Publications & Documents

With a far greater share of the student cohort progressing into upper secondary education than previous generations, modern upper secondary systems need to accommodate a wider variety of student interests, aspirations and learning levels. To respond to these needs, countries need to balance choice and specialisation to promote coherence. Systems that provide too much choice or specialisation risk hindering coherence, while those with too little choice or specialisation risk that upper secondary does not enable students to identify their interests and deepen their skills in those areas, which is essential for smooth transitions into post-secondary pathways and the labour market. This Education Spotlight provides a framework for countries to consider how far their current system supports the goals of choice, specialisation and coherence and provides examples from across OECD countries as inspiration for future reforms.

This report explores how school-level career guidance systems can more effectively respond to social inequalities. It draws on new analysis of PISA and PIAAC data and builds on the OECD Career Readiness Indicators to review the impact of inequalities related primarily to socio-economic background, gender and migrant status/ethnicity on the character of education-to-work transitions. The data analysis identifies additional barriers facing certain demographic groups in converting human capital into successful employment. It also finds that teenage access to career development is strongly patterned by the demographic characteristics of students. Consequently, the report highlights a range of career guidance interventions that can be expected to mitigate the negative impact of inequalities on student outcomes, enabling fairer access to economic opportunities. The report concludes by reviewing how the innovative new Career Education Framework in New Brunswick (Canada) systematically addresses inequalities within K-12 provision.

This report takes the reader into the lives of young people in Finland, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands and Portugal to explore the question: how do 15-year-olds learn English? Gone are the days when learners only encountered English for a couple of hours a week in a classroom. For today's teens, English is often the preferred language of communication in increasingly diverse online and offline communities. Yet relatively little is known internationally about how students learn English inside and outside school, and the resources available to help them. This report presents country findings from interviews with 15-year-olds, English-language teachers and school principals and wider background research, as well as a comparative chapter on key international insights. The report also explores how today’s digital technologies can support learners to develop foreign language proficiency. These findings support the forthcoming PISA 2025 Foreign Language Assessment through which the OECD will generate comparable data on students’ proficiency in English in different countries and on the factors related to it.

State-of-the-art scientific evidence shows that our planet is approaching several environmental and climate tipping points faster than previously expected. This means that the international community is facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve profound transformations across sectors, systems and mindsets to secure a sustainable and liveable future. What is the role of education system in enabling social change at the massive scale and pace needed for climate change mitigation? And what policy levers can they employ to build resilience and adapt to environmental challenges? This paper explores ways to rethink educational approaches in the context of climate change, focussing primarily on school education, while exploring links to other levels of education. It looks specifically at strategies to restructure foundational science education and cross-curricular learning, zooms in on the potential of place-based approaches in empowering learners for action, and concludes by identifying policy levers to increase education system resilience.

Learners' pathways through upper secondary education are shaped by the curriculum that sets out a vision for education, the programmes learners take, and the systems of assessment and certification that serve as the ultimate goalposts. The organisation of education settings shapes the learning options available to learners. These policy levers all influence learners' readiness to transition and the support they receive during transitions. In Wales, upper secondary pathways are shaped by the cadence of certification and the transition at age 16 to either further education or employment. The Curriculum for Wales prioritises four key purposes, extending beyond academic achievements to include broader goals for learners to be ambitious, confident and creative members of society. This Policy Perspective suggests that achieving this vision and ensuring equitable access to the breadth of the Curriculum for Wales will require explicit expectations built into policy levers like programmes, certifications and education system monitoring.

In an increasingly digital world, the significance of cyber security for individuals, businesses, and governments has never been greater. Rising cyber attacks are challenging current defence and operational capabilities, highlighting a critical shortage of skilled cyber security professionals. This report delves into the demand for cyber security expertise by analysing online job postings in France, Germany and Poland in between 2018 and 2023. It examines trends in the demand for cyber security professionals, the geographical distribution of job opportunities, and the changing skill requirements in this field. Focusing on France, the report also explores cyber security education and training programmes, the characteristics of the programmes, the demographics of enrolled learners, and their outcomes. Additionally, it reviews French policies and initiatives aimed at broadening the cyber security workforce and enhancing educational opportunities in this field. This comprehensive analysis is part of a larger effort to understand the evolving landscape of cyber security policies and professional experiences worldwide.

This scoping review examines the effectiveness of online and blended learning in fostering higher-order thinking skills in higher education, focussing on creativity and critical thinking. The paper finds that whilst there is a growing body of research in this area, its scope and generalisability remain limited. Current evidence suggests that, for most students and contexts, in-person learning yields better or equivalent outcomes for higher-order thinking skills than fully online learning. However, blended and flipped learning show promise. In some cases, they may be more effective than in-person learning to develop higher-order skills. The review aims to be of use to higher education practitioners by synthesising, for the first time at such a scale, the diverse literature on what supports students to develop these skills online. This has been linked to active and interactive online learning, well-structured project-based learning, disciplined questioning, students labelling relevant dimensions of their thinking, and regular, quality instructor and peer feedback. The review calls for improved research design to understand the effectiveness of different modes of learning and address gaps in the literature, which include fostering creativity online and ensuring equitable online skills development across disciplines and teaching contexts. Policy implications include the need to integrate attention to higher-order thinking skills into professional learning, innovation funds, national networks and quality assurance to support effective online teaching of these skills across higher education systems.

Private schools cater for around 1 in 5 students from pre-primary to the end of secondary education, a share that has not changed materially since 2015. They enjoy greater autonomy, suffer fewer shortages of all kinds and handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than public schools. Although their students achieved better results in PISA 2022 in many countries, this is mainly because they enrol more students from advantaged socio-economic backgrounds than their public counterparts. The main challenge in many countries today is to increase the social mix in public and private schools, which is why many efforts have been made in this direction over the past decade.

Research evidence in education serves as a compass, directing stakeholders towards informed choices that drive educational progress, enhance teaching methodologies, address inequities and support resource optimisation. Overcoming the challenges of harnessing research evidence in education by policy makers and practitioners involves fostering a culture of research engagement. This Education Spotlight draws on an international Policy Survey conducted with Ministries of Education from 37 education systems, and other evidence from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation publication Who Really Cares About Using Education Research in Policy and Practice? Developing a Culture of Research Engagement (OECD, 2023[1]) and beyond to explore the following questions: • Which systemic conditions, such as resources, infrastructures, and leadership, matter for the development (or transformation) of an organisational and system-level culture of research engagement? How do these conditions relate to one another? • How can these conditions be developed to best support education research engagement from the system level? This Spotlight reflects on the elements at the system level that are crucial for establishing such a culture for policy makers and practitioners. It does so with the understanding that complex systems require thinking strategically and employing systems approaches to knowledge mobilisation, alongside the more commonly used linear models of disseminating evidence or relational ones focusing on partnerships and networks.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff are central to promoting young children’s development, learning and well-being. Novice staff, defined as staff with up to three years of experience, account for 27% of staff in TALIS Starting Strong 2018. Novice staff are generally less educated than experienced staff in terms of the level of educational attainment and education or training with a focus specifically on working with children. More novice staff than experienced staff report a strong need for additional professional development in several areas, including 'classroom/playgroup/group management' and 'working with parents or families'. Policy approaches to support novice staff in ECEC can include ensuring that initial education prepares novice staff for their jobs by providing relevant knowledge specifically on working with children, supporting novice staff to engage in ongoing professional development, and clarifying how novice staff can progress professionally.