School reforms undermined by failure to track success or failure, says OECD

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/19/education-school-reforms-children-oecd

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Well-intentioned education reforms around the world are being undermined because of a lack of proper assessment and analysis of their impact on outcomes for pupils, according to a leading economic thinktank.

Research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that despite the global financial crisis, spending on education around the world has gone up, but there is considerable variation in how the money is spent and the outcomes it produces.

And in a separate report published on Monday, the OECD says that almost one in six 25-34-year-olds across OECD countries does not have the skills considered essential to function in today’s society, a situation which has not improved for more than a decade.

While many countries have introduced widespread reforms aimed at supporting disadvantaged children, investing in teachers and improving vocational training, the OECD says just one in 10 of the 450 different reforms put in place by governments between 2008 and 2014 were evaluated for their impact.

“Too many education reforms are failing to measure success or failure in the classroom,” said Andreas Schleicher, OECD director for education and skills, at the launch of the report at the Education World Forum in London. “While it is encouraging to see a greater focus on outcomes, rather than simply increasing spending, it’s crucial that reforms are given the time to work and their impact is analysed.

“Education represents 12.9% of government spending, with total expenditure across the OECD exceeding $2.5tn a year, equivalent to the GDP of the United Kingdom,” he added. “This valuable investment must be deployed in the most effective way. Reforms on paper need to translate into better education in our schools and classrooms.”

The reforms focus on early childcare, supporting disadvantaged children, improving vocational education and building links with employers; other reforms are aimed at improving training and professional development for teachers, and strengthening school evaluation and assessment.

The report, Education Policy Outlook 2015: Making Reforms Happen, states that schools in England, where the academy and free school programme has been pursued by the coalition government, have among the highest levels of autonomy over resources, curriculum and assessment in OECD countries, but warns that some policies in English schools could undermine equality and fairness. It highlights setting of pupils and differences in quality between school as potential problem areas.

It further highlights that in a survey of adult skills, England and Northern Ireland achieved below-average scores in literacy and numeracy among 16-65 year-olds, with younger adults (16-24 year-olds) performing lower than other adults in England.

The Education at a Glance interim report, also published on Monday, which provides an update of employment and educational attainment indicators, says that of the 34 OECD members, there are 13 countries including France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand and Italy, in which 15% of young people do not have adequate qualifications to function in today’s society.

“Having one out of every six young adults entering the world of adult life without a qualification is a major risk for labour markets and societies,” said Schleicher. “Progress has to be achieved across the educational ladder, with priority given to diminishing the share of the least educated among the young.”