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
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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
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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
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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 socioemotional 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
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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
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