The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills seeks to help individuals and nations to identify and develop the knowledge, skills and values that drive better jobs and better lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion. It assists OECD countries and partner economies in designing and managing their education and skills systems, and in implementing reforms, so that citizens can develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values they need throughout their lives.
Directorate for Education and Skills
The Education and Skills Directorate is one of twelve substantive departments of the OECD and provides policy analysis and advice on education to help individuals and nations to identify and develop the knowledge and skills that drive better jobs and better lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion.
Who we are
Leadership
Yuri Belfali
Head
Early Childhood and Schools Division
Paulo Santiago
Head
Policy Advice and Implementation Division
Tia Loukkola
Head
Innovation and Measuring Progress Division
How we work
The work of the Directorate for Education and Skills is overseen by four bodies, each with its own mandate, membership, and programme of work and budget, to help deliver work under the overall governance of the OECD Council:
- The Education Policy Committee, which also provides strategic oversight of our work
- The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation Governing Board (CERI)
- The Programme for International Student Assessment Governing Board (PISA)
- The Programme for Teaching and Learning International Survey Governing Board (TALIS)
- The Board of Participating Countries for the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is overseen by both the Education Policy Committee and the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee.
What we are working on
The best way for education systems to improve is to learn what works from each other. We deploy large scale surveys and reviews, designing common methodological and analytical frameworks for utmost comparability of empirical evidence from different education systems. We collect data about nearly all aspects of countries’ education systems from key policies, teacher practises, adult proficiency, and early childhood learning and well-being to how 15-year-olds perform in mathematics and what their attitudes are about global issues like climate change.
- Education at a Glance
- The Education Policy Outlook
- PISA Global Crisis Module
- Global Teaching Insights
- Education GPS
- PISA for schools
We help countries answer important questions facing education policy makers and practitioners alike: how to identify and develop the right skills and turn them into better jobs and better lives; how best to allocate resources in education to support social and economic development; and how to offer everyone the chance to make the most of their abilities at every age and stage of life OECD and partner countries look to our expertise to review their education and skills systems, and assist them in developing and implementing policies to improve them. We conduct reviews ranging from those on individual national education policy to comparative educational policy and thematic peer-analysis. We review and support the development of higher education systems with analysis on resource use and labour market relevance. All of these provide in-depth analyses and advice that draw on OECD data resources, national policy documents and research, and field-based interviewing by OECD review teams. Comparative thematics, covering areas such as ECEC in a digital world, diversity, equity and inclusion in education, teacher policy and transitions in upper secondary education, are based on a common conceptual framework and methodology developed with advice from a group of national experts.
Through tailored implementation support the directorate offers countries assistance in implementing policy, from curriculum reform to helping schools become effective learning organisations. It also brings countries and stakeholders together in a variety of fora to exchange ideas, an important step in the policymaking process.
What knowledge, skills, attitudes and values will students need in a swiftly evolving world? We develop long-term “leading-edge” thinking that looks beyond the current state of education to what it can become. These multiple-scenario analyses nourish our ground-breaking Education 2030 work on curriculum. They inform international debate and inspire policy processes to shape the future of education. The one certainty about the future of education is that it will be a digital one though we cannot know to what degree. In staying ahead of the EdTech curve, the directorate advises countries on the fast-changing potential of digital tools like robotics, blockchain and artificial intelligence, and how they can be integrated and used to equitably boost teaching, learning and administrative performance. The digitalisation of education is just one of the many strategic foresight areas the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) focuses on. Its exploration of best practices flagged by international comparisons helps countries move towards the frontiers of education.
Programmes
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The OECD’s programme on education and skills policy support policymakers in their efforts to achieve high-quality lifelong learning, which in turn contributes to personal development, sustainable economic growth, and social cohesion.Learn more
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The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) provides and promotes international comparative research, innovation and key indicators, explores forward-looking and innovative approaches to education and learning, and facilitates bridges between educational research, innovation and policy development.Learn more
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The OECD Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme seeks to gauge the performance of national education systems through internationally comparable data.Learn more
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PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.Learn more
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The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the PIAAC, measures adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and the ability to solve problems in technology-rich environments.Learn more
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TALIS - the Teaching and Learning International Survey - is the world's largest international survey about teachers and school leaders.Learn more
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The OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills is an international survey that identifies and assesses the conditions and practices that foster or hinder the development of social and emotional skills for 10- and 15-year-old students.Learn more
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The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programme conducts analysis and develops new data to support countries in reviewing and improving their early childhood services and systems.Learn more
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The Higher Education Policy Programme carries out analysis on a wide range of higher education systems and policiesLearn more
Directorate outputs
Reports
Policy and working papers
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14 August 2024
Spotlights
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12 March 2024
Related policy issues
Get in touch
Contact us: edu.contact@oecd.org