Education is key to economic growth and to people’s ability to earn a living. Education is important for societies, too, as they respond to increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, inequality and the needs of disadvantaged people. OECD’s Education Directorate works to help countries promote learning opportunities for all - regardless of age, gender or social background. Find out more.

What's new

educationtoday - OECD’s education lighthouse for the way out of the crisis

23-Jun-2009

This collaborative space offers you evidence and analysis on the impact of the crisis on education, concrete examples of how governments and institutions in different countries are coping,  information on high priority issues such as education budgets, stimulus packages, the effects of unemployment on motivation and learning attitudes, and much more. Register now and contribute to this information sharing platform with other members of the fast-growing OECD social network.

The new dynamics of higher education and research for societal change and development

06-Jul-2009

Introductory Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General delivered at UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education - 5 July 2009 UNESCO, Paris

Informal Meeting of OECD Education Ministers on Equity in Education, Oslo, 9-10 June 2009

from 09-Jun-2009 to 10-Jun-2009

OECD Education Ministers met informally in Oslo on 9-10 June 2009 under the chairmanship of Norway’s Minister of Education, Bård Vegar Solhjell, to discuss measures to improve equity in education and reduce dropout rates in upper secondary school.

Launch of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

21-Jun-2009

Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, delivered at the launch of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) in Mexico on 16 June 2009

Teacher effectiveness hampered by lack of incentives and bad behaviour in classrooms

16-Jun-2009

Three out of four teachers feel they lack incentives to improve the quality of their teaching, while bad behaviour by students in the classroom disrupts lessons in three schools out of five, according to a new OECD report “Creating effective teaching and learning environments”.

New Millennium Learners Conference – 21st Century Skills and Competencies - Brussels (Belgium), September 21-23 2009

from 21-Sep-2009 to 23-Sep-2009

21st century societies are pervaded by technology in ways that change dramatically how people deal with information, knowledge management and social communication. But which specific competencies does the resulting economy require? How are today's education systems in OECD countries preparing learners for these 21st century skills and competencies?
These key issues are going to be discussed at the New Millennium Learners Conference, jointly organized by the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and the Flemish Ministry of Education.

Equally prepared for life? How 15-year-old boys and girls perform in school

26-May-2009

This book aims to provide important insights for policy makers reponsible for endorsing gender equity by exploring the educational performance and attitudes of 15-year-old girls and boys in reading, mathematics, problems solving and science.

Iceland needs sharper focus on research and education for successful innovation-led recovery

26-May-2009

Education and training, and investment in and support for the life sciences, geothermal energy research and creative industries/ICT are the best means of stimulating innovation-led economic growth in Iceland. An international panel of experts mandated by the Icelandic government recommends consolidation of the universities and revitalized governance and support measures to build on Iceland’s world-class science base.
 

Top of the Class - High Performers in Science in PISA 2006

28-Apr-2009

This book analyses factors contributing to the successful performance of students in science by exploring how the academic achievement of students relates to the characteristics of individual students, schools and education systems.

International conference on Higher Education at a Time of Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities, 29-30 June

30-Apr-2009

OECD’s Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education announces plans for a conference on the impact of the economic crisis on higher education institutions on 29-30 June hosted by the Copenhagen Business School  in co-operation with OECD/IMHE.

The conference will debate questions of supply and demand, costs and income in higher education and will analyse the role and responsibility of higher education institutions and how to transform these challenges into opportunities.

 

OECD Thematic Review on Migrant Education - Country Background Reports

01-Apr-2009

These reports on migrant education policies and practices examine immigrant children’s access to, participation in and performance at school.  The reports also look at which interventions are working, which are not working, and why.

Many teenagers in OECD countries lack environmental science grounding, study shows

31-Mar-2009

Teenagers in OECD countries are mostly well aware of environmental issues but often know little about their causes, raising questions about how well societies will be equipped to tackle such challenges in the future, according to a new OECD publication.

Spain must accelerate the pace of tertiary education reform, says OECD

10-Mar-2009

In some respects, Spain has joined the ranks of countries with a modern, responsive and creative system of tertiary education. But the tertiary system must accelerate the pace of reform to respond to the social and economic pressures facing Spain.

Japan must continue reforms in tertiary education, says OECD

05-Mar-2009

In recent years, Japan has made significant progress in modernising its tertiary education system but reforms of the system must continue to respond to current social and economic pressures in Japan.

New policy measures needed to continue tertiary reform without reducing quality, says OECD

05-Mar-2009

05/03/2009 – Like many other countries, China faces the dilemma of expanding its tertiary education system within a tight fiscal constraint. Special challenges in China include the unprecedented scale in student numbers and the rapidly rising aspirations of students and parents for upward social mobility through education.

PISA Take the Test: Sample Questions from the OECD's PISA Assessments

07-Jan-2009

This book presents all the publicly available questions from the PISA surveys. Some of these questions were used in the PISA 2000, 2003 and 2006 surveys and others were used in developing and trying out the assessment.

PISA 2006 Technical Report

22-Jan-2009

This report describes the methodology underlying the PISA 2006 survey. It examines additional features related to the implementation of the project at a level of detail that allows researchers to understand and replicate its analyses.

Giving Knowledge for Free (Spanish version): El conociomiento libre y los recursos educativos

03-Mar-2009

Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources.  The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) free report published in English in 2007, and which has already been translated into Catalan, Japanese,and Swedish, is now available in Spanish: El conociomiento libre y los recursos educativos abiertos.

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OECD Education Lighthouse

Register to join this collaborative space and help chart the way for the education sector to navigate through the current crisis and shape the post-crisis economy and society.

OECD Education Lighthouse

Video

See how institutions are adopting strategies to support the quality of teaching.


Focus

This book is the first volume in the Higher Education to 2030 series, which takes a forward-looking approach to analysing the impact of various contemporary trends on tertiary education systems.

Higher Education to 2030 (Vol. 1): Demography

Focus

This book proposes a value-added model of measuring which provides a more fair, precise and quantitative tool for assessing students’ progress.

Measuring Improvements in Learning Outcomes: Best Practices to Assess the Value-Added of Schools