Implementing Education Policies

The OECD programme Implementing Policies: Supporting Effective Change in Education offers peer learning and tailored support for countries and jurisdictions to help them achieve success in the implementation of their education policies and reforms. Tailored support is provided on topics the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills has comparative expertise in, including: introducing new curricula, developing schools as learning organisations, teacher policy, monitoring, evaluation, assessment and accountability systems and building educational leadership capacity, among others. The tailored support consists of three complementary strands of work that aim to target countries’ and jurisdictions’ needs to introduce policy reforms and ensure impactful changes in schools and classrooms:

• Policy assessments take stock of reforms, policies and change strategies. The resulting report consists of an analysis of current strengths and challenges and provides concrete recommendations for enhancing and ensuring effective education implementation of the policy analysed. It follows a concrete methodology: countries complete a policy and implementation questionnaire, OECD undertake a desk study of policy documents, data and research, an OECD team of experts undertake study visits to interview a range of key stakeholders from various levels of the education system and there are periodic exchanges with a project steering group.
  
  
• Strategic advice on specific topics or policies is provided to countries or jurisdictions based on comparative analysis. It can consist of reviewing policy documents (e.g. white papers or action plans), contributing to policy meetings, or facilitating the development of tools that support the implementation of specific policies.
  
  
• Implementation seminars can be organised to bring together education stakeholders involved in the specific reform or change process, for them to discuss, engage and shape the development of policies and implementation strategies.

• OECD Implementation Framework for effective change in schools

- Education policy implementation: a literature review and proposed framework, 2017

- An implementation framework for effective change in schools, 2020

• Implementing Education Responses to COVID-19

- Education responses to COVID-19: an implementation strategy toolkit, 2020

- Education responses to COVID-19: shaping an implementation strategy, 2020

- Policy brief: Education and COVID-19: Focusing on the long-term impact of school closures, 2020

• Schools as Learning Organisations

- What makes a School a Learning Organisation? A guide for policy makers, school leaders and teachers, 2016

- What Makes a School a Learning Organisation?, 2016

• Curriculum and assessment

- Curriculum reform: a literature review to support effective implementation, 2020

- Upper-secondary education student assessment in Scotland: a comparative perspective, 2021

• Strategic indicators for monitoring education

- Developing indicators to support the implementation of education policies, 2021

• AUSTRIA

The OECD team is supporting Austria in the design and initial implementation of a new education monitoring system to support their data driven governance reform (2017). This project is undertaken in collaboration with DG Reform (European Commission).

- Design and implementation of a comprehensive monitoring system in Austria, 2021

Partner: Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research, Austria; European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM)

• ESTONIA

The OECD team is supporting Estonia in the design of a set of indicators to monitor their new Education Strategy 2035. This project is undertaken in collaboration with DG Reform (European Commission).  The project deliverables can be found on the website of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research: Hariduse seire - ja mõõdikutesüsteemi arendamise projekt 2019-2021.

- Enhancing data informed strategic governance in education in Estonia, 2021

Partners: Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia; European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM)

• ICELAND

The OECD team is supporting Iceland in the design and implementation plan for their Education Policy 2030.  This is their national strategy focused on improving quality, equity and well-being in its education system for the next decade.

- Iceland Education Policy 2030 and its implementation, 2021

- Menntastefna 2030: Skýrsla OECD um innleiðingu Menntastefn - a translation by the Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the OECD's Policy Perspective 'Iceland Education Policy 2030 and its implementation'. 

- Partner: Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Iceland

• IRELAND

The OECD team supported Ireland in the implementation of the review of senior cycle (upper-secondary education). The review process involved an analysis and consultation process with education stakeholders across the country in which the OECD team provided strategic advice and a policy assessment.

- Education in Ireland: An OECD assessment of the Senior Cycle Review, 2020

Partner: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)

The OECD team is supporting Ireland to develop a model of local school community engagement in Ireland's education policy making and implementation processes (2021-2023). This activity is funded by the European Union and implemented in co-operation with the European Commision (DG REFORM).

- OECD Ireland flyer - Local community engagement in Ireland's education policy development

• MEXICO

The OECD team supported Mexico to assess the education reform up to 2017 and propose options for the future. The assessment covered curriculum, equity, teaching practices, and evaluation and assessment practices.

- Strong Foundations for Quality and Equity in Mexican Schools, 2019

• NORWAY

• WALES

Partner: Welsh Government, United Kingdom