Back to school – OECD work on education to help governments and educators

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18/08/2008 - Good education systems are key to dynamic and healthy economies. OECD measures how education systems and students perform as part of its mission to help education authorities develop effective policies. Over the next few weeks, OECD will publish some pertinent new reports, articles, views and podcasts and hold a three-day conference on higher education at its Paris headquarters. Here is a foretaste of what you can expect at the start of this academic year:

• First, how can leadership make a difference? Improving School Leadership, a two-volume study examining the role of principals in the schools of tomorrow, published on 28 August 2008, sets out to answer. Instead of just running schools, principals are being asked to help in overhauling entire education systems. Case studies illustrate what authorities are doing in Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Finland and the United Kingdom (England) to recruit and train school leaders as agents of change.
• Education is influenced by the world we live in, and on 2 September 2008, Trends Shaping Education will look at specific impacts on schooling of things happening elsewhere in our lives, from climate change and the growth of the Internet to changing lifestyles and family structures. Does the diversification of family forms mean a changing balance of responsibilities between the school and the home? Can schools and teachers take on more responsibility for teaching children social skills and requirements, and should they do so? And what is the impact on schooling of other phenomena, from the rise of obesity to the spread of mobile phones?
• We will examine broader questions, too, over the coming weeks, notably in the OECD’s annual best-seller, Education at a Glance, out on 9 September 2008. Who participates in education? How much is spent on it? What is achieved? An array of comparable indicators will enable education authorities – and journalists -- to measure their country’s performance against that of other countries.  OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría presented this year’s edition in a panel discussion focusing on value for money in higher education, alongside experts from Sweden and New Zealand, two countries that have varying policy approaches.
• This panel discussion will be part of a conference on Outcomes of higher education: quality, relevance and impact, organised by OECD’s Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) in Paris on 8-10 September. In today’s knowledge-driven economy, higher education is a major driver of economic competitiveness. Other sessions of the conference will cover such topics as Assessing Learning and Employment Outcomes and Reputation and ranking – the impact on institutional strategy and behaviour of international ranking tables.
• All aspects of tertiary education from governance and funding to career prospects and the internationalisation of the market for university teaching will be examined in Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society, which the OECD publishes on 16 September 2008.  Based on a four-year study in 24 countries, this report presents examples of innovative and successful policies and practices that countries have implemented, and puts forward some policy options.
• A key debate is about how to best measure education performance, and later in the month, another OECD publication will examine a new approach using value-added indicators designed to show how much students have actually learned while in school. Unlike league tables based on raw test scores that tend to reflect students’ socio-economic status, the value-added model measures how much a school contributes to students’ progress over time. In this way, value-added estimates provide a more accurate quantitative basis for school improvement planning, policy development and for enacting effective school accountability arrangements.
• Finally, after all this theory, a reality check. You have heard of PISA – now take the test ! PISA -Programme for International Student Assessment - is OECD’s flagship education monitoring instrument, used to test 15-year-olds around the world on reading, mathematics and science, as well as measuring their attitudes and motivation. In a new publication due out later this year, OECD will present many of the questions that make up this test, explaining their rationale and purpose. The assessment focuses on young people's ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges, rather than merely on how well they have mastered a specific school curriculum. Some of the questions are a lot harder than they look at first sight.

All of these issues can be studied further through our archive of articles, policy briefs, podcasts and books available at www.oecd.org/education/backtoschool. For further information about upcoming publications and events, please contact OECD’s Media Division.