When life means school again

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

“Non scholae, sed vitae discimus” (after Seneca)

September’s here again. For millions of kids living in the northern hemisphere September means the end of summer vacation and the start of a new school year. For some of them it means an encounter with something they haven’t experienced before, for many others it is a return to already familiar routines. But for all of them school is going to be the place where they are going to spend the greater part of their young lives.

Children are starting school at an ever younger age,OECD’s recent Education at a Glance 2013 shows that in 2011 on average over 84% of all four year-old children were enrolled in some form of formal education, which is 5% more than in 2005. In 25 OECD countries at least half of three year-old children participated in early childhood education, and in countries such as Belgium, France, Iceland, Norway and Spain 95% or more found their way to their first educational institution.

At such very young ages the school doesn’t appropriate most of the time that one is awake, but things change at ages five or six when children move on to primary school. In 2011 intended instruction time for primary school pupils averages some 800 hours per year in OECD countries, but it exceeds 900 hours in Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal. Slightly more than half of the time at primary school went to instruction in reading, writing, literature, math and science. For most of the time children are grouped in classes which are on average 21.2 pupils large. The trend of school days starting earlier and ending later is reinforced by the trend of smaller classes. In 2000 an average primary school class was  1.5 pupils bigger.

When moving on to lower secondary education (around age 12) the school experience intensifies again. Total intended instruction time now reaches 924 hours per year on average. Instruction now takes place in slightly bigger classes – 23.3 students on average (coming from 24.6 in 2000) – but the ratio of students to teachers drops from 15.4 in primary education to 13.6 in lower secondary education.

At the end of lower secondary education, when in most countries the age of compulsory education is reached, students have accumulated 7 751 hours of instruction in primary and lower secondary school. But many students naturally continue their school careers and move on to upper secondary education, to tertiary education or to some form of continuing education. 2011 enrolment patterns show that a five year-old  pupil can expect to have an average school career of more than 17 years of full-time and part-time education before the age of 40, but in Nordic countries where participation levels are high, an average school career extends over 19 years. In 2011, as a percentage of their age group, students counted for 84% between ages 15 and 19, and 28% between ages 20 and 29. Whereas in 2000 these figures were 76% and 22% respectively.

OECD societies have transformed into heavily scholarised societies, where school becomes important earlier in the life course, where children spend the major part of their time at school, where their educational experience is becoming more intensive,  where more young people stay on in education well beyond the age of compulsory education, and where average educational trajectories take longer than ever in human history. This trend is partly the outcome of public policies to improve the educational opportunities of populations, partly the result of families’ aspirations for better futures for their children. Public policies and private demand go hand-in-hand in producing more educated people. But – as PISA demonstrates – the amount of time appropriated by schools bears no strong relationship to the quality of skills with which young people have to confront the real world.

Links:
Education at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators: The book is now available
For more information: Education at a Glance : www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm
Photo credit: Schoolchildren at home time /@ Shutterstock

Learning hard and “soft” skills through Internships

Ben Lyons Co-Director of Intern Aware, a British-based campaigning organization that promotes the rights and interests of young people entering the professional world, answers questions posed by Cassandra Davis educationtoday’s editor during his visit to the OECD 2013 Forum.

educationtoday: What kinds of skills do today’s graduates need to succeed in the labour market? Should students acquire skills to meet labour-market demands or to fulfill their own aspirations?

As well as theoretical knowledge, most employers require the strong soft skills such as commercial awareness, communication, teamwork, problem-solving and organisation that can be gained through work-related learning. The crisis has exposed the fact that students are worse off in countries where education is overly academic and institutions are failing to equip students with the skills they need for the labour market. With a greater focus on the hard and soft skills developed through individually tailored apprenticeships and internships, meeting labour market demands and fulfilling a young person’s aspirations need not be mutually exclusive.

educationtoday: Do you see greater opportunities for interns who have advanced technology-based skills?

It is evident today that in every sector a good knowledge of technology is needed and young people who don’t have these skills are going lose out. Skills are often referred to as being “generic”; however, there is a need for specialisation across all sectors, from arts to accountancy.

educationtoday: What is your take on the MOOC revolution? Do you think online virtual training could eventually reduce internships?

I’m skeptical of the MOOC revolution in relation to internships. Whilst some work can be done virtually, many of the soft skills from an internship – whether it’s meeting new people who might help with future job opportunities, or learning office conduct – are not going to be developed  if the intern is working hundreds of miles away. Embedding interns into a team is also beneficial for both parties, potentially bringing new ideas to the group, and helping employers judge if the intern would make a good “fit” with the organisation’s work culture.

educationtoday: How would you counter the claim that internships are just a way for businesses to get free labour? What can be done to reduce or eliminate this perception of exploitation?

Exploitation is a genuine problem that has been exacerbated by the economic crisis.  In Germany a survey has shown 81% of trainees are doing tasks done by regular staff, while the European Youth Forum estimates three-quarters of European interns receive insufficient payment to cover the cost of the internship. High-quality internships that are remunerated are shown to be extremely beneficial to both the intern and organisation. As internships represent the bridge between education and work; a diverse pool of interns is needed to ensure that employers are getting the best people, and this requires payment and recruitment based on merit.

educationtoday: University education is becoming prohibitively expensive in the US; in other places, students choose not to go to university because they feel they are not academically equipped.  What, then, can these students do to improve their chances in the labour market? Is vocational education now a viable alternative?

In today’s world we can only compete at the highest level if both tertiary education and vocational training are accessible and if they receive sufficient investment to be high quality. Vocational education is a viable alternative; however, in many countries such as the UK there has been a snobbish attitude towards VET and a consequence is a shortage of skills in sectors like manufacturing and engineering. In Germany, where VET is considered a credible path, many students go on to well paid, highly skilled jobs. Governments, businesses and educational institutions all need to raise their game and work more closely together. For example, businesses should have more input into vocational courses and funding for training colleges should be partially dependent on the institutions achieving high levels of employment.

Links:

OECD Skills Strategy 
OECD Skills Surveys
Give youth a chance
Working with youth
Vocational Education and Training - Learning for Jobs
Apprenticeships and Workplace Learning

Photo credit: Young people waiting for job interview / @Shutterstock

Investing in people, skills and education for inclusive growth and jobs

by J.D. LaRock
Senior Analyst, Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate for Education

As the spectre of another economic downturn looms large in many countries and is already a reality in others, new data from the 2012 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators – released today – provides powerful insights into the link between education, economic progress and social mobility around the world.

For example, as detailed in the book’s new indicator on education and economic growth, more than half of the GDP growth in OECD countries over the past decade is related to labour-income growth among workers with higher education.  Indeed, even as GDP across all OECD countries shrank by 3.8% during the global recession year of 2009, growth in labour income among people with higher education contributed nearly 0.4% to the GDP of these countries overall. In contrast, the contraction of labour income that year among people with a medium level of education reduced the GDP by 0.8%, while shrinking incomes among people with lower levels of education trimmed another 0.5% off GDP.

In light of the substantial role education can play in promoting economic growth, countries’ success in assuring that younger people achieve a higher level of education than their parents – what is known as intergenerational mobility in education – is especially important. The new indicator on educational mobility in this year’s Education at a Glance shows that many countries are making good progress in this regard.  On average across all OECD countries, 37% of 25-34 year-old non-students have surpassed their parents’ level of education, while only 13% have achieved a lower level.  Half of younger adults in OECD countries have achieved the same level of education as their parents: 13%, a low level of education; 21%, a medium level, and 16%, a high level.

Meanwhile, as detailed in the new indicator on early childhood education, many OECD countries are working hard to expand schooling opportunities for their youngest children. For example, among OECD countries with data for both years, 81% of four-year-olds were enrolled in early childhood programmes in 2010, up from 77% in 2005.  What’s more, enrolments among three-year-olds rose from 64% to 69% during this same period. Since participation in early childhood education is linked to better performance later on in school, these developments bode well for a future in which improving young people’s skills will be more important than ever.

At the same time, this year’s Education at a Glance also shows that many OECD countries need to address the growing problem of youth who are not in employment, education or training. After several years of decline, the so-called “NEET” population began to rise in 2009 and spiked to nearly 16.0% in 2010 – a sign of the particular hardship young people have borne as a result of the global recession. As such, OECD countries would do well to examine measures that can productively engage people in this crucial age group, such as vocational education and training programmes and opportunities for non-formal education and training.

As always, the 2012 edition of Education at a Glance contains a rich array of indicators on educational attainment, graduation and completion, education financing, enrolment trends and the globalisation of higher education, and schools and teachers. In addition to the data discussed above, this year’s edition contains a number of other new indicators, including information on how the career aspirations of boys and girls compare to the fields young men and women study in higher education ; the factors that influence immigrant students’ performance in school ; who makes key decisions in education systems ; and the pathways and gateways to gain access to secondary and tertiary education.

For more information, and to download a copy of the book, visit the Education at a Glance website at: www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012
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