TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

03/12/2013

TUAC welcomes the launch of PISA 2012 by the OECD as its assessment of the competencies of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science brings education issues back to the forefront of public debate. The results reveal that education is not a magic bullet to cure the ills of our societies. High levels of proficiency are helpful with regard to the transition from school to work; however, as persisting high youth unemployment in countries with well performing school systems suggests, they are not the key pre-condition for employment opportunities and career prospects.

As new forms of public management are constantly debated, it is interesting to note that there is little difference between the performance results in private and public schools when taking into account the social background of students. PISA 2012 once more emphasizes the importance of teacher training in order to provide quality education. Countries with school systems performing above average manage to place high performing teachers in socially disadvantaged schools in order to improve education and learning outcomes. With regard to the importance of the status and engagement of teachers it is not particularly surprising that countries with well performing school systems pay teachers well.

Despite the wealth of data provided by PISA 2012, a number of important issues regarding the performance differences between and within national school systems remain unsolved. This concerns the role of teachers and parents in the learning process, as well as the effects of education reforms. There is no evidence suggesting that structural reforms in weakening teachers unions, making the employment of teachers more flexible and increasing part-time teaching, are the right way to improve learning outcomes. PISA 2013 should therefore address these issues more closely to encourage policies that truly have a positive effect on learning outcomes and school systems.