TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

13/09/2011

The OECD has just published Education at Glance 2011 (EAG 2011), which, like previous issues, offers a rich, comparable but not always up-to-date array of indicators. The major aim is to measure the current state of education internationally. Thus, the indicators are intended to provide information on the human and financial resources invested in education, on how education and learning systems operate and evolve, and on the benefits of educational investments. Regrettably, however, EAG 2011 fails to provide an appropriate analysis of the impact of the global financial and economic crises on education, in particular on spending on education and training since 2008 and on how structural changes in the labour market impact on the transition from tertiary education into employment.

Despite some good news conveyed by EAG 2011, like an ongoing positive change in the educational attainment of the adult population over the past decade as well as a limited increase in spending on education prior to the crisis, facts and figures presented strongly emphasize that there is no room for complacency in education policy. The key findings of EAG 2011 suggest that governments must in particular 

• ensure that budget consolidation does not adversely effect education systems;
• refrain from increasing tuition fees and imposing the costs of tertiary education upon students and their families; 
• guarantee that teaching remains an attractive profession, facilitating high quality education; 
• facilitate the transition from education to work through active labour market policy and the promotion of decent jobs; 
• implement policies improving opportunities for adult learning and making lifelong learning a reality for all.

An important conclusion to be drawn from EAG 2011 is that a knowledge driven economy with decent jobs for all cannot be created by policies boosting exclusively the supply of skilled labour. In order to facilitate the acquisition and use of skills, education and training policies need to address a broad range of contextual factors that are determining skill formation and usage across the sectors of our economies. Even though the knowledge and skills acquired by learners are of particular importance, employment, productivity, growth, competitiveness and development depend much more on the ‘demand side’, i. e. product and service market strategies of businesses and ‘human resource management’ by employers, than by supply side driven reforms of education systems. Future OECD work on education needs to take that into account.

For further information on Education at a Glance, including country notes and key data, click here.