The effects of post-compulsory education and training systems on literacy and numeracy skills: A comparative analysis using PISA 2000 and the 2011 survey of adult skills

This article analyses the contribution of post-compulsory education and training systems to the development of literacy and numeracy skills across OECD countries. While there is extensive cross-country comparative research on the effects of primary and lower secondary education systems on aggregate skills levels, there has been little comparative analysis of system effects after the end of lower secondary education. This article uses a quasi-cohort analysis of the tested literacy and numeracy skills of 15-year-olds in PISA 2000 and 27-year-olds in the 2011 OECD Survey of Adult Skills (SAS) to estimate the gains in different countries in mean levels of competence in literacy and numeracy. We found that Nordic countries (Norway and Sweden) with comprehensive upper secondary education and training systems and German-speaking countries (Austria and Germany) with dual systems of apprenticeship were particular effective, whilst countries with mixed systems (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Spain) showed a relative decline in both literacy and numeracy. The education system characteristics that account for these differences are (a) the inclusiveness – as proxied by high rates of participation at 17/18 and low social gradients of level 3 completion; (b) the esteem of vocational programmes; and (c) curriculum standardisation with regard to the study of maths and the national language.     

新世纪欧洲教育的蓝图--《欧洲教育与培训2010年目标》述评

介绍<欧洲教育与培训2010年目标>出台的社会背景,简述<目标>基本内容及其实施策略.<目标>的提出与实施反映了知识社会对欧洲教育的全新挑战,强化了欧洲教育一体化的态势,认为这是欧洲在教育的多元与统一中进行的有意义的探索与尝试.     

The Spread of the Learning Outcomes Approaches across Countries,Sub‐systems and Levels: A special focus on teacher education

This article is based on the outcomes of the study entitled “The application of learning outcomes approaches across Europe”, which was funded by Cedefop and completed in 2015 (Wi?niewski et al, 2015 ). The study, aiming at exploring the implementation of the learning outcomes approach in European countries, addressed two major questions: (1) to what extent and how the shift to learning outcomes has been influencing education and training policies and strategies at macro (national) level and teaching practices at micro (institutional) level in EU and EFTA member countries, and (2) to what extent and how political priority given to learning outcomes has influenced institutional practices in the training of education and training professionals. The study, covering 33 EU and EFTA member countries and all sub‐systems of education, used empirical evidence from country case studies and also from a limited number of institutional case studies focusing on initial teacher education. The study demonstrated a significant progress in the use of the learning outcomes approach in most countries and in all sub‐systems, but also major implementation challenges. This article presents the outcomes of the study using an analytical framework combining three analytical perspectives: (1) curriculum development and delivery (2) European integration, and (3) governance and policy implementation.