PIAAC A new OECD Programme on Adult Skills  and their Value for Individuals and Economies OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)
PIAAC Why PIAAC ? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
PIAAC Why PIAAC ? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
Context for PIAAC Growth and competitiveness increasingly depend on the capacity of countries to  Anticipate the evolution of labour demand Promote skill acquisition and equity of access to learning Deploy their talent pool effectively by ensuring that the right mix of skills is being taught and learned and employers find workers with the skills they need Develop efficient and sustainable approaches to the financing of learning that establish who should pay for what, when, where and how much. Growth is not just affected positively by the available talent pool, but also negatively by the economic and social costs associated with inadequate skills .
PIAAC seeks to assist countries in improving economic and social outcomes through better skills and their effective utilisation Responsiveness  Ensuring that education/training providers can adapt efficiently to changing demand Quality and efficiency in learning provision  Ensuring that the right skills are acquired at the right time, right place and in the most effective mode Flexibility in provision  Allowing people to study/train what they want, when they want and how they want Transferability of skills  Such that skills gained are documented in a commonly accepted and understandable form Ease of access  Reducing barriers to entry such as institutional rigidities, up-front fees and age restrictions, existence of a variety of entry and re-entry pathways Low costs of early exit  Recognition for components of learning, modular provision, credit accumulation and credit transfer systems exist .
A work programme with four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand?  Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need?  Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1  (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED)
A work programme with four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand?  Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need?  Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1  (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 1:  Drivers for skill demand Issues Changing skill demands within jobs –  often driven by technology  Increased demand for certain occupations  affecting the composition of aggregate skills demand  New types of jobs, driven by innovation –  in products and in services Greater need for transferable skills, in part driven by greater labour mobility . Work proposals Balancing occupation-specific and generic skills [ELS] Skill demands in technology-rich environments [PIAAC] Skill demands of innovative firms [CERI] Skill demands in health and green jobs [ELS] Economic and social outcomes of skills [PIAAC, CERI] .
A work programme with four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand?  Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need?  Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1  (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 2:  Right mix of skills learned and taught? Issues Increasingly complex and dynamic labour-markets combined with depreciation of domain-specific knowledge require individuals to upgrade their skills more regularly leading to changing patterns of work and learning Individual and aggregate skill mismatches can be associated with ineffective signalling of labour market demands to education providers and individuals but can also be the consequence of a lack of responsiveness on the part of education and training providers Age training gaps, gender gaps Work proposals Prevalence and consequences of skills mismatch [EDU/ELS] Improving the utilisation of human capital [ELS] Preventing skill obsolesence among displaced workers [ELS] Understanding the impact of age on skills [ELS] .
A work programme with four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand?  Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need?  Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1  (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 3:  Are skills developed in effective, equitable and sustainable ways Issues Establishing efficient and fair ways of lifelong and lifewide learning, and ensuring responsiveness, quality and flexibility in provision Incentive systems and support structures to enhancing skills through the formal educational system, in the work-place or through incentives addressed at the general population and training Establishing an appropriate mix of academic and vocational learning in ways that reflect student preferences and employers’ needs, with vocational training providing immediate employability, but also basic transferable skills to support occupational mobility Work proposals New learning organisations [CERI] Vocational education and training [EDU] Equity in access and educational mobility [PIAAC, PISA] Utilising the skill potential of immigrants [ELS] Developing innovation oriented skills [CERI] .
A work programme with four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand?  Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need?  Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1  (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 4: Who  should pay for what, when, where and how much ? Issues Building new relationships, networks and coalitions between learners, providers, governments, businesses, social investors and innovators that bring together the legitimacy, innovation, and resources that are needed to make lifelong learning a reality for all Finding ways to encourage both employers and students to participate in workplace training, and ensuring that such training is of good quality, with effective quality assurance and contractual frameworks for apprentices Mobilising time and money  Work proposals Joining up local skill strategies .
PIAAC will… in each country interview 5000 adults aged 16-65 in their homes and test their skills with a computer-adaptive assessment collect information on the antecedents, outcomes and contexts of skill development and use …  in order to… provide a comprehensive assessment  of the human capital stock For high performers, show to what extent they are able to apply their skills to solve challenging problems requiring mastery of technology  For those with low literacy, show to what extent their problem is with performing basic reading functions or with understanding and application show to what extent skills held by individuals are actually used at work and identify the role skills play in improving labour market prospects of at-risk populations  improve understanding of the labour market and social returns to education and training help governments better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills . Country participation Australia Austria Belgium  Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Hungary Ireland Italy Japan Korea Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russian Federation Slovak Republic Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States
PIAAC Why PIAAC ? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
Key elements of PIAAC: A multi-cycle international survey of adult skills Measures of adult competencies Test-based measures in areas where methodologies exist Indirect measures in other areas that support PIAAC‘s policy objectives Measures of key social and economic  outcomes Labour-market experience , status and transitions, earnings, adult learning, social outcomes Measures of the  utilisation of  competencies  at the workplace Through a  job-requirement survey A background questionnaire  To contextualise and analyse determinants of competencies, their development, and their use Surveyed: individuals Assessment: direct and indirect Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect,  e.g. JRA Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect
PIAAC Why PIAAC ? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
Moderate policy impact High potential policy impact … Low feasibility/costly High feasibility Money pits Must haves Low-hanging fruits Quick wins Adult competencies and their   as well as  economic and social outcomes Equity and intergenerational mobility What levels of skills do individuals and countries demonstrate, and how do these relate to educational attainment? How well do education and training systems deliver in generating the required competencies Improving the labour-market prospects of those at risk aggregate individual x Capitalising on technology-rich environments Ageing and skills The competitive advantages of OECD countries  in the global competition for jobs  (Skip examples) Where does initial education leave us in terms of skill supply with their different forms of organisation of the education and training system?  Has the rapid growth in educational attainment translated into better foundation skills?  How do the results compare to those observed in earlier schooling (PISA)? How do people gain and lose skills as they grow older?  How will changes in the age structure of populations and aspects such as educational attainment feed through to the future talent pool? How well can adults solve problems in technology-rich environments? How does this relate to the incidence and intensity of using information technology in and outside work What can we learn about the impact of age on skills and skill utilisation, how has this changed over recent decades and the policy levers associated with this (separating biological effects of aging from differences in the experiences of cohorts over time)? To what extent can and do skills play a role in levelling the playing field, both in terms of providing high quality education to all and giving access to higher education to those who are able and motivated to continue their schooling, irrespective of their social background? Further analysis on intergenerational mobility will also be possible with the JRA measurement of what people do in their jobs Description of the population with low skills, or special population groups such as immigrants, and interrelationships with labour-market outcomes. What is the role of skills in explaining differences in labour-market outcomes between immigrant and native-born workers? Do skill differences depend on where human capital was acquired? Do immigrants receive different returns to these skills than observationally similar native-born workers? Is education or skills mismatch mostly confined to youth early on in their professional careers and subsequently diminishes? Is mismatch important and does it translate into large earnings penalties? Have education and training systems in OECD countries shown sufficient adaptability in the face of changing skill demands or are skills mismatches endemic? How do task-based learning (JRA) and job-related training relate to the length of the working life?  (but keep in mind that labour-market outcomes and training are snapshots in time whereas the measured skills are accumulated over the lifespan) Labour force skills and the price of these skills are crucial to understand in the perspective of increasing global competition for jobs higher up in the skill hierarchy. PIAAC can tell us more about which cognitive and non-cognitive skills are important in particular. PIAAC can provide systematic insights into the risks and rewards for skills in the labour market, for individuals and economies, as well as for specific subgroups such as immigrants
Source: International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Study (ALLS) 1 – less than upper secondary 2 – upper secondary 3 – post-secondary/non-tertiary 4 – tertiary education The qualifications we acquired don’t tell us everything about the skills we have Mean problem solving1,2 scores on a scale with range 0-500 points, by level of educational attainment, populations aged 16-65, 2003
Skill make a difference for labour market outcomes The probabilities of unemployed adults aged 16 to 65 to exit unemployment over a 52 week period, by low (Levels 1 and 2) and medium to high (Levels 3 and 4/5) skills, document scale, 2003 Source: International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Study (ALLS) High skills (Levels 3, 4 and 5) Low skills (Levels 1 and 2)
State of play and opportunities to collaborate PIAAC is now at a critical juncture of moving from an international strategy towards national implementation Where we are… Countries are currently administering a full trial of the assessment (with 1400 respondents) A initial analysis plan has been prepared  Data will become available in December, we could establish  joint projects  to explore these data We could collaborate on identifying institutional variables to explain differences in skill development and utilisation … and what remains ahead Main data collection  (2011/2012) Public release of results and database  (2013)  A series of thematic reports will follow, this provides  further opportunities for collaboration .
Thank you !

Introducing PIAAC - OECD's new programme for assessing adult competencies

  • 1.
    PIAAC A newOECD Programme on Adult Skills and their Value for Individuals and Economies OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)
  • 2.
    PIAAC Why PIAAC? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
  • 3.
    PIAAC Why PIAAC? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
  • 4.
    Context for PIAACGrowth and competitiveness increasingly depend on the capacity of countries to Anticipate the evolution of labour demand Promote skill acquisition and equity of access to learning Deploy their talent pool effectively by ensuring that the right mix of skills is being taught and learned and employers find workers with the skills they need Develop efficient and sustainable approaches to the financing of learning that establish who should pay for what, when, where and how much. Growth is not just affected positively by the available talent pool, but also negatively by the economic and social costs associated with inadequate skills .
  • 5.
    PIAAC seeks toassist countries in improving economic and social outcomes through better skills and their effective utilisation Responsiveness Ensuring that education/training providers can adapt efficiently to changing demand Quality and efficiency in learning provision Ensuring that the right skills are acquired at the right time, right place and in the most effective mode Flexibility in provision Allowing people to study/train what they want, when they want and how they want Transferability of skills Such that skills gained are documented in a commonly accepted and understandable form Ease of access Reducing barriers to entry such as institutional rigidities, up-front fees and age restrictions, existence of a variety of entry and re-entry pathways Low costs of early exit Recognition for components of learning, modular provision, credit accumulation and credit transfer systems exist .
  • 6.
    A work programmewith four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1 (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED)
  • 7.
    A work programmewith four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1 (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 1: Drivers for skill demand Issues Changing skill demands within jobs – often driven by technology Increased demand for certain occupations affecting the composition of aggregate skills demand New types of jobs, driven by innovation – in products and in services Greater need for transferable skills, in part driven by greater labour mobility . Work proposals Balancing occupation-specific and generic skills [ELS] Skill demands in technology-rich environments [PIAAC] Skill demands of innovative firms [CERI] Skill demands in health and green jobs [ELS] Economic and social outcomes of skills [PIAAC, CERI] .
  • 8.
    A work programmewith four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1 (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 2: Right mix of skills learned and taught? Issues Increasingly complex and dynamic labour-markets combined with depreciation of domain-specific knowledge require individuals to upgrade their skills more regularly leading to changing patterns of work and learning Individual and aggregate skill mismatches can be associated with ineffective signalling of labour market demands to education providers and individuals but can also be the consequence of a lack of responsiveness on the part of education and training providers Age training gaps, gender gaps Work proposals Prevalence and consequences of skills mismatch [EDU/ELS] Improving the utilisation of human capital [ELS] Preventing skill obsolesence among displaced workers [ELS] Understanding the impact of age on skills [ELS] .
  • 9.
    A work programmewith four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1 (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 3: Are skills developed in effective, equitable and sustainable ways Issues Establishing efficient and fair ways of lifelong and lifewide learning, and ensuring responsiveness, quality and flexibility in provision Incentive systems and support structures to enhancing skills through the formal educational system, in the work-place or through incentives addressed at the general population and training Establishing an appropriate mix of academic and vocational learning in ways that reflect student preferences and employers’ needs, with vocational training providing immediate employability, but also basic transferable skills to support occupational mobility Work proposals New learning organisations [CERI] Vocational education and training [EDU] Equity in access and educational mobility [PIAAC, PISA] Utilising the skill potential of immigrants [ELS] Developing innovation oriented skills [CERI] .
  • 10.
    A work programmewith four pillars How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Pillar 1 (EDU and ELS) Pillar 2 (ELS) Pillar 3 (EDU) Pillar 4 (EDU and LEED) Pillar 4: Who should pay for what, when, where and how much ? Issues Building new relationships, networks and coalitions between learners, providers, governments, businesses, social investors and innovators that bring together the legitimacy, innovation, and resources that are needed to make lifelong learning a reality for all Finding ways to encourage both employers and students to participate in workplace training, and ensuring that such training is of good quality, with effective quality assurance and contractual frameworks for apprentices Mobilising time and money Work proposals Joining up local skill strategies .
  • 11.
    PIAAC will… ineach country interview 5000 adults aged 16-65 in their homes and test their skills with a computer-adaptive assessment collect information on the antecedents, outcomes and contexts of skill development and use … in order to… provide a comprehensive assessment of the human capital stock For high performers, show to what extent they are able to apply their skills to solve challenging problems requiring mastery of technology For those with low literacy, show to what extent their problem is with performing basic reading functions or with understanding and application show to what extent skills held by individuals are actually used at work and identify the role skills play in improving labour market prospects of at-risk populations improve understanding of the labour market and social returns to education and training help governments better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills . Country participation Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Hungary Ireland Italy Japan Korea Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russian Federation Slovak Republic Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States
  • 12.
    PIAAC Why PIAAC? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
  • 13.
    Key elements ofPIAAC: A multi-cycle international survey of adult skills Measures of adult competencies Test-based measures in areas where methodologies exist Indirect measures in other areas that support PIAAC‘s policy objectives Measures of key social and economic outcomes Labour-market experience , status and transitions, earnings, adult learning, social outcomes Measures of the utilisation of competencies at the workplace Through a job-requirement survey A background questionnaire To contextualise and analyse determinants of competencies, their development, and their use Surveyed: individuals Assessment: direct and indirect Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect, e.g. JRA Surveyed: individuals Assessment: indirect
  • 14.
    PIAAC Why PIAAC? How does PIAAC work ? What will PIAAC tell us ?
  • 15.
    Moderate policy impactHigh potential policy impact … Low feasibility/costly High feasibility Money pits Must haves Low-hanging fruits Quick wins Adult competencies and their as well as economic and social outcomes Equity and intergenerational mobility What levels of skills do individuals and countries demonstrate, and how do these relate to educational attainment? How well do education and training systems deliver in generating the required competencies Improving the labour-market prospects of those at risk aggregate individual x Capitalising on technology-rich environments Ageing and skills The competitive advantages of OECD countries in the global competition for jobs (Skip examples) Where does initial education leave us in terms of skill supply with their different forms of organisation of the education and training system? Has the rapid growth in educational attainment translated into better foundation skills? How do the results compare to those observed in earlier schooling (PISA)? How do people gain and lose skills as they grow older? How will changes in the age structure of populations and aspects such as educational attainment feed through to the future talent pool? How well can adults solve problems in technology-rich environments? How does this relate to the incidence and intensity of using information technology in and outside work What can we learn about the impact of age on skills and skill utilisation, how has this changed over recent decades and the policy levers associated with this (separating biological effects of aging from differences in the experiences of cohorts over time)? To what extent can and do skills play a role in levelling the playing field, both in terms of providing high quality education to all and giving access to higher education to those who are able and motivated to continue their schooling, irrespective of their social background? Further analysis on intergenerational mobility will also be possible with the JRA measurement of what people do in their jobs Description of the population with low skills, or special population groups such as immigrants, and interrelationships with labour-market outcomes. What is the role of skills in explaining differences in labour-market outcomes between immigrant and native-born workers? Do skill differences depend on where human capital was acquired? Do immigrants receive different returns to these skills than observationally similar native-born workers? Is education or skills mismatch mostly confined to youth early on in their professional careers and subsequently diminishes? Is mismatch important and does it translate into large earnings penalties? Have education and training systems in OECD countries shown sufficient adaptability in the face of changing skill demands or are skills mismatches endemic? How do task-based learning (JRA) and job-related training relate to the length of the working life? (but keep in mind that labour-market outcomes and training are snapshots in time whereas the measured skills are accumulated over the lifespan) Labour force skills and the price of these skills are crucial to understand in the perspective of increasing global competition for jobs higher up in the skill hierarchy. PIAAC can tell us more about which cognitive and non-cognitive skills are important in particular. PIAAC can provide systematic insights into the risks and rewards for skills in the labour market, for individuals and economies, as well as for specific subgroups such as immigrants
  • 16.
    Source: International AdultLiteracy and Life Skills Study (ALLS) 1 – less than upper secondary 2 – upper secondary 3 – post-secondary/non-tertiary 4 – tertiary education The qualifications we acquired don’t tell us everything about the skills we have Mean problem solving1,2 scores on a scale with range 0-500 points, by level of educational attainment, populations aged 16-65, 2003
  • 17.
    Skill make adifference for labour market outcomes The probabilities of unemployed adults aged 16 to 65 to exit unemployment over a 52 week period, by low (Levels 1 and 2) and medium to high (Levels 3 and 4/5) skills, document scale, 2003 Source: International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Study (ALLS) High skills (Levels 3, 4 and 5) Low skills (Levels 1 and 2)
  • 18.
    State of playand opportunities to collaborate PIAAC is now at a critical juncture of moving from an international strategy towards national implementation Where we are… Countries are currently administering a full trial of the assessment (with 1400 respondents) A initial analysis plan has been prepared Data will become available in December, we could establish joint projects to explore these data We could collaborate on identifying institutional variables to explain differences in skill development and utilisation … and what remains ahead Main data collection (2011/2012) Public release of results and database (2013) A series of thematic reports will follow, this provides further opportunities for collaboration .
  • 19.

Editor's Notes

  • #5 Why are we proposing this? As we all know, growth and competitiveness increasingly depend on the capacity of countries to anticipate the evolution of labour demand and to promote skill acquisition and equity of access to learning. But an equally important challenge for countries is to deploy their talent pool effectively by ensuring that the right mix of skills is being taught and learned and employers find workers with the skills they need. And finally, it is important to develop more efficient and sustainable approaches to the financing of learning that also provide a rational basis for who should pay for what, when, where and how much . Transitions to environmentally sustainable economies are an additional driver in the mix of skills that countries require, as are enhanced skill requirements for social and political participation. International migration is also a source of skills but one that needs to be managed appropriately in order to match individual aspirations with the needs of both sending and receiving countries. Last but not least, growth is not just affected positively by the available talent pool, but also negatively by the economic and social costs associated with declining employment prospects for those without sufficient skills.
  • #6 With the Skills Strategy , the OECD seeks to assist countries with improving economic and social outcomes through better skills and their effective utilisation. More specifically, the Skills Strategy is about improving: (1) responsiveness (ensuring that education/training providers can adapt efficiently to changing demand); (2) quality and efficiency in learning provision (ensuring that the right skills are acquired at the right time, right place and in the most effective mode); (3) flexibility in provision (allowing people to study/train what they want, when they want and how they want); (4) transferability of skills (such that skills gained are documented in a commonly accepted and understandable form); (5) ease of access (e.g. by reducing barriers to entry such as institutional rigidities, up-front fees and age restrictions, existence of a variety of entry and re-entry pathways); and (6) low costs of early exit (e.g. credit is granted for components of learning, modular provision, credit accumulation and credit transfer systems exist). The work would take a lifecycle perspective in designing policy responses to the challenges of building, maintaining and improving skills in the different transitions over the life course.
  • #7 We have structured the work under four pillars : The first pillar deals with the question: How do we identify and assess essential skills for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and what are the factors driving the evolution of skill demand? Pillar 2: Is the right mix of skills being taught and learned and can employers find workers with the skills they need? Pillar 3: Are skills developed in effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable ways? Pillar 4: How can governments build strong coalitions with the business sector and social investors and find sustainable approaches to who should pay for what, when, where and how much? Let me briefly lead you through these pillars.
  • #8 One of the reasons why skill shortages often do not translate efficiently into learning provision is the lack of a common language through which skills are identified, articulated, recognised and communicated from those who use them to those who produce them . This pillar seeks to assist countries with identifying, defining and assessing essential skills, giving adequate recognition to generic skills as well as domain-specific and firm-specific skills. Our analysis would examine both changing skill demands within existing jobs – often driven by technology – as well as changing aggregate skill demands resulting from shifts in occupational composition. Another important objective of this first pillar would be the development of better evidence on the economic and social outcomes of skills at both individual and aggregate levels.
  • #9 A better understanding of the drivers of changes in skill demand within firms, occupations and countries will be crucial for countries to shift the focus of learning provision from supplying skills for today’s labour market to shaping future jobs . Labour markets are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic, are characterised by growing convergence of occupational sectors and rising job and occupational mobility. These forces combined with depreciation of domain-specific knowledge require individuals to upgrade their skills more regularly leading to changing patterns of work and learning. Skill mismatches occur at both the individual level – when a worker would be more productive in another position – as well as at the aggregate level – when there is a general surplus or shortage of specific skills . It is important in this context that policy makers are seeking to meet skills shortages, and not just labour shortages created by unattractive and low quality employment. There are also ‘age training gaps’ and ‘gender training gaps’ with older workers and women often being less involved in training that their younger and male counterparts, respectively. Why do these gaps exist and how can be best addressed? What are the key institutional factors that can promote participation in training of older workers (e.g. wage-setting mechanisms; retirement policies)? What policy and institutions could reduce the gender training gap (e.g. family-friendly policies that encourage more continuity in working careers for women)? Finally, how to manage the global search for talent while also dealing with brain drain and brain gains issues? How to strengthen education outcomes of children of immigrants in receiving countries? How to promote return migration and better use of competencies in the home country?
  • #10 Third, with a rapidly rising demand for skills, countries can no longer simply rely on education and training systems that efficiently sort individuals, but need to improve their skill base throughout the population and to capitalise on the full potential of all individuals. This requires countries to ensure that skills are developed in effective, efficient and fair ways through lifelong and lifewide learning , and to ensure responsiveness, quality and flexibility in provision. The OECD could play a pathfinder role for countries to: (1) identify effective strategies for new ways of learning and skill provision; (2) improve the knowledge base about skill development; and (3) support systems of continuous innovation and feedback to develop knowledge of what policies work in which circumstances. This would also involve identifying the policy levers, incentive systems and support structures that lead to enhancing skills through the formal educational system, in the work-place or through incentives addressed at the general population. It would also include sustaining workplace training and meeting the increased demand for full-time vocational education and training. There is also significant potential for peer-learning among countries with regard to how individuals learn differently, and differently at different stages of their lives , and what effective policies are to meet those individual needs of people, wherever they learn, to look into new ways to take learning to the learner, examine new forms of educational provision and new relationships between learners, providers, funders and social innovators. Similarly, peer-learning offers important policy insights for establishing the appropriate mix of academic and vocational programmes in ways that reflect student preferences and employers’ needs, with vocational training providing immediate employability, but also basic transferable skills to support occupational mobility.
  • #11 Fourth, governments need to build new relationships, networks and coalitions between learners, providers, governments, businesses, social investors and innovators that bring together the legitimacy, innovation, and resources that are needed to make lifelong learning a reality for all. Much of this networking and engagement takes place at the level of local labour markets, and it is therefore at this level that relevant stakeholders interact and collaborate to gear education and training to local labour market needs, attract and retain talent, and ensure that disadvantaged groups are integrated into learning systems. The rising demand for skills also implies that all stakeholders must be prepared to mobilise more time and money for learning . At the same time, there is an urgent need to improve the efficiency of educational provision. Investment in learning needs to be cost and tax-efficient for individuals and their employers. For those out of work, funding needs to be accessible to support and incentivize learning. Governments need to use regulation and taxation to encourage financial institutions to develop new financial instruments that allow learners to access opportunities when they need them most, including through lowering cost, reducing risk and smoothing repayments. For learning beyond universal education, education and training systems need to find ways to share the costs among government, employers and students based on the respective benefits obtained.