(Andreas Schleicher - Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills)
While access to schooling has expanded around the world, many countries have not realised the hoped-for improvements in economic and social well-being. Access to education by itself is an incomplete goal for development; many students leave the education system without basic proficiency in literacy and numeracy. As the world coalesces around new sustainable development targets towards 2030, the focus in education is shifting towards access and quality. Using projections based on data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international student assessments, this report offers a glimpse of the stunning economic and social benefits that all countries, regardless of their national wealth, stand to gain if they ensure that every child not only has access to education but, through that education, acquires at least the baseline level of skills needed to participate fully in society.
Universal Basic Skills - What Countries Stand to Gain
1. 11 The post-2015 education agenda
Universal basic skills
What countries stand to gain
11 May 2015, London
Andreas Schleicher
2. 22 Focus on quality
How well do today’s schools
prepare for tomorrow’s world?
What do 15-year-olds know in math and science…
…and what can they do with what they know?
3. Singapore
Hong Kong-ChinaChinese Taipei
Korea
Macao-China
Japan Liechtenstein
Switzerland
Netherlands
Estonia Finland
Canada
Poland
Belgium
Germany Viet Nam
Austria Australia
IrelandSlovenia
DenmarkNew Zealand
Czech Republic France
United Kingdom
Iceland
LatviaLuxembourg Norway
Portugal ItalySpain
Russian Fed.Slovak Republic United States
LithuaniaSwedenHungary
Croatia
Israel
Greece
SerbiaTurkey
Romania
Bulgaria
U.A.E.
Kazakhstan
Thailand
Chile Malaysia
Mexico
410
420
430
440
450
460
470
480
490
500
510
520
530
540
550
560
570
580
Mean score
High mathematics performance
Low mathematics performance
… Shanghai-China performs above this line (613)
Average performance
of 15-year-olds in
Mathematics (PISA)
Fig I.2.13
Below PISA Level 2
At this level, students can answer questions involving
familiar contexts where all relevant information is
present and the questions are clearly defined.
They are able to identify information and to carry out
routine procedures according to direct instructions in
explicit situations. They can perform actions that are a
lmost always obvious and follow immediately from
the given stimuli.
4. Low mathematics performance
Iran*
Costa Rica
Uruguay
Montenegro
Bahrain*
Georgia*
Brazil JordanArgentina Albania
Tunisia Macedonia
Saudi Arabia* Colombia
QatarIndonesia
Botswana*
Peru Oman*
Morocco*
Honduras*
South Africa*
Ghana*
260
270
280
290
300
310
320
330
340
350
360
370
380
390
400
410
420
* Substituted from TIMSS
7. The world is no longer divided between rich and well-
educated countries, and poor and badly-educated ones
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Qatar
Oman
SaudiArabia
Bahrain
Malaysia
Kazakhstan
UAE
Israel
Greece
SlovakRepublic
Sweden
Luxembourg
Hungary
Iceland
UnitedStates
Portugal
Italy
RussianFederation
Lithuania
Norway
France
Spain
NewZealand
Belgium
UnitedKingdom
CzechRepublic
Austria
Denmark
Australia
Slovenia
Latvia
Germany
Netherlands
Ireland
Switzerland
Canada
Poland
ChineseTaipei
Finland
Japan
Singapore
Korea
Estonia
Hong-KongChina
High income does not protect against poor education
Share of 15-year-olds below PISA Level 2
in high-income countries (>25K$)
(reading, math and science)
8. Regular but moderate physical exercise is good for our health
What happens when muscles are exercised? Circle “Yes”
or “No” for each statement.
Does this happen when muscles are exercised? Yes or No?
Muscles get an increased flow of blood. Yes / No
Fats are formed in the muscles. Yes / No
Answering this question correctly
corresponds to a difficulty of 386 score points
on the PISA science scale. Across countries,
82% of students answered correctly. This
question assesses students’ competency of
explaining phenomena scientifically.
% students by country who answered correctly
Finland 93
Hungary 91
Russian Federation 90
Slovenia 89
Latvia 88
Czech Republic 88
Iceland 88
Greece 87
Portugal 87
Croatia 86
Spain 86
Italy 85
Liechtenstein 85
Hong Kong- China 85
Australia 85
Canada 84
Denmark 84
Serbia 84
New Zealand 84
Belgium 84
Poland 84
Netherlands 84
Tunisia 83
Slovak Republic 83
United Kingdom 83
OECD average 82
Sweden 82
Switzerland 82
Chile 82
Turkey 82
Thailand 81
Macao-China 81
Bulgaria 81
Jordan 80
Israel 80
Japan 80
Luxembourg 79
Austria 79
France 79
Mexico 78
Germany 77
Estonia 77
Chinese Taipei 77
Norway 76
United States 76
Romania 76
Montenegro 76
Ireland 76
Argentina 75
Lithuania 73
Azerbaijan 72
Brazil 71
Korea 68
Colombia 63
Kyrgyzstan 57
Indonesia 54
Qatar 53
9. Mei-Ling from Singapore was preparing to go to South Africa for
3 months as an exchange student. She needed to change some
Singapore dollars (SGD) into South African rand (ZAR).
Question: Mei-Ling found out that the exchange rate between
Singapore dollars and South African rand was:
1 SGD = 4.2 ZAR
Mei-Ling changed 3000 Singapore dollars into South African
rand at this exchange rate.
How much money in South African rand did Mei-Ling get?
Answer: ________________________
% students by country who answered
correctly
Liechtenstein 95
Macao- China 93
Finland 90
France 89
Hong Kong-China 89
Sweden 89
Austria 87
Switzerland 87
Belgium 87
Czech Republic 87
Canada 86
Slovak Republic 86
Iceland 86
Denmark 85
Russian Federation 85
Luxembourg 85
Netherlands 85
Hungary 84
Ireland 83
Germany 83
Australia 81
Korea 81
Latvia 80
New Zealand 80
OECD average 80
Japan 79
Spain 79
Serbia 79
Norway 77
Poland 77
Portugal 74
United Kingdom 74
Greece 73
Italy 71
Uruguay 71
Mexico 60
Thailand 60
Turkey 60
Indonesia 59
Tunisia 55
United States 54
Brazil 37
12600 zAR
Answering this question correctly
corresponds to a difficulty of 406 score points
on the PISA mathematics scale. Across
countries, 80% of students answered
correctly. To answer the question correctly
students have to draw on skills from the
reproduction competency cluster.
10. Figure 1 shows changing levels of Lake Chad, in Saharan North Africa. Lake
Chad disappeared completely in about 20,000BC, during the last Ice Age. In
about 11,000 BC it reappeared. Today, its level is about the same as it was in
AD 1000.
11. Figure 2
aurochs
giraffe
buffalo
Saharan rock art and changing patterns of wildlife
rhinoceros
hippopotamus
elephant
ostrich
gazelle
cattle
dog
horse
camel
8000 BC 7000 BC 6000 BC 5000 BC 4000 BC 3000 BC 2000 BC 1000 BC 0 AD 1000
Question: Figure 2 is based on the assumption that:
A. the animals in the rock art were present in the area at the time they were drawn.
B. the artists who drew the animals were highly skilled.
C. the artists who drew the animals were able to travel widely.
D. there was no attempt to domesticate the animals which were depicted in the rock art.
Figure 2 shows Saharan rock art (ancient drawings or paintings found on
the walls of caves) and changing patterns of wildlife
Answering this question correctly
corresponds to a difficulty of 397 score points
on the PISA reading scale. Across countries,
77% of students answered correctly. To do so,
they interpreted the text correctly.
• % students by country who answered
correctly
Finland 87
Hungary 85
Korea 85
Netherlands 84
Austria 83
Sweden 82
Spain 82
France 82
Belgium 81
Czech Republic 80
Denmark 80
Canada 80
Germany 80
Australia 80
Liechtenstein 79
Japan 79
Italy 79
Switzerland 78
New Zealand 78
Portugal 78
OECD average 77
United Kingdom 76
Poland 73
Ireland 72
Luxembourg 72
Norway 72
United States 71
Iceland 70
Greece 68
Latvia 68
Brazil 63
Russian Federation 59
Mexico 49
13. • The projections assume that higher educational
achievement allows a country to keep on
growing at a higher rate in the long run
– Education increases the innovative capacity of the economy
through developing new ideas and new technologies
– A given level of education can lead to a continuing stream of
new ideas, thus making it possible for education to affect
growth even when no new education is added to the
economy .
Underlying growth model
14. • An aggregate production function where the
output of the macro economy is a direct
function of capital and labour
– The human capital component of growth comes through
accumulation of more education that implies the economy
moves from one steady state level to another; once at the
new level, education exerts no further influence on
growth .
Alternative growth models
15. • Improvements will occur steadily
– from today’s performance up to reaching
the post-2015 goals in 2030
• It will take another 40 years until the more
skilled workers replace the existing workforce
• The growth rate is calculated each year into the
future based on the average skill of workers
• Future gains in GDP are discounted to the
present with a 3% discount rate
– (so that the projections are directly comparable
to current levels of GDP).
Assumptions
16. • Annual improvement by 1.67 PISA points per
year (=25 points by 2030) and full enrolment
• Present value of added GDP would be 340% of
the country’s current GDP over the next 80
years (or on average 7.3% higher GDP each year)
• By 2095, GDP would be 30% higher than with
current skill levels
– This is equivalent to an annual growth rate that is 0.5
percentage points higher than at current skill levels.
18 An example Country Improvement/y
Montenegro 1.7
Chile 1.9
Serbia 2.2
Poland 2.6
Italy 2.7
Portugal 2.8
Mexico 3.1
Tunisia 3.1
Turkey 3.2
Dubai (UAE) 3.7
Singapore 3.8
Brazil 4.1
Bulgaria 4.2
Shanghai-China 4.2
Israel 4.2
Romania 4.9
Albania 5.6
U.A.E. * 5.9
Malaysia 8.1
Kazakhstan 9
Qatar 9.2
18. • Couldn’t higher growth cause higher achievement?
– Correlation between education spending and student performance is
weak, so it is unlikely that the relationship comes from growth
induced resources lifting student achievement
– For a subset of countries, the period of testing has been separated
from the subsequent period of observed economic impacts, but the
impact was even bigger
• Couldn’t other factors besides cognitive skills be
responsible for countries’ growth?
– In an extensive investigation of alternative model specifications,
different measures of cognitive skills, various groupings of countries
(including some that eliminate regional differences), and specific
subperiods of economic growth have been employed but the results
show high consistency in the alternative estimates, in both
quantitative impacts and statistical significance
– Neither do measures of geographical location, political stability,
capital stock and population growth significantly affect the estimated
impact of cognitive skills
20 Causality in brief
19. • How do we know international differences in test
scores reflect school policies and not things like
health and nutrition differences in the
population or cultural differences?
– This concern has been addressed by focusing attention just on
the variations in achievement that arise directly from
institutional characteristics of each country’s school system
(exit examinations, autonomy, relative teacher salaries and
private schooling). When the analysis is limited in this way, the
estimation of the growth relationship yields essentially the
same results
• Do changes in test scores over time relate to
changes in growth rates?
– For 12 OECD countries, the magnitude of trends in education
performance can be related to the magnitude of trends in
growth rates over time. This investigation provides more
evidence of the causal influence of cognitive skills.
21 Causality in brief
20. • What if achievement is simply a reflection of other
aspects of the economy and not the driving force in
growth?
– One way to test this is to consider the implications of differences in
measured skills within a single economy. This was done by comparing
immigrants to the United states who have been educated in their
home countries with immigrants educated just in the United states.
– This comparison finds that the cognitive skills seen in the immigrant’s
home country lead to higher incomes, but only if the immigrant was in
fact educated in the home country. Immigrants from the same home
country who are schooled in the United states see no economic return
to home-country test scores – a finding that pinpoints the value of
better schools
22 Causality in brief
21. 2323 The high cost of low educational performance
What if the World delivered on the
post-2015 development goals?
The economic value of getting
every 15-year-old to complete at least PISA Level 1
22. The economic value of improvement
0%
100%
200%
300%
400%
500%
600%
700%
800%
900%
1000%
1100%
1200%
1300%
1400%
Baseline skills Full enrolment without
increase in quality
Baseline skills and full
enrolment
Lower middle income countries
Upper middle income countries
High income non-OECD
High income OECD
Value of improvement in terms of current GDP
over working life of today’s 15-year-olds
The increase in GDP among high
income countries would still exceed
total current spending on schooling
24. Low mathematics performance
Iran*
Costa Rica
Uruguay
Montenegro
Bahrain*
Georgia*
Brazil JordanArgentina Albania
Tunisia Macedonia
Saudi Arabia* Colombia
QatarIndonesia
Botswana*
Peru Oman*
Morocco*
Honduras*
South Africa*
Ghana*
260
270
280
290
300
310
320
330
340
350
360
370
380
390
400
410
420
* Substituted from TIMSS
3880% GDP
4,526 bn$
1427% GDP
2,459 bn$
751% GDP
23,841 bn$
25. Singapore
Hong Kong-ChinaChinese Taipei
Korea
Macao-China
Japan Liechtenstein
Switzerland
Netherlands
Estonia Finland
Canada
Poland
Belgium
Germany Viet Nam
Austria Australia
IrelandSlovenia
DenmarkNew Zealand
Czech Republic France
United Kingdom
Iceland
LatviaLuxembourg Norway
Portugal ItalySpain
Russian Fed.Slovak Republic United States
LithuaniaSwedenHungary
Croatia
Israel
Greece
SerbiaTurkey
Romania
Bulgaria
U.A.E.
Kazakhstan
Thailand
Chile Malaysia
Mexico
High mathematics performance
Low mathematics performance
86% GDP
402 bn$
153% GDP
27,929 bn$
551% GDP
12,448 bn$
375% GDP
2,415 bn$
143% GDP
3,650 bn$
304% GDP
1,667 bn$
38% GDP
209 bn$
26. Socially equitable
distribution of learning
opportunities
High mathematics performance
Low mathematics performance
Strong socio-economic
impact on student
performance
Singapore
Hong Kong-ChinaChinese Taipei
Korea
Macao-China
Japan Liechtenstein
Switzerland
Netherlands
Estonia Finland
Canada
Poland
Belgium
Germany Viet Nam
Austria Australia
IrelandSlovenia
DenmarkNew Zealand
Czech Republic France
United Kingdom
Iceland
LatviaLuxembourg Norway
Portugal ItalySpain
Russian Fed.Slovak Republic United States
LithuaniaSwedenHungary
Croatia
Israel
Greece
SerbiaTurkey
Romania
Bulgaria
U.A.E.
Kazakhstan
Thailand
Chile Malaysia
Mexico
31. 3333 Excellence and equity
Excellence and equity are compatible
goals in the post-2015 agenda
32. • Basic skills for all or cultivating top achievers?
– The impact of the basic-skills share does not vary
significantly with the initial level of development
– The impact of the top-performing share is significantly
larger in countries that have more scope to catch up to the
most productive countries (the process of economic
convergence is accelerated in countries with larger shares
of high-performing students).
Excellence and equity
35. Change in performance between PISA 2003 and 2012
Indonesia
Thailand
Russian Fed.
United States
Latvia
Spain
Norway
Luxembourg
Ireland
Austria
Switzerland
Japan
Liechtenstein
Korea
Brazil
Tunisia
Mexico
Uruguay
Turkey
Greece
Italy
Portugal
Hungary
Poland
Slovak Republic
OECD average
Germany
Sweden
France
Denmark
Iceland
Czech Republic
New Zealand
Australia
Macao-China
Belgium
Canada
Netherlands
Finland
Hong Kong-China
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
350 400 450 500 550 600
Averageannualmathematicsscorechange
Average mathematics performance in PISA 2003
ImprovingperformanceDeterioratingperformance
PISA 2003 performance below the OECD average
PISA 2003 performance
above the OECD average
Fig I.2.18
37
B
36. 3838 Skills and inclusive growth
Achieving basic skills would make
economic growth more inclusive
37. • Achieving universal basic skills will make economic
growth more inclusive
– 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
• Universal basic skills will also expand the size of the
economy, 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
Inclusive growth
38. 4040 Why poverty need not be destiny
It’s not just about poor kids in poor neighborhoods
but about many kids in many neighborhoods
The country where students go to class matters more
than what social class students come from
39. 4141
PISA mathematics performance
by decile of social background
300325350375400425450475500525550575600625650675
Mexico
Chile
Greece
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Israel
Italy
UnitedStates
Spain
Denmark
Luxembourg
Australia
Ireland
UnitedKingdom
Hungary
Canada
Finland
Austria
Turkey
Liechtenstein
CzechRepublic
Estonia
Portugal
Slovenia
SlovakRepublic
NewZealand
Germany
Netherlands
France
Switzerland
Poland
Belgium
Japan
Macao-China
HongKong-China
Korea
Singapore
ChineseTaipei
Shanghai-China
Source: PISA 2012
44. • Obtaining the projected gains will require a variety of
structural changes in each country’s economy so that the
new, more skilled workers can be productively absorbed into
the labour force. These changes are assumed to be similar to
the productivity improvements seen over past half century
46 Assumptions
0.94
0.89
2.55
1.84
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Openness to international trade Protection against expropriation risk
Closed
economy
Open
economy
Least
protection
Most
protection
1.61*
0.95
Estimated effect of
test scores on growth
45. 4848Lessonsfromhighperformers
Can we make it happen?
It’s everybody’s business
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
46. 4949Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
47. 5050Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
A commitment to education and the belief that
competencies can be learned and therefore all
children can achieve
Ambitious educational standards and personalization
as the approach to heterogeneity in the student body…
… as opposed to a belief that students have different
destinations to be met with different expectations, and
selection/stratification as the approach to
heterogeneity
Clear articulation who is responsible for ensuring
student success and to whom
48. United States
Poland
Hong Kong-China
Brazil
New Zealand
Greece
Uruguay
United Kingdom
Estonia
Finland
Albania
Croatia
Latvia
Slovak Republic
Luxembourg
Germany
Lithuania
Austria
Czech Republic
Chinese Taipei
France
Thailand
Japan
Turkey Sweden
Hungary
Australia
Israel
Canada
IrelandBulgaria
Jordan
Chile
Macao-China
U.A.E.
Belgium
Netherlands
Spain
Argentina
Indonesia
Denmark
Kazakhstan
Peru
Costa Rica
Switzerland
Montenegro
Tunisia
Iceland
Slovenia
Qatar
Singapore
Portugal
Norway
Colombia
Malaysia
Mexico
Liechtenstein
Korea
Serbia
Russian Fed.
Romania
Viet Nam
Italy
Shanghai-China
R² = 0.36
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
-0.60 -0.40 -0.20 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20
Meanmathematicsperformance
Mean index of mathematics self-efficacy
OECDaverage
Countries where students have stronger beliefs
in their abilities perform better in mathematics51 Fig III.4.5
49. 5555Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
Clear ambitious goals that are shared across the
system and aligned with high stakes gateways and
instructional systems
Well established delivery chain through which
curricular goals translate into instructional systems,
instructional practices and student learning (intended,
implemented and achieved)
High level of metacognitive content of instruction …
50. 5656Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
Capacity at the point of delivery
Attracting, developing and retaining high quality
teachers and school leaders and a work organisation in
which they can use their potential
Instructional leadership and human resource
management in schools
Keeping teaching an attractive profession
System-wide career development …
51. Developing Teaching
as a profession
Recruit top candidates
into the profession
Support teachers in
continued
development of
practice
Retain and recognise
effective teachers –
path for growth
Improve the societal
view of teaching as
a profession
Mean mathematics performance, by school location, after acc
ounting for socio-economic status5757 Capacity at the point of delivery
52. Mean mathematics performance, by school location,
after accounting for socio-economic status
Fig II.3.3
5858 Teachers' perceptions of the value of teaching
Percentage of lower secondary teachers who "agree" or "strongly agree" that teaching profession is a valued profession
in society
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Malaysia
Singapore
Korea
AbuDhabi(UAE)
Finland
Mexico
Alberta(Canada)
Flanders(Belgium)
Netherlands
Australia
England(UK)
Romania
Israel
UnitedStates
Chile
Average
Norway
Japan
Latvia
Serbia
Bulgaria
Denmark
Poland
Iceland
Estonia
Brazil
Italy
CzechRepublic
Portugal
Croatia
Spain
Sweden
France
SlovakRepublic
Percentageofteachers
Above-average performers in PISA
53. Mean mathematics performance, by school location,
after accounting for socio-economic status
Fig II.3.3
5959
Countries where teachers believe their profession is valued
show higher levels of student achievement
Relationship between lower secondary teachers' views on the value of their profession in society and the country’s
share of top mathematics performers in PISA 2012
Australia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Iceland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea
Latvia
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Spain
Sweden
Alberta (Canada)
England (UK)
Flanders (Belgium)
United States
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Shareofmathematicstopperformers
Percentage of teachers who agree that teaching is valued in society
R2 = 0.24 r= 0.49
54. Teacher skills and graduate skills (numeracy)
230 250 270 290 310 330 350
Italy
Poland
Estonia
United States
Canada
Ireland
Korea
England (UK)
England/N. Ireland (UK)
Denmark
Northern Ireland (UK)
Slovak Republic
France
Australia
Sweden
Czech Republic
Austria
Netherlands
Norway
Germany
Flanders (Belgium)
Finland
Japan
Middle half of the numeracy
skill distribution of graduates
(16-65 years)
PIAAC test scores (numeracy)
55. Teacher skills and graduate skills (numeracy)
230 250 270 290 310 330 350
Italy
Poland
Estonia
United States
Canada
Ireland
Korea
England (UK)
England/N. Ireland (UK)
Denmark
Northern Ireland (UK)
Slovak Republic
France
Australia
Sweden
Czech Republic
Austria
Netherlands
Norway
Germany
Flanders (Belgium)
Finland
Japan
Middle half of the numeracy
skill distribution of graduates
(16-65 years)
Numeracy skills of teachers
PIAAC test scores (numeracy)
56. Mean mathematics performance, by school location,
after accounting for socio-economic status
Fig II.3.3
6262 Teachers Self-Efficacy and Professional Collaboration
11.40
11.60
11.80
12.00
12.20
12.40
12.60
12.80
13.00
13.20
13.40
Never
Onceayearorless
2-4timesayear
5-10timesayear
1-3timesamonth
Onceaweekormore
Teacherself-efficacy(level)
Teach jointly as a
team in the same
class
Observe other
teachers’ classes and
provide feedback
Engage in joint
activities across
different classes
Take part in
collaborative
professional learning
57. 6565Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
Incentives, accountability, knowledge management
Aligned incentive structures
For students
How gateways affect the strength, direction, clarity and nature of the
incentives operating on students at each stage of their education
Degree to which students have incentives to take tough courses and study hard
Opportunity costs for staying in school and performing well
For teachers
Make innovations in pedagogy and/or organisation
Improve their own performance
and the performance of their colleagues
Pursue professional development opportunities
that lead to stronger pedagogical practices
A balance between vertical and lateral accountability
Effective instruments to manage and share knowledge and spread
innovation – communication within the system and with
stakeholders around it
A capable centre with authority and legitimacy to act
59. 6767Lessonsfromhighperformers
67
67
Hong Kong-China
Brazil
Uruguay
Albania
Croatia
Latvia
Lithuania
Chinese Taipei
ThailandBulgaria
Jordan
Macao-China
UAE Argentina
Indonesia
Kazakhstan
Peru
Costa Rica
Tunisia
Qatar
Singapore
Colombia
Malaysia
Serbia
Romania
Viet Nam
Shanghai-China
USA
Poland
New Zealand
Greece
UK
Estonia
Finland
Slovak Rep.
Luxembourg
Germany
Austria
Czech Rep.
France
Japan
Turkey
Sweden
Hungary
Australia
Israel
Canada
Chile
Belgium
Netherlands
Spain
Denmark
Switzerland
Iceland
Slovenia
Portugal
Norway
Korea
Italy
R² = 0.13
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
Mathematicsperformance(scorepoints)
Index of school responsibility for curriculum and assessment
(index points)
Countries that grant schools autonomy over curricula and
assessments tend to perform better in mathematics
Source: PISA 2012
60. No shared math
policy
Shared math policy
455
460
465
470
475
480
485
Less school autonomy
More school autonomy
Schools with more autonomy perform better than schools with
less autonomy in systems with standardised math policies
Score points
School autonomy for curriculum and assessment
x system's extent of implementing a standardised math policy (e.g. curriculum and
instructional materials)
Fig IV.1.16
61. Schools with more autonomy perform better than schools with
less autonomy in systems with more collaboration
Teachers don't participate in
management
Teachers participate in
management455
460
465
470
475
480
485
Less school autonomy
More school autonomy
Score points
School autonomy for resource allocation x System's level of teachers
participating in school management
Across all participating countries and economies
Fig IV.1.17
62. 0 20 40 60 80 100
Written specification of the school's curriculum and
educational goals
Written specification of student-performance standards
Systematic recording of data, including teacher and
student attendance and graduation rates, test results…
Internal evaluation/self-evaluation
External evaluation
Written feedback from students (e.g. regarding lessons,
teachers or resources)
Teacher mentoring
Regular consultation with one or more experts over a
period of at least six months with the aim of improving…
Implementation of a standardised policy for mathematics
%
Percentage of students in schools whose principal reported that their schools have the
following for quality assurance and improvement:
Singapore OECD average
Quality assurance and school improvement Fig IV.4.14
71
63. 7272Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
Investing resources where they can make most
of a difference
Alignment of resources with key challenges (e.g.
attracting the most talented teachers to the most
challenging classrooms)
Effective spending choices that prioritise high quality
teachers over smaller classes
64. 7474 Adequate resources to address disadvantage
Disadvantaged schools reported
more teacher shortage
Advantaged schools reported
more teacher shortage
-0.5
-0.3
-0.1
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
Korea
Estonia
Israel
Latvia
Slovenia
Italy
Poland
Singapore
Argentina
Netherlands
Portugal
Colombia
France
Finland
Tunisia
Macao-China
Spain
Greece
Switzerland
Norway
RussianFed.
Japan
Austria
Montenegro
Croatia
Canada
OECDaverage
Germany
Denmark
Hungary
UnitedKingdom
Luxembourg
HongKong-China
Belgium
Iceland
VietNam
Ireland
UnitedStates
Chile
CzechRepublic
Serbia
Turkey
Mexico
Indonesia
Uruguay
Shanghai-China
SlovakRepublic
Sweden
Brazil
NewZealand
Australia
ChineseTaipei
Meanindexdifference
Difference between socio-economically disadvantaged and socio-economically advantaged schools
A shortage of qualified teachers is more of concern
in disadvantaged schools
65. 7575Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
Coherence of policies and practices
Alignment of policies
across all aspects of the system
Coherence of policies
over sustained periods of time
Consistency of implementation
Fidelity of implementation
(without excessive control)
66. 7676Lessonsfromhighperformers
Low impact on outcomes
High impact on outcomes
Low feasibility High feasibility
Money pits
Must haves
Low hanging fruits
Quick wins
Commitment to universal achievement
Gateways, instructional
systems
Capacity
at point of delivery
Incentive structures and
accountability
Resources
where they yield most
A learning system
Coherence
67. 7777Lessonsfromhighperformers
Average school systems High performers in PISA
Some students learn
at high levels
All students learn
at high levels
Uniformity Embracing diversity
Curriculum-centred Learner-centred
Learning a place Learning an activity
Prescription Informed profession
68. 7878Lessonsfromhighperformers
Some students learn at high levels All students need to learn at high levels
Student inclusion
Routine cognitive skills Conceptual understanding,
complex ways of thinking, ways of working
Curriculum, instruction and assessment
Standardisation and compliance High-level professional knowledge workers
Teacher quality
‘Tayloristic’, hierarchical Flat, collegial
Work organisation
Primarily to authorities Primarily to peers and stakeholders
Accountability
What it all means
The old bureaucratic system The modern enabling system
69. 7979Lessonsfromhighperformers
79
79 Thank you
Find out more about this report at
– http://www.oecd.org/edu/universal-basic-skills-
9789264234833-en.htm
–#UniversalBasicSkills
Email: Andreas.Schleicher@OECD.org
Twitter: SchleicherEDU
and remember:
Without data, you are just another person with an opinion