The activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2009-2010
Contribution
| Doc. 12381
| 04 October 2010
- Committee
- (Former) Committee on Culture, Science and Education
- Rapporteur :
- Mr Jan KAŹMIERCZAK,
Poland, EPP/CD
- Origin
- Reference to committee: standing
mandate. Reporting committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development.
See Doc. 12340.
Contribution approved by the committee on 4 October 2010. 2010 - Fourth part-session
- Thesaurus
1 Introduction
1. The annual report on the activities of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2009-2010, prepared
by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, focuses on
the activities of the OECD in the economic field. The activities
of this organisation certainly cover a much wider area than the
purely economic, which is why other committees of the Parliamentary
Assembly also contribute to the above-mentioned report in the form
of contributions.
2. In particular, the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
contributes by dealing with the activities of the OECD in the fields
of education and science.
3. The contribution to the report from the Committee on Culture,
Science and Education is based mainly on material published by the
OECD over the last year.
2 Education
4. As the OECD Directorate for Education states in the
2010 report: “Both individuals and countries benefit from education.
For individuals the potential benefits lie in the general quality
of life and in the economic returns of sustained, satisfying employment.
For countries, the potential benefits lie in economic growth and
the development of shared values that underpin social cohesion”.
Education is thus a vital concern for the OECD.
5. Key OECD activities in this field focus on statistics and
indicators on knowledge and competences, member states’ policy reviews,
thematic reviews and projections of future developments. In 2009-2010, education
was a matter of special focus, as an ultimate antidote to the economical
crisis. The areas of special focus in the field of education are
set out below.
2.1 Education indicators
6. The OECD provides a wealth of statistics, analysis
and policy advice for member countries on a wide range of education
topics. The indicators published in the OECD’s yearly reports “Education
at a Glance” enable countries to see themselves in the light of
other countries’ performance. They provide a rich, comparable and
up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems
and represents a consensus of professional thinking on how to measure
the current state of education internationally. The indicators look
at who participates in education, how much is spent on it, how education
systems operate and the results achieved. The latter includes indicators
on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance
in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and
on adults’ chances of employment.
7. The most widely recognised and one of the most long-standing
OECD programmes concerning education indicators is the PISA project,
which has carried out assessments of knowledge and competence in all
member states over the last fifteen years. Now the OECD is extending
its study to assess the competence of adults (Programme for the
International Assessment of Adult Competencies – PIAAC), of which
the first results are expected in 2013.
8. A key finding from the 2010 publication “The high cost of
low educational performance” is the demonstration that small improvements
to labour force skills can boost the future well-being of the nation.
This is further developed in the report on “The long-run economic
impact of improving PISA outcomes” report. The findings also support
the theory that it is the quality of learning outcomes and not the
length of education that is a decisive factor.
9. In addition, the first results from the study on teaching
and learning effectiveness (TALIS) carried out in 2010 show that
the quality of the learning environment, which can be influenced
by policy intervention, is the most important factor for optimising
student learning and outcomes. In the year 2010 the OECD is examining policies
that contribute to social progress and sustainable economic growth
by improving educational outcomes and fostering human capital and
employment.
2.2 Fostering educational facilities and infrastructure
10. The OECD programme Centre for Effective Learning
Environments (CELE, formerly the OECD Programme on Educational Building)
promotes the exchange and analysis of policy, research and experience in
all matters related to educational construction. The planning and
design of educational facilities – schools, colleges and universities
– has an impact on educational outcomes which is significant but
hard to quantify.
11. Building and running those facilities accounts for a substantial
part of public educational expenditure in OECD countries. While
information and communication technologies have the potential to
transform the way in which they are used, CELE has three objectives:
- to improve the quality and suitability
of educational buildings;
- to ensure that the best use is made of the resources devoted
to planning, building, running and maintaining educational buildings;
- to give early warning of the impact on educational construction
of trends in education and in society as a whole.
2.3 Higher education
12. Matters of innovation, reform, access and regional
competitiveness in higher education are becoming more and more important.
This is explained by the increasing interest in quality, with regards
to its impact on higher education. The key OECD publication in this
field is “Higher education to 2030”. The Programme on Institutional
Management in Higher Education (IMHE), the OECD forum on higher
education, brings together higher education institutions and governments
to share best practices in facing these challenges through a network
of relationships, studies and research.
13. Another important new initiative launched by the OECD is Assessment
of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO). This will test what
students in higher education know and
can do upon graduation. More than a ranking, AHELO is
a direct evaluation of student performance. It will provide data
on the relevance and quality of teaching and learning in higher
education. The test aims to be global and valid across diverse cultures,
languages and different types of institutions. AHELO is designed
as a tool to assist universities in assessing and improving teaching,
students in making better choices in selecting educational institutions, policy
makers in ensuring that the considerable amounts spent on higher
education are spent well, and finally it will allow employers to
know whether the skills of the graduates entering the job market
match their needs.
14. The OECD’s June 2010 publication Assessing
the effects of ICT in Education: Indicators, Criteria and Benchmarks
for International Comparisons shows the need to identify
global indicators and existing data sources for assessing how so-called
“21st century competencies” are integrated intocompulsory education in a knowledge
economy driven by technology. The study identifies information and
communication technologies as tools for improving the teaching process,
enhancing the possibilities of customisation of education adapted to
individual students and for preparing students for adult life by
giving them those skills necessary in a society where technology-related
competencies are increasingly indispensable. It appears that a new
form of “digital divide” is emerging, between students with an economic,
cultural and social capital enabling them to gain the right competences
and skills to benefit from computer use, and those who do not. The
Committee on Culture, Science and Education could consider examining
this phenomenon as a follow-up to its 2002 report on the digital
divide and education (rapporteur: Mrs Isohookana-Asunmaa, Doc. 9616).
2.4 Education for migrants
15. Migrant education is high on the policy agenda in
many OECD countries. While the integration of immigrants into the
labour market has been extensively researched, focusing on outcomes
for their children and reviewing education policies at the international
level has rarely been done. In many OECD countries, immigrant students
have more restricted access to quality education, leave school earlier
and have lower academic achievement than their native peers. That
makes improving the education of immigrant students a policy priority.
16. The OECD thematic review on migrant education focuses on the
education outcomes of children of immigrants, with an emphasis on
“schools” (pre-school, primary school and secondary school), while
noting that the process of integration is multi-directional, interactive
and non-linear. The main overarching policy question of the review
is: “What policies will promote successful education outcomes for
first and second generation migrants?” The research carried out
provides an in-depth analysis since 2008 of successful approaches
to migrant education in order to support policy development.
17. The OECD conducted policy reviews of migrant education in
Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden and
examined the migrant education experience in many countries. In
2010 the results were presented in a book OECD
Reviews of Migrant Education – Closing the Gap for Immigrant Students: Policies,
Practice and Performance. This publication offers comparative
data on access, participation and performance of immigrant students
and their native peers and identifies a set of policy options based
on solid evidence of what works. The report has been structured
as a concise action-oriented handbook for policy makers as well
as for teachers, school leaders, parents and those who are active
in immigrant communities.
3 Science and innovation
18. The OECD assesses how science, technology, innovation
and education policies can efficiently contribute to sustainable
economic growth and employment creation. It provides policy advice
on coping with the challenges arising from developments in new science-based
industries, notably biotechnology. The OECD is a leader in the development
of benchmarking for member countries’ innovation performance.
3.1 The OECD Science, Technology and Industry (STI)
Scoreboard
19. Published every two years in print and online, the
OECD
Science, Technology and Industry
(STI) Scoreboard brings together internationally comparable
indicators. Its last edition, issued in 2009, focuses on five key
areas:
- responding
to the economic crisis: venture capital, research and
development expenditure, researchers, patents, trademarks, productivity
and foreign direct investment statistics up to the second quarter
of 2009;
- targeting new growth areas:research and development, patents
and scientific publications in key research fields: health, biotechnology,
nanotechnology and environmental sciences, access to telecommunication
networks, government research and development budget, research and development
tax subsidies, and co-operation with innovative firms;
- competing in the world economy:
international trade by technological development, trade in information and
communication technology goods and services, e-commerce and e-business
penetration, activities of multinational firms, non-technological
innovation and entrepreneurship;
- connecting to global research:
international co-operation in research and development, patents
and scientific publications among countries and sub-national regions;
technological balance of payments; international flows in inventions
and doctoral students;
- investing in the knowledge
economy: new university graduates and doctorate holders
by discipline and gender, human resources in science and technology,
employment of graduates and doctorate holders, relative earnings
by level of education and gender.
3.2 Innovation
20. Last year, special focus was put on fostering and
the broad distribution of innovation. In May 2010, the OECD launched
its long-awaited Innovation Strategy at its annual ministerial council
meeting. The strategy stresses the key role of governments in boosting
innovation. The current crisis makes it all the more urgent to push
through necessary reforms to increase the innovative capacity of
societies. Governments struggling to attain a sustainable growth
path for their economies need to reduce administrative obstacles
for new and existing companies and to make their tax policies more
attractive to innovation and entrepreneurship. Innovation is considered
not only a key factor of economic growth but also of social progress,
and as such plays an essential role in economic recovery and job
creation. While human capital is the source of innovation, empowering
people to innovate does not only entail broad and relevant education
and training, but also requires that opportunities be given to give
leverage to these skills throughout the economy and society.
21. As the Innovation Strategy is a new venture, governments are
encouraged to become familiar with it and communicate its ideas.
The Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry has announced
that further work in this field is under way, aimed to monitor developments
in innovation processes through better collection and use of data
and statistics and to support governments in the implementation
of the strategy through the development of a handbook for innovation
policy. New analyses will consider how to optimise the benefits
of “intangible assets”, such as research and development, software,
databases, patents and organisational know-how, through the expansion
of markets and knowledge networks. The OECD is also working to bring
forward common principles to underpin the governance of multilateral
co-operation in the fields of science, technology and innovation
to address global challenges.
22. Member states that are also members of the European Union
ensure common standards and objectives in these areas (for instance
through the Lisbon Strategy). However, some non-OECD countries such
as China and India have become major platforms for scientific discovery
and innovation. To keep pace with these developments, the OECD must
further refine its analysis in the areas of science and innovation.
Although not able to develop strategies for all member countries,
the OECD does provide country-specific advice on innovation. By
the end of 2008, reviews of Innovation Policy for Switzerland, Luxemburg,
New Zealand, South Africa and Chile had been completed and several
others are currently under way.
4 Conclusion
23. As stated in its 2009 contribution, the Committee
on Culture, Science and Education regards the annual debate with
the participation of the Secretary-General of the OECD as well as
working meetings with OECD representatives as a worthwhile exercise
that should be continued. (The rapporteur regrets not having had
the opportunity to exchange views in 2010.) Moreover, bearing in
mind the developing scope of the OECD’s work, for instance in the
area of gender equality with respect to economic performance, it
would be useful to review the selection of committees contributing
to the annual overview of activities.
24. The rapporteur acknowledges and endorses the OECD’s vision
of education as essential in fostering human capital and employment,
and as such an antidote for the economic crisis, both for individuals
and their employability and at the level of national economies.
It is interesting to note that the studies reveal the considerable
impact of the quality of the learning environment, in particular
the design and construction of educational establishments, has a
considerable positive influence on the effectiveness of learning
programmes at all levels.
25. The rapporteur also welcomes the new student performance assessment
tool, Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO),
which should allow all stakeholders, including students themselves, to
better monitor the results of education courses and their suitability.
26. The publication Assessing the Effects
of ICT in Education: Indicators, Criteria and Benchmarks for International
Comparisons on the need to assess and avoid a new form
of “digital divide” also provides food for thought on the need for
benchmarks in the use of computer technologies in schools.
27. The OECD is also working to bring forward common principles
to underpin the governance of multilateral co-operation in the fields
of science, technology and innovation to address global challenges.
The OECD’s Global Science Forum has organised debates and published
conclusions on the relations between science and modern civil society,
such as the Conference on Declining Interest in Science Studies
among Young People held in 2005 and on Improving the Dialogue with
Society on Scientific Issues in 2008. These activities are highly relevant
to the work of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education and
will be followed with interest.
28. In the OECD Secretary-General’s introduction to his 2010 report,
it is interesting to note Angel Gurría’s intention to propose an
OECD-wide initiative on the role of women in the economy, identifying
the main barriers to gender equality and assessing policies and
good practices. The aim would be to produce a toolkit of policy measures
countries could adopt to reduce the gender gap, in particular in
the areas of education, employment and entrepreneurship. This proposal
is inspired by the fact that in most parts of the world today, women
do not achieve their full economic potential and that policies to
correct this problem would boost both economic efficiency and equity.
The Assembly should follow this development closely.
Proposed amendments to the provisional
draft resolution
“The enlarged Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the OECD’s development
of a new student performance assessment tool, Assessment of Higher
Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO), a tool to assist universities in
assessing and improving teaching, to help students in making better
choices in selecting educational institutions, and policy makers
in ensuring that the considerable amounts spent on higher education
are spent well. In addition, this tool will allow employers to know
whether the skills of the graduates entering the job market match
their needs.
The enlarged Parliamentary Assembly draws the attention of
member states to the need for more focused budget spending on education
policies, bearing in mind the OECD’s findings that the quality of
education and training is more important than the length of education
programmes, and that the learning (and teaching) environment must
be improved in order to render education effective and optimise
outcomes. The OECD programme Centre for Effective Learning Environments
(CELE) promotes the exchange and analysis of policy, research and
experience in all matters related to educational construction with
the objectives of improving the quality and suitability of educational
buildings, ensuring that the best use is made of the resources devoted
to planning, building, running and maintaining educational buildings
and giving early warning of the impact on educational construction
of trends in education and in society as a whole.
Again with respect to the optimisation of resources, the enlarged
Parliamentary Assembly notes the OECD’s warning that a new form
of “digital divide” has emerged with respect to information and
communication technology, separating students with an economic,
cultural and social capital enabling them to gain the right competences
and skills to benefit from computer use, and those who do not. Studies
show that although governments invest in computing equipment for
schools, their use by teachers and students is not ensured as it
should be. Global indicators are needed for assessing how so-called
“21st century competencies” are integrated intocompulsory education to improve
teaching processes, enhance individualised education programmes
and prepare students for adult life by giving them those skills
necessary in a society where technology-related competencies are
increasingly indispensable.
The enlarged Parliamentary Assembly is concerned that figures
for OECD member states still show that immigrant students often
have more restricted access to quality education, leave school earlier
and have lower academic achievement than their native peers. It
encourages Council of Europe member states to step up efforts to
ensure that first and second generation migrants have early and
equal access to education and to the appropriate assistance in integrating
national systems, and that educational structures are designed to
suit pupils from different cultural backgrounds.”
