1) New challenges for education systems include preparing students for dynamic global markets, networked organizations, and lifelong learning.
2) International assessments show large differences between countries in student performance in science and mathematics that impact their economic competitiveness.
3) Education systems need to set high standards, give schools autonomy, focus on equity, and support continuous professional development for teachers to help students develop skills for the 21st century like collaboration, adaptability, and problem solving.
These days, virality seems privileged over quality in the distribution of news with truth and fact losing currency in decision making and democratic choices. Assertions which “feel right” but have no basis in fact seem to be accepted as valid on the grounds that they challenge elites and vested interests. Algorithms that sort us into groups of like-minded individuals create echo chambers that amplify our views, leave us uninformed of opposing arguments, and polarise our societies. Those algorithms are not a design flaw. They are the heart of why social media work.
In this context, what can countries do to foster trust, as a fundamental prerequisite for social and economic well-being, for enhancing social cohesion and strengthening resilience, and for maintaining security and order in our societies? OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) shows that education strengthens the cognitive and analytical capacities needed to develop, maintain, and (perhaps) restore trust in both close relationships as well as in anonymous others. It does so both directly, through building and reinforcing literacy and numeracy in individuals, and indirectly, through facilitating habits and reinforcing behaviours such as reading and writing at home and at work. Education and trust are thus fundamentally intertwined and dependent on each other.
Trendvoorspellingen opleidingsmarkt 2020 | Trends & forecast educational mark...Christiaan Tome
Higher education will look completely different from the way it is today. More and more entrepreneurs are challenging the education status quo.
This presentation shows trends & forecasts of the education market in 2020.
These days, virality seems privileged over quality in the distribution of news with truth and fact losing currency in decision making and democratic choices. Assertions which “feel right” but have no basis in fact seem to be accepted as valid on the grounds that they challenge elites and vested interests. Algorithms that sort us into groups of like-minded individuals create echo chambers that amplify our views, leave us uninformed of opposing arguments, and polarise our societies. Those algorithms are not a design flaw. They are the heart of why social media work.
In this context, what can countries do to foster trust, as a fundamental prerequisite for social and economic well-being, for enhancing social cohesion and strengthening resilience, and for maintaining security and order in our societies? OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) shows that education strengthens the cognitive and analytical capacities needed to develop, maintain, and (perhaps) restore trust in both close relationships as well as in anonymous others. It does so both directly, through building and reinforcing literacy and numeracy in individuals, and indirectly, through facilitating habits and reinforcing behaviours such as reading and writing at home and at work. Education and trust are thus fundamentally intertwined and dependent on each other.
Trendvoorspellingen opleidingsmarkt 2020 | Trends & forecast educational mark...Christiaan Tome
Higher education will look completely different from the way it is today. More and more entrepreneurs are challenging the education status quo.
This presentation shows trends & forecasts of the education market in 2020.
Promoting the development of Career Management Skills in career education: mo...Constantinos8
Κυπρο-Ελλαδικό Συνέδριο Συμβουλευτικής και Επαγγελματικής Αγωγής 2022
Teresa M. Sgaramella
FISPPA Department _ University of Padova (Italy)
Teresamaria.sgaramella@unipd.it
Educating students for their future, rather than our past (Education World F...EduSkills OECD
Addressing educational under-performance makes economic growth more inclusive and expands the size of the economy The increase in average earnings from attaining universal basic skills amounts to some 4.2% across the 28 countries with universal enrolment in secondary schools. This increase is accompanied by a 5.2% average reduction in the achievement-induced part of the standard deviation of earnings and thus differs from simple tax and redistribution schemes that might change income distribution but would not add to societal output. Policies to improve knowledge capital will also promote inclusion and a more equitable income distribution
Learning more with every year: School year productivity and international lea...Young Lives Oxford
This presentation "Learning more with every year: School year productivity and international learning divergence" was given by Abhijeet Singh of Young Lives, University of Oxford
at the RISE program Summer Meeting at the Centre of Global Development in Washinton DC on 18 June, 2015
Research on 21st Century skills and innovation in Nordic schoolsClaus Berg
Keynote at Nordic@Bett, London, January 2016: “How far are the Nordic countries in using ICT to teach young people in primary and lower secondary school 21 st Century Skills?”. Professor Ole Sejer Iversen from Denmark presents his recent study.
[Ole Sejer Iversen & Mikkel Ask Rasmussen, Aarhus University, Denmark. In collaboration with STIL, The National Agency for It and Learning, DK - and other Nordic ministries of education. January 2016]
See Thomas Dannenfeldt, Deutsche Telekom's CFO for the presentation of the financial strategy. To download the presentation including the disclaimer in pdf format and to find further material please visit http://www.telekom.com/cmd15
Promoting the development of Career Management Skills in career education: mo...Constantinos8
Κυπρο-Ελλαδικό Συνέδριο Συμβουλευτικής και Επαγγελματικής Αγωγής 2022
Teresa M. Sgaramella
FISPPA Department _ University of Padova (Italy)
Teresamaria.sgaramella@unipd.it
Educating students for their future, rather than our past (Education World F...EduSkills OECD
Addressing educational under-performance makes economic growth more inclusive and expands the size of the economy The increase in average earnings from attaining universal basic skills amounts to some 4.2% across the 28 countries with universal enrolment in secondary schools. This increase is accompanied by a 5.2% average reduction in the achievement-induced part of the standard deviation of earnings and thus differs from simple tax and redistribution schemes that might change income distribution but would not add to societal output. Policies to improve knowledge capital will also promote inclusion and a more equitable income distribution
Learning more with every year: School year productivity and international lea...Young Lives Oxford
This presentation "Learning more with every year: School year productivity and international learning divergence" was given by Abhijeet Singh of Young Lives, University of Oxford
at the RISE program Summer Meeting at the Centre of Global Development in Washinton DC on 18 June, 2015
Research on 21st Century skills and innovation in Nordic schoolsClaus Berg
Keynote at Nordic@Bett, London, January 2016: “How far are the Nordic countries in using ICT to teach young people in primary and lower secondary school 21 st Century Skills?”. Professor Ole Sejer Iversen from Denmark presents his recent study.
[Ole Sejer Iversen & Mikkel Ask Rasmussen, Aarhus University, Denmark. In collaboration with STIL, The National Agency for It and Learning, DK - and other Nordic ministries of education. January 2016]
See Thomas Dannenfeldt, Deutsche Telekom's CFO for the presentation of the financial strategy. To download the presentation including the disclaimer in pdf format and to find further material please visit http://www.telekom.com/cmd15
Smart Power: the Future of Electric Utilities in the US and China, Peter Fox-...Beijing Energy Network
In the presentation Dr. Fox-Penner will be summarizing the key topics in his book, namely the shifts required in the US power grid to change from a centralized, vertically-integrated energy infrastructure to a more distributed generation infrastructure. He will cover the decarbonization of the US power sector as well as the impact of “smart grid” developments. Finally, he will contrast the US situation with that of China and talk about the impact of large amounts of renewables integration on the grid.
Rebooting The Electronics Industry After The Economic CrisisPaul Brody
The reeling financial markets are challenging global business leaders to aggressively rethink their strategies. Across the electronics industry, effects are likely to be quite different, reflecting the enormous diversity of the industry itself. From consumer electronics to medical devices, industry sub-segments will have to respond – each in its own way – to lower consumer spending and stricter access to capital.
April 2013 Raytheon Settlement SummaryJohn Priecko
The April 30th, 2013, Consent Agreement between the US Department of State (DOS) and Raytheon has some important lessons learned for trade compliance professionals at all levels in an organization. It’s also Raytheon’s third settlement with the DOS in less than 15 years.
This one-page summary captures the important points of their latest settlement. While trade compliance/export control practitioners are encouraged to read all the documents, many C-level executives don’t have the interest or time to digest them including the Proposed Charging Letter, Consent Agreement and Order. These one-page summaries are bite-size tools that have proven education and training benefits. They have also consistently proven useful in beefing-up audit and assessment checklists.
There are some key takeaways buried in the Raytheon settlement documents. If you read carefully you’ll come to the conclusion their compliance program was clearly not up-to-speed (some have said badly broken). Additionally some individuals apparently not fulfill their responsibilities administrating agreements and ensuring previously mandated compliance measures were thoroughly taken care of. They also had serious shortfalls in investigating and correcting violations as well as problems managing voluntary disclosures.
The terse settlement document quotes about the state of their compliance program paint a picture of ineffective, inadequate, insufficient and failed efforts over years that resulted in hundreds of disclosures and violations.
As you read this Settlement Summary and the complete set of documents, ask yourself what your organization is doing in these same areas. If enforcement came knocking at your door what would they find? Do you or your organization have similar issues? If so, what are you doing to close the gaps?
If you want to expand your compliance perspective and better understand the current enforcement environment, review all three of Raytheon’s DOS settlements to gain an appreciation for the evolution of how State handles settlements and particularly so in the area of mandated compliance measures.
We all talk about how important education is, but not necessarily what makes education high quality. This was originally a webinar for a national NGO, Women Graduates, about our work on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals #4: Quality Education. It's based on bits and pieces of doctoral work at the University of California--Los Angeles, plus research on the UN campus in NYC.
A GETideas.org Conversation on Global Education - 21st Century Pedagogy: Keys to Success - full accompanying video available on www.getideas.org/coge -- GETideas.org is an online community for education leaders around world.
This presentation was given by Graham Donaldson from the College of Social Sciences, Glasgow University at the GCES Conference on Governing Education in a Complex World during the Keynote on Professionalism and Governance in Brussels on 18 October 2016.
Guided Inquiry: An Instructional Framework for Designing Effective Inquiry U...Syba Academy
Lecture by LYN HAY, Head of Professional Learning, Syba Academy and Adjunct Lecturer, Charles Sturt University
Presented to Librarian's Knowledge Sharing Workshop participants and teaching staff of Jerudong International School, Friday 21 February, 2014
Brunei Darussalam
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
How to Add Chatter in the odoo 17 ERP ModuleCeline George
In Odoo, the chatter is like a chat tool that helps you work together on records. You can leave notes and track things, making it easier to talk with your team and partners. Inside chatter, all communication history, activity, and changes will be displayed.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
Delivering Micro-Credentials in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingAG2 Design
Explore how micro-credentials are transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with this comprehensive slide deck. Discover what micro-credentials are, their importance in TVET, the advantages they offer, and the insights from industry experts. Additionally, learn about the top software applications available for creating and managing micro-credentials. This presentation also includes valuable resources and a discussion on the future of these specialised certifications.
For more detailed information on delivering micro-credentials in TVET, visit this https://tvettrainer.com/delivering-micro-credentials-in-tvet/
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
This presentation includes basic of PCOS their pathology and treatment and also Ayurveda correlation of PCOS and Ayurvedic line of treatment mentioned in classics.
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...
Future of education - Austria
1. Herausforderungen an Bildungssysteme in einer neuen globalen Relalität Wien, 15. April 2010 Prof. Andreas SchleicherAdvisory of the OECD Secretary-General on Education PolicyOECD Directorate for Education
2. NeueHerausforderungen Gestern Heute Stabil Märkte Dynamisch National Wettbewerb Global Hierarchisch Vernetzt Organisationsformen Flexible Produktion –embedded services Massenproduktion Produktion Mechanisierung Wachstumsimpulse Digitalisierung, Miniaturisierung „Economies of scale“ Wettbewerbsvorteil Innovation, Zeitnähe Einzelbetrieb Firmenmodell „Co-petition” – Allianzen Vollbeschäftigung Politische Ziele „Employability” Klare Identität im berufsspezifischen Kontext Berufsprofile Konvergenz und Transformation Berufsspezifisch Kompetenzen Multi-dimensional Lebensbegleitendes Lernen Formale Qualifikation Bildung
7. Spitzenqualifikationen Expenditure per student at tertiary level (USD) United States Cost per student Austria Finland Graduate supply Tertiary-type A graduation rate
15. Components of the private net present value for a male with higher education 27K$ 56K$ 170K$ 105K$ 35K$ 26K$ 367K$ Net present value in USD equivalent
19. Increased likelihood of tertiary particip. at age 19/21 associated with PISA reading proficiency at age 15 (Canada)after accounting for school engagement, gender, mother tongue, place of residence, parental, education and family income (reference group PISA Level 1) Increased chance of successful tertiary participation School marks at age 15 PISA performance at age 15
25. Schooling in the industrial age: Educating for discipline The challenges today: Motivated and self-reliant citizens Risk-taking entrepreneurs, converging and continuously emerging professions tied to globalising contexts and technological advance
26. Veränderungen in der NachfragenachKompetenzenEconomy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US) Mean task input as percentiles of the 1960 task distribution The dilemma of schools: The skills that are easiest to teach and test are also the ones that are easiest to digitise, automate and outsource (Levy and Murnane)
27. Skills for the 21st century The great collaborators and orchestrators The more complex the globalised world becomes, the more individuals and companies need various forms of co-ordination and management The great synthesisers Conventionally, our approach to problems was breaking them down into manageable bits and pieces, today we create value by synthesising disparate bits together The great explainers The more content we can search and access, the more important the filters and explainers become
28. Skills for the 21st century The great versatilists Specialists generally have deep skills and narrow scope, giving them expertise that is recognised by peers but not valued outside their domain Generalists have broad scope but shallow skills Versatilists apply depth of skill to a progressively widening scope of situations and experiences, gaining new competencies, building relationships, and assuming new roles. They are capable not only of constantly adapting but also of constantly learning and growing The great personalisers A revival of interpersonal skills, skills that have atrhophied to some degree because of the industrial age and the Internet The great localisers Localising the global
29. It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century There are over 200 million registered users on MySpace. If MySpace was a country, it would be the 5th largest country in the world There are 31 billion searches on Google every month To whom were these questions addressed B.G. (before Google)? The first commercial text messages was sent in December 1992 Today the number of text messages sent and received everyday exceeds the total population of the planet During the course of this presentation over a million songs will be downloaded illegally
30. Bildung 2.0 Bildungseinrichtungen daran messen, wie sie… Schülern helfen, sich in einer sich immer schneller verändernden Welt zurechtzufinden Schüler auf Berufe vorbereiten, die wir noch nicht kennen Schülern helfen Technologien zu nutzen, die erst morgen erfunden werden Schüler darauf vorbereiten strategische Herausforderungen zu bewältigen von denen wir heute noch nicht wissen dass es sie gibt Lernen nicht Ort sondern Aktivität Lehrer als Experten, die Schüler dabei unterstützten, durch eigenständiges Denken und Handeln selbstständig und kooperativ zu lernen Lernen als aktiver, sozialer Prozess Kreativität und Erfindungsreichtum anstelle von Konformität Lernerzentrierung anstelle von Lehrplanzentrierung Erarbeitetes Wissen anstelle von vermitteltem Wissen Soziale Intelligenz, emotionale Sicherheit und Gründergeist .
31. OECD’s PISA assessment of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds Coverage of world economy 83% 77% 81% 85% 86% 87%
32. High science performance Average performanceof 15-year-olds in science – extrapolate and apply Poland … 18 countries perform below this line Low science performance
33. High science performance Average performanceof 15-year-olds in science – extrapolate and apply High average performance Large socio-economic disparities High average performance High social equity Strong socio-economic impact on student performance Socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities Low average performance Large socio-economic disparities Low average performance High social equity Low science performance
34. High science performance Durchschnittliche Schülerleistungen im Bereich Mathematik High average performance Large socio-economic disparities High average performance High social equity Strong socio-economic impact on student performance Socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities Low average performance Large socio-economic disparities Low average performance High social equity Low science performance
36. Hohe Erwartungenund anspruchsvolle Standards Zugang zu guter Praxis und berufliche Weiterentwicklung als integraler Bestandteil des Berufsfeldes
37. Standards und Unterstützung Gute Unterstützung der Einrichtungen Schwache Leistungen Verbesserungen bleiben Einzelfall Starke Leistungen Systemische Verbesserungen Unklare Anforderungen AnspruchsvolleStandards Schwache Leistungen Stagnation Konflikt Demoralisierung Geringe Unterstützung
38. Hohe Erwartungenund anspruchsvolleStandards Freiräume und Handlungsfähigkeit der Bildungs-einrichtungen Evaluation, motivierende Leistungsrückmeldungen und Intervention invers zum Erfolg Zugang zu guter Praxis und berufliche Weiterentwicklung als integraler Bestandteil des Berufsfeldes
39. School autonomy, standards-based examinations and science performanceSchool autonomy in selecting teachers for hire PISA score in science
40. Local responsibility and national prescription Towards system-wide sustainable reform National prescription Schools today The industrial model, detailed prescription of what schools do Schools tomorrow? Building capacity Finland today Every school an effective school Schools leading reform
41. Hohe Erwartungenund anspruchsvolleStandards Freiräume und Handlungsfähigkeit der Schulen Individualisierung von Lernen Evaluation, motivierende Leistungsrückmeldungen und Intervention invers zum Erfolg Offene und vernetzte Bildungswege statt früher Selektion Qualifikationsrahmen Zugang zu guter Praxis und berufliche Weiterentwicklung als integraler Bestandteil des Berufsfeldes
42. High science performance Durchschnittliche Schülerleistungen im Bereich Mathematik High average performance Large socio-economic disparities High average performance High social equity Strong socio-economic impact on student performance Socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities Early selection and institutional differentiation High degree of stratification Low degree of stratification Low average performance Large socio-economic disparities Low average performance High social equity Low science performance
43. Hohe Erwartungenund anspruchsvolle Standards Freiräume und Handlungsfähigkeit der Schulen Individulalisierung von Lernen Evaluation und Intervention invers zum Erfolg Offene und integrierte Bildungswege Zugang zu guter Praxis und berufliche Weiterentwicklung als integraler Bestandteil des Berufsfeldes
44. Pooled international dataset, effects of selected school/system factors on science performance after accounting for all other factors in the model School principal’s positive evaluation of quality of educational materials(gross only) Schools with more competing schools(gross only) Schools with greater autonomy (resources)(gross and net) School activities to promote science learning(gross and net) One additional hour of self-study or homework (gross and net) One additional hour of science learning at school (gross and net) School results posted publicly (gross and net) Academically selective schools (gross and net) but no system-wide effect Schools practicing ability grouping (gross and net) One additional hour of out-of-school lessons (gross and net) 20 Each additional 10% of public funding(gross only) School principal’s perception that lack of qualified teachers hinders instruction(gross only) Effect after accounting for the socio-economic background of students, schools and countries Measured effect OECD (2007), PISA 2006 – Science Competencies from Tomorrow’s World, Table 6.1a
46. www.oecd.org; www.pisa.oecd.org All national and international publications The complete micro-level database email: pisa@oecd.org Andreas.Schleicher@OECD.org … and remember: Without data, you are just another person with an opinion Thank you !
Editor's Notes
And policy makers do this because in this world where all work that can be digitised, automated or outsourced can now be done anywhere in the world by those who are best prepared, the yardstick for success is no longer improvement by national standards, but the best performing education systems internationally. I will begin my presentation this evening by showing how the global talent pool has changed, in response to the forces of globalisation and technological changeThen examine what international comparisons can tell us about this. I will show you where we see the United States and try to contrast this with the best performing education systems, that give you a sense of what is possible in education, terms of the quality of educational outcomes and equity in the distribution of educational opportunities. And I will conclude with tying the results to some of the policy levers that emerge from international comparisons.
The pace of change is most clearly visible in higher education, and I want to bring two more dimensions into the picture here. Each dot on this chart represents one country. The horizontal axis shows you the college graduation rate, the proportion of an age group that comes out of the system with a college degree. The vertical axis shows you how much it costs to educate a graduate per year.
*Lets now add where the money comes from into the picture, the larger the dot, the larger the share of private spending on college education, such as tuition.The chart shows the US as the country with the highest college graduation rate, and the highest level of spending per student. The US is also among the countries with the largest share of resources generated through the private sector. That allows the US to spend roughly twice as much per student as Europe. US, FinlandThe only thing I have not highlighted so far is that this was the situation in 1995. And now watch this closely as you see how this changed between 1995 and 2005.
You see that in 2000, five years, later, the picture looked very different. While in 1995 the US was well ahead of any other country – you see that marked by the dotted circle, in 2000 several other countries had reached out to this frontier. Look at Australia, in pink.
Let us go back to the 1960s. The chart shows you the wealth of world regions and the average years of schooling in these regions, which is the most traditional measure of human capital. Have a look at Latin America, it ranked third in wealth and third in years of schooling, so in the 1960s the world seemed pretty much in order.
But when you look at economic growth between 1960 and 2000, you see that something went wrong. Despite the fact that Latin America did well in terms of years of schooling, only Sub-Saharan Africa did worse in terms of economic growth. So in 2000, Latin America had fallen back considerably in terms of GDP per capita.You can draw two conclusions from this: Either education is not as important for economic growth as we thought, or we have for a long time been measuring the wrong thing.
Now let me add one additional element, and that is a measure of the quality of education, in the form of the score of the different world regions on international tests like PISA or TIMSS. And you see now that the world looks in order again, there seems a close relationship between test scores and economic growth. You can see that even more clearly when you put this into graphical form. This is one of the charts produced by Professor Hanushek. And, as Professor Hanushek will explain, the relationship holds even when you account for other factors, it even holds when you compare growth in economies with growth in learning outcomes, which is the closest we can come to examining causality.So what this tells you is that it is not simply years of schooling or the number of graduates we produce, but indeed the quality of learning outcomes that counts.
The best way to find out whether what students have learned at school matters for their life is to actuallywatch what happens to them after they leave school. This is exactly what we have done that with around 30,000 students in Canada. We tested them in the year 2000 when they were 15 years old in reading, math and science, and since then we are following up with them each year on what choices they make and how successful they are in their transition from school to higher education and work.The horizontal axis shows you the PISA level which 15-year-old Canadians had scored in 2000. Level 2 is the baseline level on the PISA reading test and Level 5 the top level in reading.The red bar shows you how many times more successful someone who scored Level 2 at age 15 was at age 19 to have made a successful transition to university, as compared to someone who did not make it to the baseline PISA level 1. And to ensure that what you see here is not simply a reflection of social background, gender, immigration or school engagement, we have already statistically accounted for all of these factors. The orange bar. …How would you expect the picture to be like at age 21? We are talking about test scores here, but for a moment, lets go back to the judgements schools make on young people, for example through school marks. You can do the same thing here, you can see how well school marks at age 15 predict the subsequent success of youths. You see that there is some relationship as well, but that it is much less pronounced than when we use the direct measure of skills.
That’s all just the beginning. The first, and easy phase of globalisation, the time that the industrialised world only had to compete against the China’s and India’s that offered a low skilled work force at a fraction at our labour costs is long gone. What we now see is, that we no longer compete with low skills at low costs, but that countries like China or India are starting to deliver high skills at low costs at an ever increasing pace. And that’s beginning to challenge the middle and high skills sectors.
This is where China, the European Union, India and the US stood in terms of the number of high school graduates in 2003. This is how the picture is likely to look in 2010, and this is what we project for 2015.
Clearly, our countries will not compete with this by putting more graduates through schools and universities, it is the nature of skills quality of educational output that really counts. Creativity and innovation are what gives us the competitive edge. Its all about putting new triangles up.If in a global economy, all work that can be digitised, automatised or outsourced will be digitised, automatised or outsourced, then we need to ask ourselves what key competencies education systems need to provide for young people to succeed
Clearly, our countries will not compete with this by putting more graduates through schools and universities, it is the nature of skills, it is the quality of educational output that really counts.
Analogy with militaryGet children into school when they have reached a certain agePut them into fixed classrooms, managed by a single instructorRun schools with curricula, timetables, instruction hours, working horus …
Levy and Murnane show how the composition of the US work force has changed. What they show is that, between 1970 and 2000, work involving routine manual input, the jobs of the typical factory worker, was down significantly. Non-routine manual work, things we do with our hands, but in ways that are not so easily put into formal algorithms, was down too, albeit with much less change over recent years – and that is easy to understand because you cannot easily computerise the bus driver or outsource your hairdresser. All that is not surprising, but here is where the interesting story begins: Among the skill categories represented here, routine cognitive input, that is cognitive work that you can easily put into the form of algorithms and scripts saw the sharpest decline in demand over the last couple of decades, with a decline by almost 8% in the share of jobs. So those middle class white collar jobs that involve the application of routine knowledge, are most at threat today. And that is where schools still put a lot of their focus and what we value in multiple choice accountability systems.The point here is, that the skills that are easiest to teach and test are also the skills that are easiest to digitise, automatise and offshore. If that is all what we do in school, we are putting our youngsters right up for competition with computers, because those are the things computers can do better than humans, and our kids are going to loose out before they even started. Where are the winners in this process? These are those who engage in expert thinking – the new literacy of the 21st century, up 8% - and complex communication, up almost 14%.
A strong foundation of subject matter knowledge will always remain at the heart of success, but it is no longer enough. As the previous chart has shown, other skill dimensions are rising in their importance.In our schools, students learn individually and at the end of the school year, we certify their individual achievement. But the more complex the globalised world becomes, the more individuals and companies need various forms of co-ordination and management, the great collaborators and orchestrators will be successful, people who can relate well to others, manage and resolve conflicts, to respect and appreciate different values, beliefs, cultures. Inter-personal competencies will be of growing importance, but are often not sufficiently recognised by school curricula and even less so in assessments.The conventional approach in school is often to break problems down into manageable bits and pieces and then teach students how to solve these. However, today we create value by synthesising disparate bits, today, for example, the computer scientist is at a premium who works in the pharmazeutical company to analyse genetic structures and turns this knowledge into new medicines. If such competencies matter, we need to reflect them in modern assessments. Similarly, if we log on to the world wide web today, we can find everything we are looking for, and teaching students to access and process information is easy. But the more content we can search and access, the more important will those people become, who can meaningfully sort and filter information and explain specialised content in their own sphere to people working in other spheres. Again, if those competencies matter, we need to reflect them in modern assessments.
Our modern world is also no longer divided into the categories of specialists and generalists. Specialists generally have deep skills and narrow scope, giving them expertise that is recognised by peers but they face difficulties working outside their domain. Generalists have broad scope but shallow skills and that is important but not enough. What counts most today are versatilists who are capable to apply depth of skill to a progressively widening scope of situations and experiences, gaining new competencies, building relationships, and assuming new roles. Modern schools therefore need to help young individuals to constantly adapt and grow, individuals who cannot only reproduce subject matter knowledge but have the capacity and motivation to expand their horizons and transfer and apply knowledge in novel settings. As peoples future becomes more and more uncertain, individuals need to have the capacity to find and constantly adjust their right place in an increasingly complex world, people who can manage their lives in meaningful and responsible way, and to recognise rights and limitations, those of themselves and others. We can extend the list further but the point is that, whatever competencies are considered relevant for success in modern societies, we need to base modern assessments of learning outcomes at school on those key competencies, rather than solely assessing the efficiency with which students have learned what they have been taught.
At the OECD, we are measuring skills, with a focus on those non-routing cognitive skills, regularly through our PISA programme, now the most comprehensive international assessment of the quality of education. Every three years, we test roughly half a million of children in OECD countries in key competencies, and that’s not simply about checking whether students have learned what they were recently taught, but we examine to what extent students can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply their knowledge and skills in novel settings. Here you see the countries which we can compare, and how the set of countries being compared has expanded.
International comparisons demonstrate what can be done with a combination of the right strategy and courageous, sustained leadership. Let us look at what’s behind the success of some of these countries.
But the balance between national prescription and schools leading reform is not an all-or-nothing. In fact, most school systems have started out with highly prescriptive education systems. But gradually the have moved towards building capacity and enabling schools to assume greater responsibility.