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. The OECD’s Directorate for Education works to help countries promote learning opportunities for all - regardless of age, gender or social background. Find out more.

What's new

"Tackling inequity" by Barbara Ischinger, Director - OECD Directorate for Education

09-Feb-2012

What struck me most about the international roundtable on early childhood education and care that I attended late last month in Oslo was the simple fact that this topic attracted such intense interest. It probably wouldn’t have happened a decade ago. The fact that it’s happening now, even as most of the countries represented at the meeting are in the midst of an economic crisis, is an encouraging sign. It shows that more governments understand that equity of opportunity has to begin in the first years of life in order to give everyone a fair chance to succeed later on.

Education: Reduce school failure to boost equity and growth, says OECD

09-Feb-2012

09/02/2012 - Governments should invest more in disadvantaged schools and students to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance, according to a new OECD report. Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools says that helping those in need would reduce school failure, boost economic growth and contribute to a fairer society.

2012 International Summit on the Teaching Profession, New York City

from 14-Mar-2012 to 15-Mar-2012

The U.S. Department of Education, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Education International (EI), the global federation of teacher unions, will again join U.S.-based education partners—the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Asia Society, the Council of Chief State School Officers(CCSSO), the National Education Association (NEA), and public broadcaster WNET—to hold the second International Summit on the Teaching Profession: Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders.

Improving equity in education: a critical challenge

31-Jan-2012

by Ben Levin, Professor University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy

Improving equity in student outcomes remains a critical challenge for every country in the OECD.  Even those countries with the lowest levels of inequity must still be concerned with gaps in outcomes that are not related to students’ motivation and capacity, while in other countries the inequities are so large as to pose a fundamental challenge to ongoing security and prosperity.

OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Czech Republic

30-Jan-2012

The country reports in this series provide, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing the evaluation and assessment framework, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. This series forms part of the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes.

Education: quality standards essential to boost child learning and development, says OECD

23-Jan-2012

Governments should establish quality standards and goals in early childhood education and care in order to boost child learning and development, according to a new OECD report.

"Early Childhood Education and Care: a priority investment" by Kristin Halvorsen, Minister of Education, Norway

23-Jan-2012

As Minister of Education in Norway I am happy to be hosting the OECD roundtable conference Starting Strong: Implementing policies for high-quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). Providing all children with high quality early childhood education and care is an investment in the future and provides a great benefit for both the individual and society

Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education - A video series profiling policies and practices of education systems that demonstrate high or improving performance in the PISA tests

20-Jan-2012

In today’s global economy, countries need high-quality education systems that will teach their citizens the skills necessary to meet the challenges of tomorrow. This series of videos, produced jointly by the OECD and the Pearson Foundation, highlights initiatives being taken by education authorities around the world to help school students do better.

PISA: Are boys and girls ready for the digital age?

19-Jan-2012

'PISA in Focus N°12' compares the performance of 15-year-old girls and boys in digital reading tests.

Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for ECEC - online version

20-Jan-2012

The Quality Toolbox is intended to present "practical solutions" for anyone with a role to play in encouraging quality in ECEC. It presents five policy levers that are likely to enhance quality, underpinned by the international research base and country experience.

Starting Strong: The people helping to raise young children

17-Jan-2012

The concept of a stay-at-home parent seems outdated. Who can afford not to work these days? So what are kids up to during those precious, formative early years after their parents go back to work and before compulsory school begins around age 5 or 6? Who are the people we turn to for help in the immensely important role of raising our young children? And can we value them as much as we depend on them?

Enter the OECD youth video competition 2012 - OECD Global Youth Competition 2012: Education and skills - what do you think?

10-Jan-2012

What are the big issues in education today? Learning the right skills to get a job,
bridging the 'digital divide', tackling inequality in access to education and training, inspiring creativity and innovation ... or something else?
Make a short video (3 minutes max.) and tell us what you think!

Find out more about the prize and how to enter

Starting Strong: what should children learn?

10-Jan-2012

While it is important for children to be just children, the early years are also especially formative and important for children to develop skills and competencies. The importance and value of good quality care and education for children is becoming increasingly clear, and have shown to impact things as diverse as creativity and life-time earnings.

Making education reform happen

03-Jan-2012

This is the time of year when a lot of us resolve to commit ourselves to self-improvement plans of greater or lesser magnitude. Spend more time reading? On the list. Eat better? Ditto. Reform the education system? Whoa—nice idea; but isn’t that a bit too ambitious? What is it about education reform that all-too-often turns resolve into sighs and resignation? If countries really want to keep that resolution, here’s a suggestion: invite teachers to get involved

"Literacy for Life" Preliminary version: Further Results from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey

21-Dec-2011

OECD countries and a number of partner countries are currently implementing the Programme for the Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) that will assess key skills in the adult population, how these skills are used at work and how improved skills translate into better economic and social outcomes. While PIAAC sets new standards both methodologically and in terms of the coverage of countries, important elements of it build on the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) that was developed by Statistics Canada. The publication Literacy for Life presents new analyses from ALLS.

PISA 2009 results for 10 additional economies - released by ACER

16-Dec-2011

Ten additional economies participated in the PISA 2009 assessment in 2010. Consult the full report released by ACER here  (13MB)

OECD/CELE Conference, 22-24 February 2012: "A Recipe for Success: Transforming Learning Environments through Dynamic Local Partnerships", Turku, Finland

from 22-Feb-2012 to 24-Feb-2012

Organised by OECD/CELE, University of Turku, Municipality of Kaarina, and Finnish National Board of Education, this conference will bring together a dynamic range of local and regional players from universities, local businesses and school communities to discuss the catalysts and drivers for transforming today's learning environments into dynamic learning communities of the future. For further information, consult the conference web site at http://congress.utu.fi/CELE2012/ or contact: Hannah.vonAhlefeld@oecd.org.
 

Register now! "What Works" Conference on internationalisation in New York

from 12-Apr-2012 to 13-Apr-2012

"What Works" Conference on Internationalisation for Job Creation and Economic Growth, New York City, organised with the State University of New York

This conference will examine the key role multiple actors play together in tackling the effects of the global financial crisis and fostering recovery policies, especially job creation, innovation, and wealth generation.

Register now at: http://www.suny.edu/global/strategicinitiatives/oecdconference.cfm. Early bird rate until 8 March 2012.

www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/whatworks

OECD Skills Strategy

05-May-2011

In a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy, having skills is no longer just the advantage but a necessity. While many countries have developed strategies to improve the skills level of their citizens, their success in implementing them varies widely.To help them, the OECD is preparing a Skills Strategy with the aim of fostering a cross-government, peer-learning approach towards improving the supply of, and anticipating the demand for, skilled workers.

See more news and events… Top of page

Focus

This new publication focuses on quality issues: it aims to define quality and outlines five policy levers that can enhance it in ECEC.

Starting Strong III - A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care

Focus

The 2011 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance.

Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators

What is PISA? Find out on YouTube

PISA - Measuring student success around the world

Focus

PISA 2009 Results presents the findings from the most recent PISA survey, which focused on reading and also assessed mathematics and science performance.

PISA 2009 Results

Focus

This report will prove to be an invaluable resource for all those interested in the broad international picture of education, as well as for those wanting to know more about OECD work in this important domain.

Education Today 2010: The OECD Perspective