Why are immigrants less proficient in literacy than native-born adults?

by Theodora XenogianiSenior Policy Analyst, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Why is it that highly educated migrants to OECD countries are less likely to be employed than native-born adults who are similarly educated, even if they have lived in their host country for several years? The OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) provides some answers. Based on results from the...

Read More »

Is more choice always a good thing?

by Andreas SchleicherDirector, OECD Directorate for Education and SkillsMany education systems around the world are looking for ways to give parents more choice over where they send their children to school. Proponents of school choice defend the rights of parents to send their children to their preferred school, whether because of the quality of the school, the school ethos or religious denomination....

Read More »

Dollars and sense? Financial literacy among 15-year-olds

by Andreas Schleicher Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills, OECDPierre PoretDirector of the Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECDTwo in three 15-year-old students earn money from work activity, and more than one in two hold a bank account. And yet, among students in OECD countries who took the 2015 PISA test in financial literacy, fewer than one in three...

Read More »

Knowing and actively debating why, the heart of every policy

by Rien RouwAnalyst, OECD Directorate for Education and SkillsWhat makes some of the largest companies in the world successful? According to consultant Simon Sinek in a very popular TedTalk it is because they start with the ‘why’. While many companies are good in telling what they do and how they do it, outstanding firms succeed in organising and communicating from their raison d’être. Because that...

Read More »

Who benefits when international students pay higher tuition fees?

by Dirk Van DammeHead of the Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate for Education and Skills In 2014, over 3 million students in OECD countries – more than double the amount in 2000 – were studying outside their country of citizenship. International students go to study in countries with reputations for academic excellence; but they are frequently also seen as seeking economic...

Read More »

Do new teachers feel prepared for teaching?

by Yoon Young LeeConsultant, OECD Directorate for Education and SkillsFeelings of preparedness of new vs experienced teachersPercentage of new and experienced teachers reporting preparedness in content, pedagogy, and classroom practice of the subject(s) they teach“Don’t smile in March.”As a new, enthusiastic and slightly nervous secondary school teacher in the Republic of Korea, I was perplexed to...

Read More »

How to surf the new wave of globalisation

by Andreas SchleicherDirector, OECD Directorate for Education and SkillsGlobalisation is connecting people, cities, countries and continents, bringing together a majority of the world’s population in ways that vastly increase our individual and collective potential, and creating an integrated market in products and services. One in three jobs in the business sector now depends on demand in other countries....

Read More »

Assessing school assessment in Romania

by Andreas SchleicherDirector, OECD Directorate for Education and SkillsWe published our review of school assessment and evaluation in Romania today, and the report received a lot of attention. We had done our last assessment of education in Romania in 2000, and it was a very different country back then. It was only in 2011 that Romania put in place an inclusive vision for education, a vision of 21st-century...

Read More »