>> Education at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators
>> Beyond Academic Learning: First Results from the Survey of Social and Emotional Skills 2019
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.
>> Education in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Findings from PISA
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).
>> National Assessment Reform: Core Considerations for Brazil
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.
>> Teachers' professional learning study: Diagnostic report for Wales
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.
>> The state of higher education: One year into the COVID-19 pandemic
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.
>> Education in Brazil: An International Perspective and Education Policy Outlook Country Policy
Profile: Brazil
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.
>> Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Vocational Education and Training
Widespread school closures made headlines across the world during the pandemic, with over 1 billion of students experiencing disruptions to their schooling. The vocational education and training (VET) sector has faced particular challenges during the crisis, most notably the fact that the digital learning environments that most education institutions had to rely on during closures don’t work as well for practice-oriented learning - a core component of VET instruction - as they do for academic learning. The OECD has collected comparative statistics and policy information across a number of education systems to track developments throughout the pandemic, including the impact on the vocational education and training sector. This report presents the results of this analysis and where the VET sector finds itself in these difficult times.
>> Starting Strong VI: Supporting Meaningful Interactions in Early Childhood Education and Care
Children’s learning, development and well-being are directly influenced by their daily interactions with other children, adults, their families and the environment. This interactive process is known as “process quality”, and leads to a key question – which policies set the best conditions for children to experience high-quality interactions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings? This report discusses five main policy levers and their effect on process quality, focusing particularly on curriculum and pedagogy, and workforce development. It presents indicators covering 26 countries and jurisdictions, 56 different curriculum frameworks, and more than 120 different types of ECEC settings.
>> Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future
Students in Scotland (United Kingdom) engage in learning through Curriculum for Excellence, which aims to provide them with a holistic, coherent, and future-oriented approach to learning between the ages of 3 and 18. Curriculum for Excellence offers an inspiring and widely supported philosophy of education. Schools design their own curriculum based on a common framework which allows for effective curricular practices. In 2020, Scotland invited the OECD to assess the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence in primary and secondary schools to understand how school curricula have been designed and implemented in recent years. This report analyses the progress made with Curriculum for Excellence since 2015, building upon several months of observations in Scotland, the existing literature and experiences from other OECD countries. The OECD analysis and recommendations aim to support Scotland as it further enhances Curriculum for Excellence to achieve its potential for the present and future of its learners. Just as Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence was among the pioneers of 21st century learning, its most recent developments hold valuable lessons for other education systems and their own curriculum policies.
>> OECD Digital Education Outlook 2021: Pushing the Frontiers with Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain
and Robots
How might digital technology and notably smart technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), learning analytics, robotics, and others transform education? This book explores such question. It focuses on how smart technologies currently change education in the classroom and the management of educational organisations and systems. The book delves into beneficial uses of smart technologies such as learning personalisation, supporting students with special learning needs, and blockchain diploma credentialing. It also considers challenges and areas for further research. The findings offer pathways for teachers, policy makers, and educational institutions to digitalise education while optimising equity and inclusivity.
>> WELCOME COSTA RICA!
>> Adapting Curriculum to Bridge Equity Gaps: Towards an Inclusive Curriculum
For the first time, the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project conducted comprehensive curriculum analyses through the co-creation of new knowledge with a wide range of stakeholders including policy makers, academic experts, school leaders, teachers, NGOs, other social partners and, most importantly, students. This report is one of six presenting the first-ever comparative analyses on curriculum, summarising existing literature, listing challenges and strategies countries reported, and suggesting lessons learned from unintended consequences countries experienced with their curriculum reforms.
Major trends in curriculum innovations towards a "21st century curriculum" have emerged as four types: digital curriculum, personalised curriculum, cross-curricular competencies and content-based curriculum, and flexible curriculum. While these innovations hold the promise to enhance student learning and well-being, and to make learning more relevant for their social and future life, countries and schools also face the complex realities of equity gaps among students. This report takes a pragmatic look at equality, equity and inclusion in curriculum. It examines how curriculum can be adapted to meet specific needs of diverse learners, particularly vulnerable students. It also features a range of strategies which countries use to design curriculum, so that no student will be left behind.
>> Teachers' professional learning study: Diagnostic report for the Flemish Community of Belgium
The Flemish Government asked the OECD to undertake a targeted diagnostic study of the Flemish system for teachers’ Continuing Professional Learning (CPL). Drawing on findings from interviews with Flemish stakeholders and schools, as well as document review, the study team identified strengths and weaknesses of the continuing professional learning system in the Flemish Community of Belgium, as well as opportunities and threats in going forward, which are presented in this policy perspective.
>> 21st-Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World
Literacy in the 21st century is about constructing and validating knowledge. Digital technologies have enabled the spread of all kinds of information, displacing traditional formats of usually more carefully curated information such as encyclopaedias and newspapers. The massive information flow of the digital era demands that readers be able to distinguish between fact and opinion. Readers must learn strategies to detect biased information and malicious content like fake news and phishing emails. What the PISA 21st-century readers report reveals is that students’ access to digital technologies and training on how to use them greatly vary between countries and students’ socio-economic profiles. This report explores how 15-year-old students are developing reading skills to navigate the technology-rich 21st century. It sheds light on potential ways to strengthen students’ capacity to navigate the new world of information. It highlights how countries need to redouble their efforts to combat emerging digital divides. It also explores what teachers can do to help students navigate ambiguity and manage complexity.
>> The State of School Education: One Year into the COVID Pandemic
In 2020, 1.5 billion students in 188 countries/economies were locked out of their schools. Students everywhere have been faced with schools that are open one day and closed the next, causing massive disruption to their learning. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still raging, many education systems are still struggling, and the situation is constantly evolving. The OECD – in collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF and The World Bank – has been monitoring the situation across countries and collecting data on how each system is responding to the crisis, from school closures and remote learning, to teacher vaccination and gradual returns to in-class instruction. This report presents the preliminary findings from this survey, providing a snapshot of the situation one year into the COVID crisis.
>> Positive, High-achieving Students? What Schools and Teachers Can Do
The work of teachers matters in many different ways. Not only do they provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the labour market, but they also help develop the social-emotional skills that are vital for students’ personal development and for their active citizenship. But how do teachers best achieve this? By linking 2018 data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) with evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – known as the TALIS-PISA link – this report aims to identify the teacher and school factors that matter most for student achievement and social-emotional development. The report uses a data-driven approach – based on machine learning and standard regression analyses – to identify the dimensions that are most strongly linked with student outcomes, and then combines this with a careful review of theory and previous research to analyse and interpret the findings. These findings provide a rich illustration of the many ways in which teachers and school leaders might influence the success of their students, acting as a tool for educators to reflect upon their own practice. Finally, the report offers several directions for education policy.
>> Lessons for Education from COVID-19: A Policymaker’s Handbook for More Resilient Systems
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken long-accepted beliefs about education, showing that learning can occur anywhere, at any time, and that education systems are not too heavy to move. When surveyed in May 2020, only around one-fifth of OECD education systems aimed to reinstate the status quo. Policy makers must therefore maintain the momentum of collective emergency action to drive education into a new and better normal. This Handbook provides practical guidance to support them to do just that. It presents the current state-of-play in over 40 education systems, and efforts to improve pedagogical practices in the midst of the pandemic. It proposes three key lessons and related policy pointers for the current academic term and beyond. Drawing on concrete examples of COVID-19 policy responses from primary to tertiary, as well as impactful pre-crisis policies, it addresses the policy areas of flexible learning, educator skills, and student equity. The Handbook has been prepared with evidence from the Education Policy Outlook series – the OECD’s analytical observatory of education policy. As such, it benefits from a decade of policy analysis, outcomes from the Education Policy Reform Dialogues 2020, and the development of an actionable Framework for Responsiveness and Resilience in education.
Chart of the month: Results from Education at a Glance 2021
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Source: EAG 2021
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.
