Doc. 9199

10 September 2001

Contribution to the debate on the activities of the OECD¹

Committee on Culture, Science and Education

Rapporteur: Mr Josep Varela i Serra, Spain, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

Introduction

1.       In preparation for writing this opinion, on 9 July 2001 I visited the OECD together with the Secretary of the Committee, Mr Ary, where we met the Director for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, Mr John Martin, the Deputy Director for Education, Mr Barry McGaw, the Head of the Education and Training Division, Mr Abrar Hasan, the Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), Mr Jarl Bengtsson, and Principal Administrative Officer Mr Ian Whitman. I would like to thank them for their co-operation and the very useful information they gave us.

2.       In his excellent report on the OECD and the world economy, presented on behalf of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, Petr Mateju emphasises the central role of human capital and knowledge in fostering sustainable economic growth and points out that this is a priority for the OECD. It is more than that: the OECD officials we met confirmed that for the first time in its history, education has been placed at the top of the organisation’s priorities.

3.       As the draft resolution quite rightly puts it, the new world economy is “increasingly based on knowledge and the ability to organise people around it” and “the OECD countries must therefore further increase investment in education at all levels”. The Committee on Culture, Science and Education, which for a long time has repeatedly reminded the Assembly of the importance of education for the future, cannot but vigorously endorse those words. It also endorses the words of our colleague Mr Mateju related to the “Bologna Declaration” on the need for a common European area of higher education and on the importance of “functional literacy” to strengthen democracy.

Education ministers

4.       A large part of the OECD’s activities in the year 2000 was tied in with the meeting of the OECD Education ministers in Paris on 3 and 4 April 2001, “Investing in competencies for all”. “Competencies” should be understood as covering knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, and the ministers stated in their final communiqué that their aim was to foster the acquisition of these competencies by working closely with others. The objectives of the Council of Europe “Life-long education for all” and Unesco “Basic education for all by 2015” would appear to single out these two organisations as ideal partners for the OECD in its pursuit of this aim. New employment trends, in particular the increasing need to change jobs several time in a working life, have placed wider importance on education, which should indeed train people for life and not just for specific trades.

5.       Social problems such as unemployment, the growing wage gap and exclusion of young people and the disadvantaged can be successfully addressed only if governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations join forces to promote life-long learning that goes beyond traditional schooling. This was also underscored in the Assembly’s Resolution 1193 (1999) on second-chance schools (rapporteur: Mr Kollwelter), which called on all European countries to improve the integration prospects of young people excluded from the labour market by implementing pilot projects on second-chance schools.

6.       The ministers recognise that governments must seek to ensure overall consistency of policies aimed at young children and their families. In this regard, I would refer to the report I myself presented to the Assembly last January on parents’ and teachers’ responsibilities in children’s education, which stated that “improving communication between children, parents and schools, with participation by voluntary associations and non-formal education bodies, and forging a genuine partnership between them are proving absolutely necessary if we are to meet our society’s educational needs.” It is important to add that education policies for young people should be consistent not only within each country but also from one country to another (see Doc. 8915 and Recommendation 1501 (2001)).

7.       The OECD ministers’ stated this determination to work further on the new competencies required, taking a broad view so as to cover the needs of a knowledge society and not just those of a knowledge economy. Such an attitude is close to the approach of the Council of Europe and should be welcomed by the Assembly.

8.       The problems referred to concerning the ageing teaching force and a shortage of teachers are extremely serious ones and could compromise the results of education policies. They must be addressed as a matter of urgency and as resolutely as possible. This would include introducing policies to improve the status of the teaching profession, as underlined by the Assembly in its Recommendation 1501 (2001) on parents’ and teachers’ responsibilities.

9.       The ministers called on OECD to further develop, amongst other things, its work on indicators with which to monitor progress in achieving the goal of life-long learning. This should be a priority and the Assembly’s attention should be drawn to the OECD’s PISA programme, which compares the knowledge and skills acquired by 15-year-olds in various countries, whether OECD members or not. Clearly, this type of programme should be supported, but it should be used to a greater extent by the relevant authorities to correct and improve the practical aspects of education policies.

Education at a glance

10.       In its presentation of the 2001 edition of “Education at a glance”, the organisation states that OECD governments are increasing their investment in educational institutions to keep up with rising demand. But only in a few countries - Turkey, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, Denmark and Italy – is public spending in this area keeping up with overall economic growth.

11.       In the majority of OECD countries, increases in educational expenditure have not been sufficient to keep up with rising numbers of post-high school students. As a result, in many countries, expenditure per individual student has fallen – by more than 10% in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark and the UK between 1995 and 1998. On average, across OECD countries, 25% of former school leavers earned a first university degree in 1999, up by a full percentage point from 1998. Better-educated people tend to earn more. A 30- to 34-year-old university graduate earns 60% more, on average, than someone in the same age bracket with only upper secondary qualifications and more than twice as much as someone without an upper secondary qualification.

12.       But differences in the expansion of education have widened the gap between countries. While in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands and the United States, one out of three school leavers now completes a first university degree, that proportion falls to below one in six in Turkey, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Austria, Germany and Italy.

13.       What is more, rising average levels of attainment continue in many countries to conceal persistent inequalities in the provision and outcomes of education. While growing numbers of people are completing upper secondary education in all OECD countries - among 25- to 34-year-olds the proportion of persons without an upper secondary qualification (28%) is only half the size as among 55- to 64 year-olds (55%) - a significant minority remains without upper secondary qualifications. In Mexico, Turkey, Portugal, Spain and Italy, between 75% and 45% of 25- to 34-year olds lack an upper secondary qualification.

14.       Ensuring that such people are not left behind poses a significant challenge because of the attendant risk of social exclusion. In many countries such people have limited opportunities to catch up later through continuing education and training. Adults aged 25 to 64 years without upper secondary qualifications participate, on average, in only 17 hours of job-related continuing education and training over the course of a year, compared with 40 hours for adults with an upper secondary qualification and over 64 hours for those with a tertiary qualification.

15.       Among other things, the indicators in “Education at a Glance 2001” show that:

• Private spending on tertiary institutions now exceeds 30% in a number of countries, including Korea, Japan, the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK. In Japan, more than half of all final funds for tertiary institutions originate from private sources and in Korea the figure exceeds 80%.

• Across OECD countries, education brings large rewards for individuals in terms of employment prospects. Labour force participation rates rise steeply with educational attainment in most OECD countries, and particularly so for women. Unemployment among 30- to 44-year-old men without upper secondary education is, on average, more than three times as high as among university graduates and more than twice as high as among upper secondary graduates.

• Several countries face a time-bomb in terms of ageing teaching staff. Worryingly large proportions of teachers are within a decade of retirement in many OECD countries, and the ageing of the teaching force is continuing to accelerate in some countries. On average, almost one third of lower secondary teachers are 50 years or older. In Germany and Italy, it is more than 40%.

• Computers have become an essential part of the 21st century school environment but the extent to which they are used still varies widely, across and within countries. At the lower secondary level, the percentage of students using computers ranged, in 1999, from around 45% in Belgium (French-speaking Community) and the Czech Republic to around 85% or more in Denmark, Finland and Iceland. 85% of lower secondary schools were connected to the Internet in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand.

• Teacher salaries also vary widely. Annual statutory salaries of public lower secondary classroom teachers with 15 years’ experience range from below US$ 10 000 in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey to over US$ 50 000 in Switzerland. These differences, which appear even after an adjustment for purchasing power parities, have a large impact on the variation in education costs per student.

• The proportion of young women who study and have a job is everywhere higher than that of men, the average difference being more than 5 percentage points. For those young women who combine work and education, employment tends to be part-time in more than 60% of cases in almost every country.

16.       It would be interesting to have comparative statistics for the remaining Central and East European countries.

Conclusions

17.       The OECD, like the Council of Europe and Unesco, is actively engaged in drawing up strategies for life-long education for all. The Council of Europe and the OECD focus primarily on their member states, but I would like to stress that we all live in the same interdependent world and we should never forget that Africa, Latin America and Asia are also part of our world.

18.       The Committee on Culture, Science and Education believes that it would be extremely useful to organise a meeting in 2002 of the Council of Europe (the intergovernmental sector and the Parliamentary Assembly), the OECD, Unesco, the European Union (the European Parliament and the Commission), the Interparliamentary Union and the World Bank to discuss their respective education priorities and to work out the best approach for a more effective co-operation between the main international organisations dealing with education in Europe.

19.       The Committee accordingly wishes to put forward an amendment to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development draft resolution:

After paragraph 12, add the following new paragraph:

“The Assembly proposes a joint initiative in 2002, on parliamentary and governmental levels, involving the Council of Europe (the intergovernmental sector and the Parliamentary Assembly), OECD, Unesco, the European Union (the European Parliament and the Commission), the Interparliamentary Union and the World Bank to discuss their respective education priorities and to work out the best approach for a more effective co-operation between the main international organisations dealing with education in Europe and instructs its Committee on Culture, Science and Education to initiate a preparatory meeting early in January.”

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Committee for report: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (Doc. 9171 prov.)

Committee for contribution: Committee on Culture, Science and Education

Reference to the committee: Standing mandate

Secretariat of the committee: Mr Grayson, Mr Ary, Mrs Theophilova, Mr Torcătoriu

¹ See Doc. 9171 prov.