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While teachers' initial education is key to ensuring that new teachers are prepared for their work, it is only one piece in the continuum of teachers' professional growth. Continuing professional learning is vital for teachers to broaden and deepen their knowledge, keep up with new research, tools and practices and respond to their students' changing needs. It also plays a key role in building collaborative school cultures and supporting the collective improvement of the teaching profession. While the importance of continuing teacher learning is widely recognised, building efficient, equitable and sustainable professional learning systems is far from trivial. The OECD Teachers' Professional Learning (TPL) study seeks to support the development of effective TPL policies and practices in schools and school systems. This paper proposes a theoretical and analytical framework for the study, systematically maps available OECD indicators to this framework and identifies information gaps and areas for future comparative work.

State-of-the-art scientific evidence shows that our planet is approaching several environmental and climate tipping points faster than previously expected. This means that the international community is facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve profound transformations across sectors, systems and mindsets to secure a sustainable and liveable future. What is the role of education system in enabling social change at the massive scale and pace needed for climate change mitigation? And what policy levers can they employ to build resilience and adapt to environmental challenges? This paper explores ways to rethink educational approaches in the context of climate change, focussing primarily on school education, while exploring links to other levels of education. It looks specifically at strategies to restructure foundational science education and cross-curricular learning, zooms in on the potential of place-based approaches in empowering learners for action, and concludes by identifying policy levers to increase education system resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report for Austria forms part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools. The purpose of the review is to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. School resources are understood in a broad way, including financial resources (e.g. expenditures on education, school budget), physical resources (e.g. school infrastructure, computers), human resources (e.g. teachers, school leaders) and other resources (e.g. learning time). Austria was one of the education systems which opted to participate in the country review strand and host a visit by an external review team. This publication is the report of the review team. It provides, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in Austria, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. The report serves three purposes: (1) to provide insights and advice to the Austrian education authorities; (2) to help other countries understand the Austrian approach to the use of school resources; and (3) to provide input for the final comparative analysis of the OECD School Resources Review. The scope for analysis in this report includes public primary and lower secondary education (including Volksschule, Hauptschule/Neue Mittelschule and AHS Unterstufe). At the request of the Austrian authorities, the focus areas of the Review of School Resources in Austria were: (1) funding and governance of school education; (2) organisation of the school offer; and (3) management of the teaching workforce. This report reflects the situation of the Austrian education system at the time of the review visit in June 2015. Three annexes are included: (1) The OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in School; (2) Composition of the OECD Review Team; and (3) Visit programme. Individual chapters contain references.

This report for Lithuania forms part of the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools. The purpose of the review is to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. School resources are understood in a broad way, including financial resources (e.g. expenditures on education, school budget), physical resources (e.g. school infrastructure, computers), human resources (e.g. teachers, school leaders) and other resources (e.g. learning time). Lithuania was one of the education systems which opted to participate in the country review strand and host a visit by an external review team. This publication is the report from the review team. It provides, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in the Slovak Republic, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches. The report serves three purposes: (1) to provide insights and advice to Lithuanian education authorities; (2) to help OECD countries understand the Lithuanian approach to the use of school resources; and (3) to provide input for the final comparative analysis of the OECD School Resources Review. The scope for the analysis in this report includes early childhood education and school education. At the request of the Lithuanian authorities, the focus areas of the Review of School Resources in Lithuania are: (1) funding of school education; (2) organisation of the school network; and (3) the teaching profession and school leadership (including improving their attractiveness). The analysis presented in the report refers to the situation faced by the education system in December 2014, when the OECD review team visited Lithuania. Three annexes are included: (1) The OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in School; (2) Composition of the OECD Review Team; and (3) Visit programme. Individual chapters contain references.

This report for the Flemish Community of Belgium forms part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools and explores how resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. This report considers four types of resources: financial resources, such as public funding of individual schools; human resources, such as teachers, school leaders and education administrators; physical resources, such as location, buildings and equipment; and other resources such as learning time. The policy recommendations attempt to build on and strengthen reforms that are already underway in the Flemish Community of Belgium. This report contains four chapters and respective annexes as follows: Chapter 1: School Education in the Flemish Community of Belgium; Chapter 2: Funding of School Education in the Flemish Community of Belgium and Annexes: (1) Funding flows in the Flemish Community of Belgium; (2) Calculation of the Operating Grant for a Sample Elementary School; and (3) Calculation of Staffing Hours and ICT Points for a Sample Secondary School; Chapter 3: Provision of School Places in the Flemish Community of Belgium; and Chapter 4. The Teaching Workforce in the Flemish Community of Belgium, and Annexes: (1) Number of School Staff, by Level, Type of Education and School Network, 2008, 2011, 2014; (2) Main Features of the Teaching Profession: Initial Education, Employment Status and Teacher Evaluation. The report concludes with additional annexes: (1) The OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in School; (2) Composition of the Review Team; and (3) Visit Programme. (Individual chapters also contain notes.)

Education plays an essential role in preparing the children of immigrants for participation in the labour market and society. Giving these children opportunities to fully develop their potential is vital for future economic growth and social cohesion in OECD countries. But migrant students in most OECD countries tend to have lower education outcomes than their native peers. Extensive previous research has described the system level, school level and individual level factors that influence the education outcomes of migrant students. Building on such previous research, this paper looks at the ways in which "education policies" can influence these factors to help provide better educational opportunities for migrant students. (Contains 7 footnotes.) [This review was prepared for the OECD Thematic Review on Migrant Education. It was presented and discussed at the Second Meeting of the Group of National Experts on the Education of Migrants in Paris on 13-14 October 2008.]

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have experienced increasing pressures to provide accountability data and consumer information on the quality of teaching and learning. Existing ratings and rankings of HEIs tend to neglect information on student learning outcomes. Instead, they focus on inputs, activities and research outputs, such as resources used, classes taught, and articles published. Such indicators provide no indication of the degree to which HEIs actually develop the knowledge and skills of their students. In most countries, hardly any comparable information is available on the educational quality of different programmes and institutions. In some countries, approaches to assess higher education learning outcomes have been developed, but little cross-country information is available on the characteristics of the instruments used. This paper provides an overview of experience gained in this domain across OECD and partner countries. Based on illustrative evidence collected for 18 assessment instruments, it examines conceptual, organizational and methodological aspects of existing assessments. It proposes a typology of higher education learning outcomes and reviews the ways in which these have been assessed across countries. Examples are drawn from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. (Contains 2 footnotes and 7 tables.)