The first Forum on the theme of The Challenges for Education in a Global Economy was co-hosted with the Chilean Ministry of Education and was held in Santiago on 24-25 October 2005.

This event drew on the substantial networks of education officials and experts established since 1991 through the Directorate for Education’s Programme for Co-operation with non OECD Economies: peer reviews; World Education Indicators (WEI); the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); improving outcomes for students with special needs, and other bilateral ad-hoc co-operation.

These activities have had important impacts for policy makers in countries and in other international organisations. They have helped policy makers to:

• Identify major developments, problems and issues in the moves to adapt education systems to the needs of changing economies and societies;
• Relate these moves to wider trends, such as democratisation, technological change, demographic factors, the progress of science, the globalisation process and major objectives such as the protection of the environment, the further development of social cohesion and the achievement of an enhanced governance of both public and private institutions;
• Consider and further develop an agenda of challenges and tasks on which further collaborative work might be undertaken between countries.

Rationale for Creating a Global Forum on Education