00 Education Fast Forward

Turning school performance into economic success

19 January 2015

Andreas Schleicher

One in six younger adults have not reached upper

secondary education

Educational attainment among younger (25-34 year-olds) adults (2013)

52 52

39 3935 34

27 2723 21 18 18 18 17 16 15 15 14 14 14 13 13 13 13 12 11 11 10 9 9 9 7 6 6 6 6 6

2

25 23

31

45

24

4050

33

54

3939 41

3643 47

42 41 40 38 3846

36

6056

44

64

45 47 4651

47

35

64

52

65

37

57

31

22 2529

15

41

2623

40

22

41 43 4147

40 3743 44 46 48 48

41

51

2731

44

25

45 43 4540

45

58

30

42

29

57

37

67

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Turk

ey

Mexi

co

Portugal

Bra

zil

Spain

Colo

mbia

Italy

Icela

nd

Chile

New

Zeala

nd

Belg

ium

Denm

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ay

OECD

ave

rage

Gre

ece

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Luxe

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United K

ingdom

Latv

ia

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Germ

any

Hungary

Est

onia

Aust

ria

United S

tate

s

Sw

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el

Fin

land

Sw

eden

Canada

Slo

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epublic

Pola

nd

Cze

ch R

epublic

Russ

ian F

edera

tion

Slo

venia

Kore

a

Below upper secondary Upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary Tertiary

There is a larger proportion of young men with low

qualifications compared to young women Chart 1.2

Percentage of younger adults (25-34 year-olds) with attainment below upper secondary education, by gender (2013)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

Portugal

Spain

Bra

zil

Denm

ark

Latv

ia

Est

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Italy

Icela

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Gre

ece

Colo

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OECD

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Sw

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epublic

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a

Slo

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Mexi

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Sw

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ria

Turk

ey

Men Women%

Almost one in five 20-24 year-olds is NEETChart 3.1

Distribution of 20-24 year-olds not in education, by work status (2013)

49 4754

33

4652

43 4549

26

45 44

3530

46

3733

42

33 35 36 34

21

33

19

29

36 3428

37 3632

26

1922

11

5

7

9

10

5

76

4

17

5 6

4 13

5

1114

7

16 13 1011

25

8

26

168

8

12

4 4

5

5

10 6

15

20

12

27

9 6

12 10 7

179 7

19 13

58 8 5 5 6 9

78

87 6 6

88 6

6

08

42

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Colo

mbia

Mexi

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Isra

el

Turk

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United K

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Aust

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United S

tate

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New

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nd

Norw

ay

Italy

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Hungary

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ark

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mbourg

Employed Unemployed Inactive%

The net public return on investment for a man in tertiary education is over

USD 100 000, while the net private return is over USD 180 000

Net private and public returns associated with a man attaining tertiary education (2010)

0

50 000

100 000

150 000

200 000

250 000

300 000

350 000

400 000

450 000

500 000

Turk

ey

De

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ark

Sp

ain

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Sw

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land

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Eq

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ale

nt U

SD

Private net returns Public net returns

Chart A7.1

100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100

Poland

Ireland

Slovak Republic

Estonia

Korea

United States

Austria

Czech Republic

Average

Flanders (Belgium)

Japan

England/N. Ireland (UK)

Germany

Canada

Australia

Denmark

Norway

Netherlands

Finland

Sweden

Basic digital

problem-solvingskills

Advanceddigital problem-

solving skills

Young adults (16-24 year-olds) All adults (16-65 year-olds)

Problem solving skills in a digital environment

%

5

Evolution of employment in occupational groups defined by problem-solving skills

6

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

%

Medium-low problem-solving skills

Low problem-solving skills

High level problem-solving skills

Labour productivity and the use of reading skills at work

Australia

Austria

Canada

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

GermanyIreland

Italy

Japan

Korea

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Slovak Republic

Spain Sweden

United States

England/N. Ireland (UK)

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

4

4.2

4.4

4.6

1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3

(lo

g) L

ab

ou

rp

ro

du

cti

vit

y

Use of reading skills at work

7

How youths use skills at work

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

2.4

Reading atwork

Writing atwork

Numeracy atwork

ICT at work Problemsolving at

work

Average

Japan

UnitedKingdom

Most frequent use = 4

Least frequent use = 0, age 16 to 35

Index o

f use

Lessons from strong performers

High quality initial education and lifelong learning• Investing in high quality

early childhood education and initial schooling, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds

• Financial support targeted at disadvantage

• Opportunities and incentives to continued development of proficiency, both outside work and at the workplace.

Lessons from strong performers

Make learning everybody’s business• Governments, employers,

workers and parents need effective and equitable arrangements as to who does and pays for what, when and how

• Recognise that individuals with poor skills are unlikely to engage in education on their own and tend to receive less employer-sponsored training .

Lessons from strong performers

Effective links between learning and work• Emphasis on workbased

learning allows people to develop hard skills on modern equipment and soft skills through real-world experience

• Employer engagement in education and training with assistance to SMEs

• Strengthen relevance of learning, both for workplace and workers broader employability .

Lessons from strong performers

Allow workers to adapt learning to their lives• Flexibility in content

and delivery (part-time, flexible hours, convenient location)

• Distance learning and open education resources .

Lessons from strong performers

Improve transparency• Easy-to-find

information about adult education activities

• Combination of easily searchable, up-to-date online information and personal guidance and counselling services

• Less educated workers tend to be less aware of the opportunities

• Recognise and certify skills proficiency .

Lessons from strong performers

Guidance• Timely data about

demand for and supply of skills

• Competent personnel who have the latest labour-market information at their fingertips to steer learners

• Qualifications that are coherent and easy to interpret .

Lessons from strong performers

Help employers make better use of workers skills• Flexible work

arrangements that accommodate workers with care obligations and disabilities

• Encourage older workers to remain in the labour market

• Encourage employers to hire those who temporarily withdrew from the labour market ..

16

16 Thank you

Find out more about our work at www.oecd.org/eag/eag2014

– The publication

– The methodologies

– The complete database

Email: Andreas.Schleicher@OECD.org

Twitter: SchleicherEDU

and remember:

Without data, you are just another person with an opinion