledge, skills and attitudes for people to thrive in the 21st century. To achieve the ambitious goals set in the strategy, Estonia requested support from the European Commission, under the Structural Reform Support Programme, in the area of education monitoring and data-informed decision making.
This Policy Perspective presents the final output of this two-year collaboration between the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, the European Commission, and the OECD. The overall goal of this project is to support the Estonian Government in strengthening data-informed decision making in education through improvements to its education monitoring system. After reviewing comprehensively the existing data and monitoring processes in Estonia, the OECD has prepared guidelines for education monitoring and a coherent set of indicators to support the achievement of the goals set in the Estonian Education Strategy 2035.

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Digital technologies have transformed the way people interact, work and learn. The emergency transition to online teaching and learning necessitated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a serious challenge to instructional routines of higher education systems across OECD countries. The pandemic has demonstrated the ability of higher education institutions to ensure continuity in teaching and learning, but it has also revealed that much work remains to be done to ensure digital technologies are effectively used to promote quality, efficiency and equity in higher education. This report, which focuses on the digital transformation of higher education in Hungary, is a collaboration between the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the Hungarian Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills. Building on stakeholder engagement and comparative analysis, the report offers an assessment of the current state of digitalisation in higher education in Hungary, identifies policy recommendations to strengthen the current policy framework supporting digitalisation, and provides suggestions to help Hungarian authorities and stakeholders develop a monitoring framework and indicators to measure the digitalisation of the higher education system.

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Higher education helps learners acquire the knowledge and skills they need to lead productive working lives, and it sparks the innovation that fosters economic growth and social progress. However, creating higher education systems that operate at a high level of research and teaching quality, with responsiveness to social and labour market demands, requires effective public policies and institutional practices. This report, which focuses on funding and governance reforms to improve higher education in the Slovak Republic, is a collaboration between the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the Institute for Strategies and Analysis in the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic and the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills. Building on stakeholder engagement and comparative analysis, the report offers an international perspective on the performance of the Slovak higher education system and provides an action plan focused on governance and funding reforms, placing special emphasis on implementation planning to support reform success.

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This report offers an initial overview of the available information regarding the circumstances, nature and outcomes of the education of schoolchildren during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns of March-April 2020. Its purpose is primarily descriptive: it presents information from high quality quantitative studies on the experience of learning during this period in order to ground the examination and discussion of these issues in empirical examples. Information is presented on three interrelated topics: the nature of the educational experience during the period of lockdowns and school closures; the home environment in which education took place for the vast majority of schoolchildren; the effects on the mental health and learning outcomes for children during this period. The data come primarily from 5 countries (France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States) with additional information on some aspects for 6 additional countries (Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands).

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What knowledge do teachers need for 21st century teaching? Today, teachers have an important role in guiding and shaping students’ use of digital tools and optimising the educational benefits of their digital experiences. They are also agents of inclusive, equitable education and ambassadors of embracing diversity as an enriching element of our societies. To fulfil these roles teachers need to be experts of teaching and learning, and base their practice on a specialised and updated body of knowledge. However, there is a great need for a better understanding of the knowledge and skills that teaching in the 21st century requires. This is the ambition for the next cycle of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and its new Teacher Knowledge Survey (TKS) assessment module.

Studying teaching as a knowledge profession across education systems is as challenging as it is important. This publication aims to contribute to this challenging endeavour by summarising the state-of-art on teacher knowledge and its measurement across systems. It discusses cutting-edge methodologies and designs and outlines implications for research as well as policies and practices for strengthening knowledge-based and evidence-informed practices in schools.

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Digital technologies are increasingly present in young children’s lives. How can early education systems get the best out of digitalisation while minimising its risks? This is especially urgent as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated our reliance on digital tools – tools that enabled young children to continue learning when early education centres and primary schools closed down. It is in this context that the OECD conducted a policy survey covering 34 countries and jurisdictions. It investigates how digital technologies were used to provide distance education for young children in 2020, which challenges arose and what policy changes are in the pipeline for early education.

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Developing, promoting and maintaining a good professional teaching workforce from primary to upper secondary education is a policy imperative for education systems around the world. The data drawn from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) can help policy makers and education practitioners design policies and practices that enhance teaching across education levels. This report presents TALIS 2018 findings for countries and economies that took part in the primary and upper secondary education survey. It focuses on the following research questions: What are the levels of teachers’ and school leaders’ professionalism in primary and upper secondary education? What are some of the educational challenges unique to each education level? What are the factors that could explain differences in the levels of professionalism across education levels? The findings offer a broader view of teachers and school principals across all levels of compulsory education and the similarities and differences in the issues they face. The report also offers policy reflections on these findings.

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Education at a Glance is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems across OECD countries and a number of partner economies. More than 100 charts and tables in this publication – as well as links to much more available on the educational database – provide key information on the output of educational institutions; the impact of learning across countries; access, participation and progression in education; the financial resources invested in education; and teachers, the learning environment and the organisation of schools.
The 2021 edition includes a focus on equity, investigating how progress through education and the associated learning and labour market outcomes are impacted by dimensions such as gender, socio-economic status, country of birth and regional location. A specific chapter is dedicated to Target 4.5 of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on equity in education, providing an assessment of where OECD and partner countries stand in providing equal access to quality education at all levels. Two new indicators on the mechanisms and formulas used to allocate public funding to schools and on teacher attrition rate complement this year's edition.

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Over the last few years, social and emotional skills have been rising on the education policy agenda and in the public debate. Policy makers and education practitioners are seeking ways to complement the focus on academic learning, with attention to social and emotional skill development. Social and emotional skills are a subset of an individual’s abilities, attributes and characteristics important for individual success and social functioning. Together, they encompass a comprehensive set of skills essential for students to be able to succeed at school, at work and fully participate in society as active citizens.
The OECD's Survey of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is one of the first international efforts to collect data from students, parents and teachers on the social and emotional skills of students at ages 10 and 15. This first report describes students' social and emotional skills and how they relate to individual, family, and school characteristics. It also examines broader policy and socio-economic contexts related to these skills, and sheds light on ways to help education leaders and policy makers monitor and foster students’ social and emotional skills.

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Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have clear aspirations to strengthen civic participation and increase prosperity for all. A highly skilled and knowledgeable population is critical to achieving these goals, which makes creating and maintaining high quality and equitable education systems a vital part of regional development efforts. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that learning outcomes in the region have generally improved, but that the improvement has not been equitable. While countries in the region are producing some of the top performing students in the world, many other students are being left behind.
This report jointly developed by OECD and UNICEF, analyses PISA data in detail to identify the strengths, challenges and unique features of education systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Drawing upon a rich knowledge base of education policy and practice in the region, it makes recommendations about how systems in the region can provide an excellent education for all students. This report will be of interest to regional policy-makers as well as individuals who wish to learn more about education in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine).

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In light of recent education reforms, Brazil is currently considering a series of changes to the purpose and design of its Basic Education Assessment System (Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica, SAEB), which has been a critical source of information about student learning outcomes for the past 30 years. To inform these discussions, the OECD was invited to review a set of policy proposals for reforming the current SAEB so that it more closely aligns with Brazil's new learning standards and provides data to support a range of education actors - from the classroom to the ministry - in their efforts to raise educational performance and reduce inequalities. The findings from this OECD Review are set out in this policy perspective.

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The Welsh Government asked the OECD to undertake a targeted diagnostic study of Wales' system for teachers' Continuing Professional Learning (CPL). Drawing on findings from interviews with Welsh stakeholders and schools, as well as document review, the study team identified strengths and weaknesses of the continuing professional learning system in Wales, as well as opportunities and threats going forward, which are presented in this policy perspective.

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The higher education experience was markedly different than usual for those enrolling during the pandemic. Higher education institutions of all kinds found their instructional methods profoundly disrupted by the closure of their physical campuses, and the crisis exposed the urgent need for policy makers and institutional leaders to adjust their established educational and policy models. The OECD has collected comparative statistics across a number of education systems to track developments throughout the pandemic, including the impact on the higher education sector. This report presents the results of this data collection and what it means for the future of higher education.

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What progress has Brazil’s education system made over the last decade and what key policy steps could be taken to address persistent challenges? Three new reports offer OECD insights in response to these questions. Education in Brazil: An International Perspective explores the main challenges of quality and equity, benchmarking Brazil’s education system with OECD and a set of comparator emerging economies across a comprehensive set of indicators. Education Policy Outlook: Brazil – with a focus on National and Subnational Policies and Education Policy Outlook: Brazil – with a focus on International Policies provide a
synthesised analysis of the current context. The former analyses the evolution of ongoing and emerging policy efforts in Brazil, including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter offers relevant international policy examples that may serve as inspiration for policy makers in Brazil. Together, the three reports provide a comprehensive view of the state of Brazil’s education system, from early childhood education and care to higher education. They offer both a quantitative and a qualitative perspective of strengths, challenges and priorities going forward, as well as clear pointers for action.

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