The Republic of Moldova considers education a national priority and has been making steady progress in reforming and modernising its education system. The Ministry of Education and Research (MoER) in 2023 launched its Education Development Strategy 2030 and requested the European Union (EU) to engage the OECD to undertake a deeper analysis of selected policy domains that are central to its education reform. This laid the foundation for the project “Support to the implementation of education policies in Moldova”, funded by the EU. The MoER expressed a keen interest to learn from international research evidence and
relevant international examples to help advance its education reform agenda.
An assessment of the professional development of teachers and school leaders, and curriculum and learning resources in Moldova is the first output of the project that presents an in-depth analysis of two of three selected policy domains: "professional development of teachers and other education professionals" and "curriculum and learning resources" and has been developed by the OECD in collaboration with the UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning. The report will be valuable for Moldova and other countries that are looking to strengthen their school systems. Enhancing the evaluation of VET programmes and institutions in the Republic of Moldova is the second output of the project "Support to implementation of education policies in Moldova" and presents an analysis of one of three selected policy domains: "the evaluation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes and institutions in order to improve their functioning".

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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 accession and partner countries. 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 2023 edition includes a focus on vocational education and training (VET), examining participation in VET and the structure of VET programmes. This edition also includes a new chapter - Ensuring continued learning for Ukrainian refugees - which presents the results of an OECD 2023 survey that collected data on measures taken by OECD countries to integrate Ukrainian refugees into their education systems.

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This policy brief for Lithuania was developed at the request of the Lithuanian authorities as part of their efforts to promote the development of a more diversified and efficient institutional landscape in the national higher education system, in which universities and colleges can sharpen their profiles to align better with their individual strengths and the student populations and communities they serve. The brief initially provides a concise overview of the operating environment for HEIs in Lithuania and the existing institutional landscape. It then examines the approaches adopted to institutional differentiation and missions in higher education in other OECD higher education systems, before considering the rationale for reform in Lithuania and – informed by international examples – the policy options open to Lithuania to effect reform of its higher education landscape.

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This policy brief for Finland was developed at the request of the Finnish authorities to support reflection on possible adjustments to the public funding model for Finnish higher education for the funding period (2025-28). The brief reviews the key challenges facing higher education in Finland and national policy priorities, compares Finland’s model of funding higher education institutions (HEIs) with models in OECD systems sharing similar characteristics to Finland’s and reviews policy options – both within and outside of the funding model – to support achievement of key policy objectives.

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This report presents the conceptual foundations of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), now in its eighth cycle of comprehensive and rigorous international surveys of student knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies. As in previous cycles, the 2022 PISA assessment covered reading, mathematics and science, with a major focus on mathematics, plus an evaluation of students’ creative thinking and financial literacy skills. This publication includes the frameworks for assessing mathematics, financial literacy and creative thinking. These chapters outline the content knowledge and skills that students need to acquire in each domain, how each domain is assessed, and the contexts in which this knowledge and these skills are applied. The publication also presents the frameworks for the various questionnaires distributed to students, school principals, parents and teachers, including a new Global Crisis Module (GCM) for students and school principals. It concludes with the framework for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) familiarity questionnaire distributed to students.

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Measuring innovation in education and understanding its drivers and obstacles is essential to improve the quality of the education sector – and of specific educational establishments. Are pedagogical and administrative practices changing in the expected direction? Do educational institution have a positive innovation culture that supports innovation? What are the drivers of innovation that policy makers or institution leaders could influence to achieve the systems’ educational objectives? How much do countries invest in educational research?
This book proposes insights and tools to policy makers and education leaders willing to drive change based on data and evidence and new tools and methodologies for education policy makers and institution leaders to answer those questions. Based on the research literature and the long experience of innovation and research surveys, these tools are meant either for a statistical collection or to engage in self-reflection at the institutional level. Three aspects of innovation are covered: educational innovation at the system level, innovation culture within educational institutions, innovation towards equity in education. A questionnaire to measure educational research and experimental development expenditures and implementation and new methodologies to measure certain aspects of educational innovation and educational research based on big data and bibliometrics are also presented.

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The New South Wales (Australia) (hereafter NSW) Government is committed to an education system that prepares its learners for rewarding lives and lifelong learning. To help realise this goal, the NSW Department of Education (DoE) has initiated several reforms over the years that recognise the importance of the learning journey for students, teachers, and school leaders. The Local Schools Local Decisions (LSLD) reform was announced in August 2011 and aimed to increase the authority of local schools to make decisions about how they deliver education to students. In December 2020, it was announced that LSLD would be replaced by the School Success Model (SSM) reform which is a school improvement reform that aimed to deliver high quality, tiered school improvement support to all NSW public schools. The SSM set out to achieve a better balance of autonomy and accountability for student improvement across schools by formalising system targets and priorities, lifting capability and sharing evidence-led support through a new tailored school support framework.
Realising successful educational change however is a long, complex, multifaceted process that, simply said, is hard to do – and the DoE reform journey is no exception to this. The DoE considered it important to build on lessons from past reforms and receive feedback from the education profession and other stakeholders to further enhance the design of its school improvement reform and determine the right enabling conditions for its successful implementation.

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In today's dynamic and rapidly evolving world, evidence-informed decision-making has emerged as a cornerstone in guiding effective education policy and practice. In particular, creating a culture of research engagement is often highlighted as a key ingredient to strengthening the impact of research. However, it is not always clear how that works in practice.

The publication provides analyses of data collected from more than 30 education systems. It delves into how systemic and organisational capacity for thoughtful engagement with research can be built into policy and practice. It also contains concrete examples of building a culture of research engagement by presenting diverse case studies, analyses, tools and processes. It is intended as a practical resource for policy makers, educational leaders, teachers and the research community to stimulate reflection and guide their efforts to developing a culture of research engagement in education.

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We are pleased to announce the launch of the 2023 Diagrams of Education Systems which is part of the Education GPS's Analyse by country framework. Simple one-page colour-coded diagrams using the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) provide an overview of the institutional structures of 49 education systems and their major features. These diagrams permit users to compare countries' education systems, and can be saved for use in professional presentations and documents. All diagrams are available both in English and in the language of the country in question.

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During the COVID 19 pandemic, countries around the world faced the challenge of how to certify student learning at the end of schooling, when in-person examinations were no longer possible. In 2020 and 2021, Ireland developed emergency measures to replace the country’s historic Senior Cycle examinations, or Leaving Certificate. The global health situation, school closures and the challenges to continue teaching and learning in this context made it a particularly difficult time for students, teachers, school leaders, families and policy makers. Ireland’s emergency solutions – the Calculated Grades System in 2020 and the Accredited Grades System in 2021 – provided recognised certification of student achievement and enabled Ireland’s young people to progress to the next stage of life, into further education or employment. This policy perspective reflects on the experience for stakeholders of the solutions that were adopted in 2020 and 2021.

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Investment in education technology has surged worldwide over the past decade and digital education technologies are now a key resource for OECD education and training systems. If used effectively, they promise to transform teaching and learning practices, to reduce learning inequalities and to create more inclusive and efficient education systems. However, countries’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed shortcomings in the extent to which digital technologies are currently enabling high-quality teaching and learning, and underlined the need for supportive policies and conditions to make use of their potential. The rapidly improving capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) also bring new focus to the role of education policy in preparing learners for an AI-driven future.

This report seeks to guide governments in shaping digital education. Offering a range of perspectives for governments and education stakeholders, it analyses enabling factors that can support quality, equity and efficiency in the use of digital technologies in education systems. It provides a comprehensive review of current trends and emerging policies, covering school education, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education, highlighting pathways to support a cohesive and holistic policy framework for digital education.

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The Flemish Community of Belgium has one of the OECD's most devolved education systems, but there are concerns among Flemish education stakeholders about the overall quality of education. In recent years, the Flemish government has initiated a series of reforms to strengthen the quality of education. These include the introduction of full cohort standardised student assessments in Dutch and mathematics. Students will take the assessments in Grades 4 and 6 at the primary level and in Grades 8 and 12 at the secondary level starting in 2024. This ambitious and innovative reform aims to strengthen and monitor the quality of education, with student results envisaged to inform improvement efforts at different levels of the system. As a follow up to the support provided by the OECD Strategic Education Governance Project, the Flemish Department of Education and Training asked the OECD Implementing Education Policies Project team to support the successful design and implementation of the standardised student assessment reform. This report presents the analysis, key findings and recommendations to help realise this objective.

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Early school leaving (ESL) can lead to mounting individual challenges and generate high economic costs to education systems and societies at large. Spain has made significant progress in reducing ESL in recent years; in 2022, the ESL rate was 13,9% - almost half the points of a decade earlier. However, noteworthy regional disparities remain, and Spain’s average ESL rate remains one of the highest among OECD and EU member countries. Informed by national and international research evidence and good practices, and by the expert contribution of key education stakeholders, this report identifies existing strengths and challenges to address ESL across Spain. It proposes five areas for action that each include a range of evidence-based and actionable recommendations for a coordinated approach to reducing ESL in all autonomous communities and in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

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