Mineduc/Unesco/Oecd Seminar

Accession Seminar for Slovenia OECD/Ministry of Education and Sport Wednesday, 25 May 2011 Ljubljana, Slovenia

9:00 – 9:30 Opening

dr. Igor Lukšič, Minister of Education and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia Ian Whitman, Head, Programme for Co-operation with Non Member Economies, OECD

General Overview of OECD Work

Dirk Van Damme, Head, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD

9:30 – 10:30 Evidence Based Policy – Work on Indicators

Presentation of work on indicators, including: Indicators of Education Systems (INES); Education at a Glance (EAG); and Leveraging the Impact of OECD’s Work on Education (GPS).

Chair: dr. Andreja Barle Lakota, Director, Education Development Office, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia

Presenters: Satya Brink, Senior Advisor to the GPS Project, Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD mag. Helga Kočevar, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia Tatjana Škrbec, Head, Social Services Statistics Department, Statistical Office RS, Slovenia

1 Indicators are important means for countries to compare themselves with other OECD member countries and to evaluate themselves on efficiency and effectiveness of their education systems in relation to the performance achieved. An overview of current work in Indicators of Education Systems (INES) and the results from Education at a Glance (EAG) 2010 will be presented. The success of policy decisions can be improved when based on evidence. Leveraging the Impact of OECD’s Work on Education (GPS Project) is a service to countries whereby government users will be able to access OECD information generated over the years by the Directorate for Education and to be able to review data, analysis and policy evidence in a systematic way to help them in their policy work whenever the need arises. New work will be integrated into the data base such as recent reports from PISA. The development process and the prototype of the GPS Project will be shown.

Discussion

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 – 12:30 Competencies and Assessment

Presentation of work on competencies and assessment, including: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC); Evaluation and Assessment; and the Skills Strategy.

Chair: dr. Andreja Barle Lakota, Director, Education Development Office, Slovenia

Presenters: Satya Brink, Senior Advisor to the GPS Project, Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD Paulo Santiago, Senior Analyst, Education and Training Policy Division, OECD dr. Mojca Štraus, Director, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia mag. Mateja Brejc, Senior Lecturer, National School for Leadership, Slovenia

Since its launch in 2000, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has generated much policy discussion as it is a means to internationally compare the competencies of 15 year olds in the penultimate year of compulsory education. First results from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which will provide internationally comparable data and analyses on the competencies of working age adults, will be available in 2013. Examples of how these data and analyses may be used for policy discussions will be presented. Furthermore, several member countries are engaged in developing long term skills strategies. An overview of work thus far on the OECD Skills Strategy and its utility for countries will be presented.

The OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes was launched in late 2009 to provide analysis and policy advice to countries on how different assessment and evaluation tools can be embedded within a consistent framework to bring about real gains in performance across the school system. The Review looks at the various components of assessment and

2 evaluation frameworks such as student assessment, teacher appraisal, school assessment and system evaluation. The presentation will report on the progress to date and will outline common policy challenges which are emerging from the analysis undertaken in the Review.

Discussion

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 15:15 Teachers

Presentation of work on teachers, including: Teachers Matter; Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS); Teacher Education for Diversity; Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning (ITEL); and the New York Teachers Summit.

Chair: Alenka Kovšca, State Secretary, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia

Presenters: Paulo Santiago, Senior Analyst, Education and Training Policy Division, OECD Dirk Van Damme, Head, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD mag. Mitja Sardoč, Researcher, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia

The report Teachers Matter is about school teachers – their preparation, recruitment, work and careers. It proposes a comprehensive set of policies that contribute to attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers in schools. The report draws on the results of a major OECD study of teacher policy conducted in collaboration with 25 countries around the world. The presentation will provide the major findings of the report.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is a major international comparative data-collection and analysis programme focusing on learning environments, teaching and working conditions of teachers in schools. It investigates teacher initial training and professional development, appraisal and feedback systems, teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices, leadership, etc. The presentation will look at the main outcomes of the TALIS 2008 survey and provide an update on the work for the TALIS 2013 survey.

CERI’s Teacher Education for Diversity project focuses on the impact of increasing student diversity in classrooms on teachers’ working conditions and pedagogical challenges in classrooms. It also asks the question whether teachers and student teachers are well prepared to address these issues and whether teacher education institutions sufficiently include diversity issues in their programmes.

CERI’s new project Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning (ITEL) will investigate the pedagogical knowledge of teachers and asks the question whether it is still in tune with what we know today about human learning. It will focus on new and innovative developments in teaching in specific subject areas (science, math and civic education). It will also research the possibility of developing survey items focusing in pedagogical knowledge of teachers.

In March 2011 the US Secretary for Education Arne Duncan, together with the OECD and Education International, invited education ministers and teachers union

3 leaders from some 20 countries (best performing countries and rapidly improving countries in PISA) to discuss the challenges and the future of the teacher profession and the policies needed to attract, retain, motivate, and reward the best teachers. The 2011 Teachers Summit was a huge success and will be followed by similar events in the following years.

Discussion

15:15 – 16:15 Early Childhood Education and Care

Presentation of work on early childhood education and care.

Chair: Boris Černilec, Director General for Pre-school and Basic Education, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia

Presenters: Deborah Roseveare, Head, Education and Training Policy Division, OECD Nada Požar-Matijašič, Senior Advisor, Education Development Office, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is high on the policy agenda in many OECD countries. There is a growing body of research that indicates a wide range of benefits from investing in ECEC – socio-economic, educational and socio- emotional developments of individuals. But such benefits are related to the “quality” provision. The presentation will focus on how governments can improve quality in ECEC. It will introduce a framework of government steering tools to improve quality by presenting preliminary findings of the on-going OECD project on ECEC.

Discussion

16:15 – 16:45 Coffee break

16:45 – 18:00 Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)

Overview of work in CERI, including: Innovative Learning Environment (ILE); and Innovation Strategy for Education and Training (IS).

Chair: mag. Vinko Logaj, Director General for Secondary, Higher Vocational and Adult Education, Ministry of Education and Sport, Slovenia

Presenters: Dirk Van Damme, Head, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Vanessa Shadoian-Gersing, Analyst, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Francesco Avvisati, Analyst, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD

Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) is the OECD’s centre in the Directorate for Education for educational research and innovation. Its mission is to do forward-looking research, focusing on innovative developments in education. Its work often leads to new developments in indicators, conceptual

4 frameworks and data-collection methodologies in other parts of the organisation. The introductory presentation will give a general overview of CERI’s recent work and will provide some information on projects not extensively dealt with in the session, such as the New Millennium Learners project.

Innovative Learning Environments (ILE) is a leading project in the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). It is focused on innovative ways of organising learning for young people (ages 3-19) at the micro-level and on evidence of what makes the environments in which this takes place effective. We argue that such focus should underpin the 21st century education reform agenda. Around 30 countries, provinces and organisations are active in ILE, providing examples of innovative learning environments and discussing practical ways ahead. We are working with innovators, leaders, decision-makers, experts and practitioners engaged in educational change in these different systems. The project is processing and analysing the evidence from the learning sciences and the innovations in the field and identifying implications for change. So far two full OECD publications have been produced: Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate in 2008 and The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice in 2010.

CERI co-led the human capital pillar of the OECD Innovation Strategy, a major policy initiative offering a cross-government approach to help countries capture the economic and social benefits of innovation in a new era. Its “Innovation strategy for education and training” is continuing in its new programme of work and will contribute to the OECD Skills Strategy, with a focus on two strands of work:  Education and skills for innovation  Innovation and improvement in education The session will give an update on the progress of the work, including its relationship to other ongoing and past CERI projects, and say how Slovenia could contribute to its next phases.

Discussion

18:00 Closing