Learning in rural China: The challenges for students

by Andreas Schleicher
Deputy Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary General

The first thing I notice is that, in this neighbourhood of simple houses and farmlands, it is the school, not a shopping centre, that is the cleanest and most impressive building in the area. The Qiao Tou Lian He primary school can afford only 29 staff to look after the 714 children who attend. Most of the children stay for the full school-week as they have to walk for several hours to reach their homes. So the school has become their family, albeit one where the children have to assume an incredible amount of individual and social responsibility, with very limited support from adults.

Roughly 3,000 kilometres southwest of Shanghai, a city that harbours the world’s leading education system, the Qiao Tou Lian He primary school is one of the fruits of China’s efforts to educate its citizens who live in sparsely populated rural areas like this. While the economic and social development of these areas has been remarkable by any standard, China’s coastal areas are racing ahead at an even faster pace, thus widening disparities. That, in turn, fuels an endless stream of people moving to the cities: students looking for a better education, parents looking for work, and teachers who excel in their jobs and are looking for more fulfilling careers. Shanghai, alone, registers 1,000 additional cars each day by those who have made it upwards in the social ladder.

Short of options to bring high quality education to the children up in the mountains, China has begun to consolidate rural schools to form viable hubs which bring together the infrastructure and critical mass of teachers that are needed to build strong instructional systems. That’s never easy. Over generations, schools have become the heart of communities; when the children leave, communities see their future endangered. But there have also been serious implementation problems in China, most notably involving transportation, that have bogged down progress and, in some areas, brought the consolidation process to a halt. But Qiao Tou Lian He school is an example that is well on its way to turn the challenges into opportunities. It offers the children from four former remote schools educational opportunities - and a future - that neither they themselves nor their parents could have ever imagined in their villages.

The children at Qiao Tou Lian He school live in a dormitory composed of tiny rooms that each holds 12 beds and 18 children (you can do the math). But room after room is in impeccable order, with the belongings of each child tidily arranged. A cheerful squad of 5th and 6th graders walks from room to room, with notebooks in their hands in which they record notes about hygiene and discipline; and they help the smaller children as best as they can. Only one already over-burdened teacher is appointed to respond to the needs of these hundreds of small children on any given day.

Every education system seeks to make children resilient so that their can find their way in a world in constant disequilibrium — trying, failing, adapting, learning and evolving. Resilience assumes that we don’t know exactly how things will unfold; that we’ll be surprised; that we are open to learning from the extraordinary; that we’ll make mistakes along the way, but that we persist and invest ourselves. Few children will be better prepared for this than the students of Qiao Tou Lian He school, even if the price for this is so high. Those who return to their communities after their education will be able to help those communities adapt to China’s rapid economic and social changes. In the meantime, though, when the students go home, they often have no one to talk to: their parents may be working far away; but even if they are at home, they may not understand the world that is opening up to these children.

Min, a 5th grader, explains that his greatest joy is to read books in a bookstore—even though the bookstore is not around the corner, but a good two-hour walk from his home. In many countries, we see learning outcomes severely impeded if a quarter or more of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. At this rural school, every child does. So how do the teachers at Qiao Tou Lian He school cope, let alone teach? I’ll discuss the challenges – and successes – for teachers in rural China in my next blog.

Links:
Video series: Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education - Shanghai, China
Related blog posts by Andreas Schleicher
China – what will remain when the dust around economic expansion has settled?
Implementing educational reform in China
Chinese lessons
Photo credit: @ Schleicher OECD

Where diversity doesn’t mean disadvantage

by Marilyn Achiron 
Editor, Directorate for Education and Skills

OECD publications and international media regularly discuss the impact of immigrants on host-country societies. This month’s PISA in Focus looks at the issue from a different perspective: how effectively do the education systems of host countries integrate their immigrant students?

Between 2000 and 2009, across OECD countries the proportion of 15-year-olds with an immigrant background increased from 8% to 10%. In Ireland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United States, the proportion of immigrant students increased by five percentage points or more during that time, and these students now represent from 8% to 30% of these countries’ student population. Education systems play a critical role in the process of integration: they give immigrants and their children opportunities to acquire the skills needed for them to join the labour market.

Results from PISA 2009 show that immigrant students of similar socio-economic status who come from the same country perform very differently, depending on their destination country. For example, immigrant students from the Russian Federation living in Finland, Germany and Israel perform around the OECD average in reading while those in the Czech Republic score about 30 points below the OECD average – the equivalent of a full year of school. Similarly, immigrant students from the Former Yugoslavia living in Denmark score about 40 points below the OECD average while those in Luxembourg score more than 80 points below average. 

The same pattern is observed among students from OECD countries who have immigrated to other countries. For example, on average, German students in Austria and Luxembourg perform at least 10 score points below the OECD average in reading, while those in the Netherlands and Switzerland score more than 30 points above average. On average, French students going to school in Belgium, Israel and Luxembourg perform around the OECD average, while those in Switzerland score 35 points above average.

While immigration policies, similarities between the immigrants’ and the host cultures, and other social policies also explain some of these differences in performance, some education systems appear to be able to facilitate the integration of immigrant students better than others. Immigrant students tend to perform better in school systems that have relatively large populations of immigrant students and where immigrant students are as diverse in their socio-economic status as other students. For example, between one in four and one in five students in Australia, Canada, Israel and the United States have an immigrant background. In these four countries, all students with similar socio-economic status perform equally well, regardless of whether or not they are immigrants. By contrast, in countries where immigrant students represent only a small proportion of the overall student population, and this group is more socio-economically diverse than the overall student population, performance differences between immigrant and non-immigrant students are relatively large, even after taking socio-economic status into account.

PISA results show that immigrant students tend to do better in countries and economies that rise to the challenge of diversity and whose school system is flexible enough to adapt to students with different strengths and needs. Countries that are just beginning to receive increasing numbers of immigrant students from diverse backgrounds can learn from the experience of those systems that have been confronted with this challenge for longer and have succeeded in integrating these students into their school systems.

Links:
For more information on PISA: www.oecd.org/pisa/
PISA in Focus No.33: What do immigrant students tell us about the quality of education systems?
Related PISA in Focus issues:
How are school systems adapting to increasing numbers of immigrants students?
How do immigrant students fare in disadvantaged schools?
Do immigrant students' reading skills depend on how long they've been in their new country?
Photo credit: road made with flags from around the world/@ Shutterstock

Smart policies matter in education

by Dirk Van Damme
Head of the Innovation and Measuring Progress division, Directorate for Education and Skills

Education policies are meant for the future, they target society-wide outcomes in the next generation. But constructing these policies demands foresight and planning, while simultaneously dealing with difficult trade-offs in the present. Take Korea, a remarkable success story of fast increasing educational attainment which made the country one of the highest educated nations in the world: 64% of its 25-34 year-old population has a tertiary qualification. And the PISA and Survey of Adult Skills data show that this incredible educational revolution did not cause any decline in the quality of learning. Clearly, Korea is successful in preparing its young workforce for a highly-skilled technological economy. How did they do that? A new issue of Education Indicators in Focus sheds some light on the policy trade-offs that countries face when they want to raise the tertiary attainment rate in the young generation.

Korea has invested heavily in education in the second half of the 20th Century. All levels of education combined they spent 6.1% of GDP on education already in the year 2000, climbing to 7.6% in 2010, well above the OECD average of 6.3%. On tertiary education, they spent 2.6% in 2010, a full percentage above the OECD average of 1.6%. But, due to the many students that were served, the per student expenditure was quite moderate, as can be seen in the graph above, just under USD 10 000. The graph shows that there are many countries spending a lot more, but failing to produce a high number of graduates in the young population. Korea demonstrates huge value for money from investments in tertiary education.

Money clearly matters, but there are wide differences between countries in the efficiency on how it is spent. Raising budgets for tertiary education is a hard thing to do, especially in times of economic crisis, fiscal consolidation and austerity. The considerable increases in educational expenditure seen in the past ten years will not be repeated again. And shifting the cost for tertiary education to students and families is a popular alternative, but faces resistance and drawbacks. No doubt, the imperative for efficiency resounds.

Is having more students a good strategy? The number of students as a percentage of the 20-29 year-old population is a good indicator. It combines the effect of participation rates and the time spent in education to earn a degree. Korea only has an average number of students in the 20-29 age cohort. So, probably they are very successful in their studies and they complete them in a short time. Canada, another country with a highly-skilled young population, has even less, with 25% students among the 20-29 year-olds. In contrast, Germany, a country with relatively few tertiary graduates (less than 30% in the 25-34 year-old age group) has close to 32% of students among the 20-29 year-olds. Spending a lot of time in universities is not a good way to produce more graduates.

Investing in the future comes at a high a price, and not only in monetary terms. Is the labour market following? For the time being, Korea seems unable to absorb the entirety of its well-qualified youngsters in skilled professions. With 75%, graduate employment among their 25-34 year-olds with a tertiary qualification in Korea are among the lowest in OECD countries (average 82%). It could be questioned as to whether  the inclusion of employment in Korea was  sufficiently integrated into the educational policy mix. Whereas, the small country of Belgium appears to have been able to combine the policy trade-offs better: spending is average, student participation is slightly above the average, however, it has a high tertiary attainment and high graduate employment rate.  Sometimes, ‘middle-of-the-road’ policies combined with a smart policy mix offer the best prospects.

For more information
On this topic, visit: 
Education Indicators in Focus: www.oecd.org/education/indicators 
On the OECD’s education indicators, visit:
Education at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators: www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm
Chart source: OECD Education at a Glance 2013:  Indicators A1 and B1 (www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm) 

Education and skills using today's technologies

When it comes to information technology in schools, the valuable experience and views of Nele Leosk, Program Director on ICT in Education, eGovernance Academy, Estonia, are encouraging to hear. She met with Lynda Hawe, Communications Officer for the Directorate for Education and Skills answered a few question about her observations on the use of technology in schools, the benefits for learning, achievement and skills, during a coffee break at the OECD Forum in Paris.

Share with us an example of a successful ICT in Education program that you implemented?
Over the past 15 years Estonia prioritised the development of information society and e-governance and initiated a tiger-leap program. The program focused on teacher training and infrastructure.  In addition, teacher administrators received advanced training on new technologies, so a shift in their mind-set got underway. Technology was not taught separately. Students were taught how to develop and progress in their related subjects by using technology as a complementary support to their learning. Overall, this had a wide impact on Estonian society. The knock on effect of using ICT filtered into homes and attitudes. The program continues - even if currently it has grown from its initial focus.

New technologies can offer many opportunities for education, skills and learning. But do you feel that there is some resistance to the changes technologies bring? 
There is always a natural resistance to what is new, as usually people want to keep the status-quo. Nevertheless, when there are benefits and opportunities linked to change then it will happen. In Estonia, policy makers were strongly behind the strategy to develop and invest in information technology. Now citizens demand it as a prerequisite. But it is a misconception to think that technology alone can enable an improvement in the quality of education received. Overall, it is more a question of teachers’ influence and reactions to the use of technology that is needed to implement change.  Technology is a way to make the teaching process more interactive and fun for students, so that they become more skilled at using it.

Some steps before implementing new technologies: First, have a strategic approach to the teaching necessities of the students, reflecting upon the required teaching frameworks. Secondly, built, buy and install the technologies around the teaching strategy. Lastly, evaluate the results: how have students’ skills been enhanced, what achievements have been made in their learning?

What types of ICT skills do you consider that we should be now teaching in schools, in order to prepare students with the skills they will need for future work environments?
Our main aim, when we started in Estonia, was that students should be able to use technology for their benefit and for their future careers.  Now since 2012, we have re-introduced teaching programme-coding skills.  The skill of information knowledge management is essential: learning how to search the web accurately, evaluating the quality of web-research findings, knowing which sources are relevant and irrelevant. This skill ought to be taught systematically - as it offers vast benefits to all students.

Ethics on the internets should also be taught. Students do not always realise the threats and dangers of the internet, so teaching the skills of how to protect themselves and their privacy online deems necessary. While the students today consider that sharing intimate details online as not being a problem, however, they should realise that in certain situations it can have negative fall-back effects. The dangers of cyber-bullying should also be cautioned.  Consequently, teaching them that the basic principles of good behaviour should follow what is acceptable both offline and online.

In 2012 the Paris Open Educational Resources (OER) Declaration was signed by many countries. Do you think that it will have an impact on the future of ICT Education?
The sharing of teaching materials online is an upright initiate. The OER declaration is a positive step in the right direction. Technological advances facilitate the production, distribution and use of OER and novel and more flexible licensing schemes, such as Creative Commons, give authors and institutions opportunities. Ideally all students should have free access to both the print and e-books on their learning curriculum. Policy makers have an important role to play in promoting progress in this area.  Previously in Estonia, some teachers had difficulties finding appropriate materials so the online attitude of sharing teaching materials is a praiseworthy approach. Teacher generated materials is also a good way for teachers to improve their own skills.

Kids these days use social media constantly, how to you think it affects their learning skills and educational outcomes?
Social media sometimes has a negative effect on students’ concentration. So the banning of mobile devises in certain classroom situations seems reasonable. Online video games can be creative, entertaining and help develop good ICT skills, yet the risks and dangers of playing violent games should be voiced, as they can have destructive influences on young minds. For that reason, preventive and awareness knowledge about social, ethical and healthy online usage should be shared with both students, teachers and parents, as well as establishing solid best practices.

LINKS:

E-Governance Academy, Estonia

Tiger-Leap, Estonia

E-Governance Academy, Estonia

Connected Minds: Technology and Today's Learners

Inspired by Technology, Driven by Pedagogy

Are the New Millennium Learners Making the Grade?

UNESCO – ICT in Education

Paris OER Declaration

Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) - Open Educational Resources (OER)
Photo credit: Pupils In Class Using Digital Tablet With Teacher/@ Shuttersctock

Balancing Trust and Accountability

by Tracey Burns
Analyst and Project Leader, Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate for Education and Skills

Strengthening accountability is one of the key ways to improve the quality of an education system. Yet reform processes that emphasize strong evaluation and assessment regimes can be misunderstood as controlling or demonstrating a lack of trust: in teachers, in students, and in the system. What is the best way to maintain and build trust while improving accountability?

A recently released Governing Complex Education Systems (GCES) case study looks at this issue. Entitled Balancing Trust and Accountability? The Assessment for Learning Programme in Norway, the report explores the implementation strategies used to enhance formative assessment in Norwegian schools. The reform aimed at helping school leaders and teachers integrate formative assessment into their day-to- day teaching practice and schools.

In Norway there is a strong sense of trust in the system. However, when the system relies wholly on trust and has few incentives (or sanctions) for the actors, long-term implementation of policy initiatives can become problematic in the face of resistance.

In the last several years Norway has been one of many OECD countries working to build a culture of assessment across the entire system. In order to achieve this, governments have to strike the right balance between providing clear directions and goals on the one hand, and allowing for freedom of innovation and creativity in practice on the other. This is true for teachers and other stakeholders as well: trust in local authorities, for example, is also required for the effective functioning of the system.

Effective formative assessment, like teaching, is based on a combination of factors and there is no single recipe for success. However in order to learn new practices, teachers are just like the rest of us – they need guidance and support. In this case, the Norwegian authorities have provided workshops, online tools, and peer learning networks to help facilitate the process. But it is not easy – despite the support put in place, the majority of the teachers interviewed for the case study struggled with understanding what would be considered “correct” practice.

So what can be done? Prepare the ground. Don’t underestimate the importance of clear goals and communication. And recognize the power of networks. In this case study, the research team found that successful implementation of the programme was enhanced by:

• strong leadership skills and thorough knowledge of the content of the programme on the part of the municipalities;
• clear communication between governance levels and a high degree of trust between stakeholders;
•  a solid understanding of the programme goals, including integrating these goals within the broader aims of educational policy and school practice; 
• the establishment of learning networks between schools to aid the exchange of knowledge and opportunities for peer learning. 

One final note: This case study addresses the process of reform and the dynamics of change in a large-scale implementation of policy. In this context, the importance of strategic planning and alignment of goals between governance levels cannot be understated. There is a danger of too much, too soon – smaller municipalities in particular struggle with a continual stream of policy changes and prioritising activities. Meaningful change takes time, and embedding new behaviours into practice requires thoughtful and deliberate planning and feedback.

Education systems have never been easy to manage. Today it is abundantly clear that processes of reform cannot be understood as top-down unilateral delivery chains and treated as systems that engineer processes. Rather, they require reappraisal, fine-tuning, responsiveness and sometimes new structures of collaboration, participation and networking. And above all, trust must be nurtured, for it is hard to gain and easy to lose. As the old adage says, trust “arrives on foot and leaves on horseback”.

Links: 
OECD'S Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)
Governing Complex Education Systems (GCES)
OECD Review of Evaluation and Assessment for Improving School Outcomes
OECD Working Paper: Stakeholders and Multiple School Accountability
Photo credit:Symbol Scales is made of stones of various shapes/@ Shutterstock

Skill up or lose out

by Andreas Schleicher
Deputy Director and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary-General

For the first time, the Survey of Adult Skills allows us to directly measure the skills people currently have, not just the qualifications they once obtained. The results show that what people know and what they do with what they know has a major impact on their life chances. On average across countries, the median wage of workers who score at Level 4 or 5 in the literacy test – meaning that they can make complex inferences and evaluate subtle arguments in written texts – is more than 60% higher than the hourly wage of workers who score at or below Level 1 – those who can, at best, read relatively short texts and understand basic vocabulary. Those with poor literacy skills are also more than twice as likely to be unemployed. In short, poor skills severely limit people’s access to better-paying and more-rewarding jobs.

It works the same way for nations: The distribution of skills has significant implications for how the benefits of economic growth are shared within societies. Put simply, where large shares of adults have poor skills, it becomes difficult to introduce productivity-enhancing technologies and new ways of working. And that can stall improvements in living standards.

Proficiency in basic skills affects more than earnings and employment. In all countries, adults with lower literacy proficiency are far more likely than those with better literacy skills to report poor health, to perceive themselves as objects rather than actors in political processes, and to have less trust in others. In other words, we can’t develop fair and inclusive policies and engage with all citizens if a lack of proficiency in basic skills prevents people from fully participating in society.

The case for acquiring and maintaining literacy skills is clear, but people’s proficiency varies widely. Roughly one in five adults in Japan and Finland reads at the highest levels on our test. In contrast, in Italy and Spain just one in twenty adults is proficient at that level, and more than one in three adults perform at or below the baseline level. And even highly literate nations have significant shallow areas in their talent pools. Across the 24 countries that took the test, more than 80 million people do not possess the most basic skills needed to succeed in today’s world. On top of that, in the United States, Poland, Germany, Italy and England, a difficult social background often translates into poor literacy skills.

And yet, the Skills Survey shows that some countries have made impressive progress in equipping more people with better skills. Young Koreans, for example, are outperformed only by their Japanese counterparts, while Korea’s 55 to 64 year-olds are among the three lowest-performing groups of this age across all participating countries. The results from Finland tell a similar story. But young Brits and Americans are entering a much more demanding job market with similar literacy and numeracy skills as their compatriots who are retiring.  The share of these countries in the global talent pool will shrink significantly over the next decades unless urgent action is taken both to improve schooling and to provide adults with better opportunities to develop and maintain their skills.

What our data also show is that actual skill levels often differ markedly from what formal education qualifications suggest. For example, Italy, Spain and the United States rank much higher internationally in the share of young people with tertiary degrees than in the level of literacy or numeracy proficiency among people that age. On average, young Japanese and Dutch high school graduates easily outperform university graduates in some other countries. In fact, in most countries at least a quarter of university graduates do not score higher than Level 2 on our literacy test, and are thus insufficiently equipped for what their jobs demand of them. Conversely, in Australia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway, more than one in four adults without a high school degree have made it to Level 3 in literacy, which shows that people can, indeed, recover from poor initial schooling. Surely there are many reasons why skills and qualifications differ; but these data suggest that we may need to update and re-define our education qualifications.

We can’t change the past; but we can do something about our future. The Nordic countries, the Netherlands and Canada, for example, have been much better in providing high-quality lifelong learning opportunities, both in and outside the workplace, than other countries. They’ve developed programmes that are relevant to users and flexible, both in content and in how they are delivered. They’ve made information about adult education opportunities easy to find and understand, and they provide recognition and certification of competencies that encourage adult learners to keep learning. They’ve also made skills everybody’s business, with governments, employers, and individuals all engaged.

All this said, skills are only valuable when they are used effectively, and the Skills Survey shows that some countries are far better than others in making good use of their talent. While the US and England have a limited skills base, they are extracting good value from it. The reverse is true for Japan, where rigid labour-market arrangements prevent many high-skilled individuals, most notably women, from reaping the rewards that should accrue to them. At times, over-reliance on qualifications also makes it harder for those who have the right skills, but who did not have the same access to education as others, to gain entry into jobs where those skills can be put to full use. The data show that this is particularly true among migrant workers. Overall, the Skills Survey suggests that we can – and should – do better in matching the demand and supply of skills.

Figuring out how to get us there will not be easy, but the Skills Survey provides a foundation to build robust policies. It takes away excuses from those who are complacent, and it allows countries to set meaningful goals in terms of what’s achieved by the world’s leading skills systems.

Links:

OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills (2013)
Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 
For more on skills and skills policies around the world, visit:
http://skills.oecd.org

Who are our teachers?

by Kristen Weatherby

Senior Analyst, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

As we celebrate this year’s UNESCO World Teachers Day, many of us think back to our favourite teacher. Mine was Mr. Monroe, the high school English teacher who instilled in me a love for writing that still exists today.  We all have favourite teachers, those inspirational leaders whom we hope our children or loved ones will encounter at some point during their schooling. But what makes a good teacher? And what do we know about the teachers in our schools today?

When the results of the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey were first released in 2009, we were able to start answering some of these questions. TALIS 2008 was the first and largest international survey of teachers, giving teachers and school leaders in 24 countries a voice to speak about their experiences. Teachers told us about their initial teacher training and the professional development they receive; the feedback they get on their teaching; the climate in their classrooms and schools; their own satisfaction with their jobs; and their feelings about their abilities as teachers.

In the past four years, TALIS findings and cross-country comparisons have informed policy recommendations, been at the heart of ministerial-level discussions at the International Summits on the Teaching Profession, and driven discussions about the future of teaching as a profession. As more countries are now talking about improving teacher quality, TALIS data is more relevant than ever.

The OECD just finished data collection for the current cycle of TALIS, which has expanded to include 33 countries. As with TALIS 2008, all countries surveyed lower-secondary teachers, but several countries also chose to study their primary and upper-secondary school teachers as well. We have a team of analysts and experts looking at the data now, and will reveal the results of TALIS 2013 in June of 2014.

We’re looking forward to getting an updated picture on the state of teaching in our schools, as well as some new information. Watch this space over the coming months to learn more about how you can access the new data.

Until then, take a look at our newly-updated TALIS website, where you can easily find all of our publications, policy briefs, TALIS 2008 data, and the questionnaires we use in the survey.  And take some time to say thank you to your favourite teacher today. Thank you, Mr. Monroe!

Links
OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey 
World Teachers' Day 2013 celebrations at UNESCO 
Teachers for the 21st Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching
Synergies for Better Learning: An International Perspective on Evaluation and Assessment
Follow TALIS and Kristen Weatherby @Kristen_Talis
Photo credit: Question mark symbol in chalk over complex calculation /@ Shutterstock

Education GPS: A world of education at your fingertips

by Jean Yip,
Analyst, Directorate for Education and Skills

Today the OECD launched the Education GPS, the source for internationally comparable data on education policies and practices, opportunities and outcomes. Accessible any time, in real time, this platform gives you the latest data and analysis of countries’ performance in providing high-quality education for all.

Analyse by country

The Education GPS enables you to find, use and understand data and analysis on individual countries. Choose from a variety of themes, explore our country profiles, and create your own customised country reports. 

Explore data

The Education GPS gives you easy access to the OECD’s data on education. Choose a theme, find the related data, and compare countries.

Review education policies (coming soon...)

The Education GPS provides access to OECD’s extensive research and analysis of education policy around the world. See how education policies complement or compete with each other, and which policies the OECD recommends. 

Try it for yourself and explore the wealth of OECD’s data and analysis of education policies and practices!

Links:
Education GPS 

A new old topic, reloaded

by Mihaylo Milovanovitch

Policy Analyst, Non-Member Economies, Directorate for Education

In a recent OECD blog entry for the European Association for International Education, studying in the “good old times” has been likened to a nice air trip. One would purchase a ticket, board a plane and enjoy a flight to a new and better place. On the way one would fly over and see new things, earn miles and acquire a higher status.

The same blog suggests that things are different today as in many of the countries that are in the middle of a “gold rush” to higher education, the academic planes stay grounded. Outdated systems of admission to university, of assessment and financial support bend under the weight of increasing student numbers and diversity and fail to provide the right answers to three key questions: What do students want? Why do they study? Do they study what they want?

Wrong answers to these questions can be detrimental to institutional integrity. If restrictive and/or misleading access policies make students choose whatever field of study they can get in to, how likely is it that they will care for academic rigour and integrity? If access is not a problem, but public support is spread thinly among a large student population and students have to work full time to sustain themselves, at the end of the day how much time and motivation will they have to fight for transparency and participation in the governance of their higher education institutions? If assessment is not transparent and examiners are the sole masters over questions of academic survival and financial support, what are the chances that students will dare to hold their professors accountable for anything?

The story points to an obvious conclusion. If tertiary institutions do not become better at detecting and responding to student needs and aptitudes, their academic integrity may suffer and they could ultimately pay with their (hard earned) reputation.  A possibly less obvious, but equally important point is that success in fighting malpractice in education generally depends not only on setting and enforcing appropriate rules, but also on a sound understanding of the origins of the problem, and on appropriate action to address these origins.

It is encouraging to see that the topic of integrity and corruption in education is having a “comeback”, driven by major players in the field of anti-corruption advocacy and research, such as Transparency International (TI). It is even more encouraging to discover that the discussion has become more nuanced, vocal, sophisticated and convincing than before and that it promotes a more systemic approach. This year’s edition of TI’s Global Corruption Report is devoted to corruption in education. It invests an extra effort to cover all aspects of the problem and to capture and reproduce the global state of affairs in dealing with it from the perspective of practitioners, researchers and stakeholders, including the OECD with its integrity of education systems (INTES) methodology. Let us hope that the readers of the Report will be as enthusiastic about it as its contributors, and that the fight for more integrity in education will become everybody’s responsibility, at last.

Links:
Global Corruption Report
Public Sector Integrity Reviews
Bribery in international business
Photo credit: Closeup of an old book lying on white ground @shutterstock