Education and Skills in Peru

Executive summary

Over the past two decades, Peru has embarked on one of the most sustained periods of education reform in its recent history. Efforts have focused on expanding access and strengthening quality, supported by rising public investment and stronger technical capacity. As a result, pre-primary participation is now close to universal, student learning outcomes as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have improved, converging towards the average of OECD countries in Latin America, and tertiary education attainment is now the highest in the region. In recent years, however, frequent political change has weakened leadership continuity and slowed the translation of policy into practice. This review examines how Peru can learn from OECD evidence and experience to restore reform momentum and enhance the role of education and skills in inclusive development.

Quality of programmes and outcomes

International assessments show that Peru has made sustained progress in improving student outcomes. Between 2009 and 2022, Peru recorded significant gains in PISA, with average outcomes for fifteen-year-old students moving closer to the OECD countries in the region. However, a majority of students still fall below the minimum proficiency needed to participate fully in society. Quality remains uneven across providers, with persistent challenges in low-cost private schools and parts of the tertiary education sector. Over the past two decades, Peru has introduced ambitious reforms to raise education quality and relevance, including a merit-based career path for public school teachers, a competence-based national curriculum, and stronger quality assurance arrangements in tertiary education. More recently, efforts to develop a National Qualifications Framework aim to improve alignment with labour market needs. Yet, uneven implementation and limited system capacity have slowed progress in translating these reforms into consistent improvements in programme quality and outcomes.

This review highlights three considerations to help Peru build on these reforms and drive a new phase of improvement across its education and training system. One is further strengthening quality assurance arrangements to ensure minimum standards across both public and private providers. This could be achieved through the creation of two independent central quality assurance bodies: one for basic education and one for tertiary education. A second consideration concerns further support for teachers, including raising standards in initial teacher education (ITE), ensuring compliance with national licensing requirements for public school teachers and scaling up school-based coaching to develop the skills of practising teachers. Finally, expanding and strengthening vocational education pathways at both secondary and tertiary levels, with closer engagement from employers, would help ensure that provision remains aligned with evolving skills needs.

Equality of opportunity and access

Improving access to education and training has been a priority over the past two decades in Peru. Investments in pre-primary education have brought enrolment close to universal. At the school level, alternative models, such as the Jornada Escolar Completa (Whole School Day programme), flexible schooling in rural areas, and expanded intercultural and bilingual provision, have helped reach disadvantaged, rural, and indigenous students. More recently, digital platforms and remote education initiatives have created first and second-chance learning opportunities for youth and adults in underserved areas. And, although still limited in scale, scholarships and student loans have opened new pathways into tertiary education for disadvantaged students. Despite these efforts, differences in access to quality education and training persist, with socio-economic and geographical background still playing an important role in shaping learning and employment opportunities.

The report outlines several avenues through which Peru can further advance its equality agenda. One priority is to broaden alternative models of provision, particularly in early childhood and adult learning, to better reach underserved learners. Options include a broader mix of services across formal settings, communities and homes in the early years, as well as blended provision and mobile learning units to support young people and adults in remote areas. In addition, reforms to admissions and tuition fees could help improve socio-economic inclusion in schools and universities. Measures include scaling up the centralised school admissions platform and introducing a national school-leaving examination to promote common standards and fairer access to tertiary education. Finally, a more proactive approach to demand-side barriers could support participation beyond compulsory schooling, notably through expanded financial aid schemes and more targeted career and academic guidance for vulnerable students.

Good governance

Peru has laid many of the foundations needed to strengthen the governance of its education and training system. National strategies now provide a clearer and more coherent vision to guide the development of the sector. For instance, the 2020 National Policy for Tertiary and Technical-Productive Education is the first strategy to outline a unified vision for vocational and tertiary education. Public spending on education has risen steadily over the past two decades across levels, supporting higher teacher salaries and stronger investment in infrastructure. At the same time, the Ministry of Education has developed one of the most advanced education data systems in Latin America, allowing to track student trajectories and evaluate learning outcomes. However, aligning Peru’s large and complex landscape of institutions with national goals continues to pose governance challenges.

The report identifies three areas where Peru might learn from OECD evidence and experience to improve the governance of its education and skills sector. First, strengthening central steering capacity, particularly in vocational and tertiary education, would help align the system more closely with national goals. In this context, the review discusses the potential value of establishing a central steering body to advance the ambitions set out in the National Policy for Tertiary and Technical-Productive Education. Second, revisiting the public funding arrangements would support a more strategic use of resources, by shifting from historically based allocations towards mechanisms that better reflect need and incentivise alignment with national priorities. Finally, Peru could build on its already advanced education monitoring systems by expanding data coverage in ECEC, developing more systematic assessments of future skills needs, and integrating data across sectors. Beyond addressing data gaps, strengthening system capacity to use data effectively would support improvement in teaching and learning and more informed policy decision making.