Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education StrongPerformers Successfuland EducationReformers in Education Policy Advice for Greece The future of Greece’s well-being will depend on improving educational performance to boost productivity Strong Performers and and improve social outcomes. In the current economic context, with the need to get best value for spending, Greece must and can address ineffi ciencies in its education system. Successful Reformers in Education The challenges are signifi cant. For example, Greece lags behind many OECD countries in performance on PISA, including countries with the same or lower levels of expenditure per student as well as countries with the same and lower levels of economic development. Salary costs per student are above the OECD Education Policy Advice average, mostly because Greek teachers have less teaching time and Greece has smaller classes. A smaller percentage of students who enter tertiary education complete a fi rst degree within the statutory study time than in any other country in Europe. for Greece To address the challenges, the Greek government has established a bold agenda and sought advice from a task force on the development and implementation of reform proposals that refl ect best practices in OECD countries. This report provides the outcomes of the work of the task force. It presents a roadmap for how the reforms can be successfully implemented, with pointers to relevant experience in other countries. As a contribution to the on-going policy discussions in Greece, it recommends specifi c short-, medium- and long-term actions that can improve effi ciency in the country’s education system. Further Reading Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS (2009) Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for the United States (2010) PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do: Student Performance in Reading, Mathematics and Science (Volume I) (2010) Education Policy Advice for Greece for Advice Education Policy Please cite this publication as: OECD (2011), Education Policy Advice for Greece, Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264119581-en This work is published on the OECD iLibrary, which gathers all OECD books, periodicals and statistical databases. Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org, and do not hesitate to contact us for more information. ISBN 978-92-64-11957-4 98 2011 07 1 P -:HSTCQE=VV^Z\Y: With the fi nancial assistance of Greece and the European Union Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education EDUCATION POLICY ADVICE FOR GREECE This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD and is co-financed by the European Social Fund. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of theO ECD or of the governments of its member countries or those of the European Union. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Please cite this publication as: OECD (2011), Education Policy Advice for Greece, Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264119581-en ISBN 978-92-64-11957-4 (print) ISBN 978-92-64-11958-1 (PDF) The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Photo credits: Fotolia.com © Ainoa Getty Images © John Foxx Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. PISATM, OECD/PISATM and the PISA logo are trademaks of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). All use of OECD trademarks is prohibited without written permission from the OECD. © OECD 2011 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. Foreword The future of Greece’s well-being will depend on improving educational performance to boost productivity and improve social outcomes. In the current economic context, with the need to get best value for spending, Greece must and can address inefficiencies in its education system. The challenges are significant. For example, Greece lags behind many OECD countries in performance on PISA, including countries with the same or lower levels of expenditure per student as well as countries with the same and lower levels of economic development. Salary costs per student are above the OECD average, mostly because Greek teachers have less teaching time and Greece has smaller classes. A smaller percentage of students who enter tertiary education complete a first degree within the statutory study time than in any other country in Europe. Greece must take action in order to address the unsustainable cost-structure of the system and the inefficiencies that are inherent in an outdated, ineffective centralised education structure. This must include: transforming governance and management structures, eliminating, consolidating or merging small and inefficient units, making significantly better use of human resources, improving quality-assurance and information systems for accountability, and establishing far more effective structures to lead and sustain the implementation of reforms. Real change can only be achieved through persistent, consistent implementation year after year, with careful attention to capacity building for improvement. To address the challenges, the government has established a bold agenda and sought advice from a task force on the development and implementation of reform proposals that reflect best practices in OECD countries. This report provides the outcomes of the work of the task force. It presents a roadmap for how the reforms can be successfully implemented, with pointers to relevant experience in other countries. The report stresses short-, medium-, and long-term actions that have the potential to generate efficiencies. This report is a contribution to policy discussions in Greece. We, at the OECD, are proud to have led this effort and stand ready to continue to help Greece to better prepare for the future. Angel Gurría OECD Secretary-General STRONG PERFORMERS AND SUCCESSFUL REFORMERS IN EDUCATION: EDUCATION POLICY ADVICE FOR GREECE © OECD 2011 3 Acknowledgements The task force was chaired by Aims McGuinness from the National Centre for Higher Education Management Systems, Boulder, Colorado, United States. Other members of the task force were Gaby Hostens, former Secretary General for Secondary Education, Ministry of Education, Flemish Community of Belgium; Professor Panayiotis Papakonstantinou, University of Ioannina, Greece; Professor Jorge Pedreira, former deputy state secretary of education, Ministry of Education, Portugal; Professor Michael Shattock, Institute of Education, University of London and former Registrar, University of Warwick, United Kingdom; and Professor Panos Tsakloglou, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece. The report was prepared by the task force, within the framework of the OECD’s project Leveraging Knowledge for Better Education Policies (GPS), under the direction of Andreas Schleicher. Fani Stylianidou provided analytical support and Noeleen Hachem provided administrative support. Marilyn Achiron, Elizabeth Del Bourgo and Elisabeth Villoutreix provided editorial advice. The OECD conducted two preparatory missions to Athens to meet with senior officials and major stakeholders in order to identify the scope and organisation of the project. This was followed by a meeting of the task force in Paris and a two-week mission of the task force to Greece, which included meetings with senior officials and wide range of stakeholders including the National Education Council, regional education directors, teachers’ unions, unions of school administrators, the university rectors’ and the presidents’ councils of Technological Educational Institutes (TEI), university and TEI academic staff, university and TEI student unions, and representatives of business and employer organisations. The task force also conducted site visits to primary and secondary schools. The OECD would like to acknowledge with great appreciation the assistance provided by the Ministry throughout the project, especially Nelly Exarchakou and Roy Chourdaki who provided support in scheduling meetings and providing background materials. STRONG PERFORMERS AND SUCCESSFUL REFORMERS IN EDUCATION: EDUCATION POLICY ADVICE FOR GREECE © OECD 2011 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13