Annex B. How the School Resources Review was conducted
Governance of the review
Within the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills the review has been carried out by the Early Childhood and Schools Division under the leadership of Michael Davidson (from January 2013 to September 2014) and Yuri Belfali (from October 2014 to July 2016) and by the Policy Advice and Implementation Division under the leadership of Paulo Santiago (since August 2016).
The School Resources Review is overseen by a Group of National Experts (GNE) on School Resources, a subsidiary body of the OECD Education Policy Committee. The GNE on School Resources guides the review and facilitates the exchange of information and experiences concerning school resources among countries. The GNE on School Resources has been chaired by Mr Jørn Skovsgaard, Senior Advisor, Danish Ministry of Education, and vice-chairs Ms Marie-Anne Persoons, Policy advisor, Flemish Ministry of Education and Training and Mr Matej Šišković, Director, Education Policy Institute, Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. Ms Shelley Robertson, Chief Advisor International Education, New Zealand Ministry of Education, served as vice-chair for the GNE from May 2014 to May 2015 and chaired its 1st meeting.
Between May 2014 and July 2018, the GNE on School Resources held five official meetings at the OECD premises in Paris. These were open to all OECD member countries and observers to the Education Policy Committee as well as to the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC). The project is conducted in co-operation with a range of international organisations to reduce duplication and develop synergies. In particular, within a broader framework of collaboration, a partnership with the European Commission (EC) is established for this project (see below). The review of Kazakhstan was undertaken in co-operation with the World Bank. Other international agencies collaborating with the project include Eurydice, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates (SICI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Global Education Monitoring Report.
National co-ordinators
Each participating country appointed a national co-ordinator, who was responsible for: communications with the OECD Secretariat and within the country about the review; ensuring that the Country Background Report was completed on schedule; liaising with the OECD Secretariat about the organisation of the review team visit, for those countries which opted for a country review; attending meetings of the Group of National Experts on School Resources; co-ordinating country responses to the review’s qualitative survey on school funding; co-ordinating country feedback on draft materials; and assisting with dissemination activities. Past and present national co-ordinators are listed in Table B.1.
Collaboration with the European Commission
Within a broader framework of collaboration, the OECD School Resources Review has benefited from a partnership with the European Commission (EC) that was established for the project. The support of the EC has covered part of the participation costs for members of the European Union Erasmus+ programme and contributed significantly to the preparation of a series of thematic comparative reports, including this publication. Within the EC’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture, the collaboration was organised by Unit A.2: Education and Training in Europe 2020 by Mónika Képe-Holmberg under the leadership of Michael Teutsch (until December 2016) and Denis Crowley (since January 2017), and Unit B.2: Schools and Multilingualism under the leadership of Sophie Beernaerts (until December 2016) and Michael Teutsch (since January 2017) and deputy leadership of Diana Jablonska. Through its Country Analysis unit, the EC contributed to planning individual country reviews in the countries listed in Table B.2, with the relevant country desk officers participating in planning visits, providing input for the organisation of the main visit and offering feedback on draft country review reports.
Country Background Report
Information on countries’ policies and practices was gathered through country background reports (CBRs). The CBRs were prepared in response to a common set of issues and questions, and used a common framework to facilitate comparative analysis and maximise the opportunities for countries to learn from each other. The CBRs were a key source of information for the review’s thematic comparative reports. The guidelines for the preparation of CBRs are set out in a dedicated document available on the review website (www.oecd.org/education/schoolresourcesreview.htm). The CBRs were structured around the following main chapters:
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1. The national context
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2. The school system
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3. Governance of resource use in schools
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4. Resource distribution
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5. Resource utilisation
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6. Resource management
The CBRs are intended for four main audiences: The Secretariat and OECD member and observer countries as an aid to sharing experiences and identifying common problems and policy options; the team of external reviewers who visited the countries which opted for a country review; those interested in the use of school resources in the country concerned; and those interested in the use of school resources at international level and in other countries. All CBRs are available on the review website (www.oecd.org/education/schoolresourcesreview.htm).
Qualitative data collection
In addition to the country background reports, the School Resources Review collected information on countries’ national approaches to school funding through a qualitative questionnaire prepared by the OECD Secretariat. Seventeen systems participated in this qualitative data collection. The questionnaire focused on formal requirements for funding in terms of laws and regulations for early childhood and school education that were in place in 2016. It did not cover observed practices which can vary considerably. The questionnaire covered the following issues: raising resources for education; the public funding of private providers; budgeting and planning procedures; the distribution of current and capital expenditure; targeted funding; VET funding; the use of funding at the school level; and monitoring and reporting procedures.
The qualitative survey provided crucial information to complement the information available through CBRs and to support the review’s analysis. Selected information gathered through the survey is reflected in the review’s first thematic report on school funding as well as Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of this report. The review team made every effort to ensure in collaboration with countries that the information available in this report is as valid and robust as possible and reflects specific country contexts while being comparable across countries. However, given the complex nature of school funding and the qualitative nature of this survey, information should be interpreted with care. Country contacts for the qualitative data collection are listed in Table B.3.
Country review reports
Another major source of material for this report was the set of country review reports prepared by the external review teams that visited participating countries engaging in a full country review. By providing an external perspective on the use of school resources in the countries concerned, the country review reports were also intended to contribute to national discussions, as well as inform other countries about policy innovations underway. The country review reports were also published as a publication series, OECD Reviews of School Resources, in order to enhance the visibility of these country-specific outputs as part of the review.
For each country visited, a team of up to five reviewers (including at least two OECD Secretariat members) analysed the country background report and associated materials and subsequently undertook an intensive case study visit over the course of about seven days. The reviewers were selected in consultation with the country authorities to ensure that they had experience relevant to the main policy issues in the country concerned. The study visit aimed to provide the review team with a variety of perspectives on the governance, distribution, management and utilisation of school resources and included meetings with education and finance authorities at national and sub-national levels; relevant agencies (e.g. audit offices); teacher professional organisations and unions; parents’ organisations; representatives of schools and school leaders; students’ organisations; teacher educators; researchers; as well as students, teachers and school leaders at the schools visited. The objective was to accumulate sufficient information and understanding on which to base the analysis and policy recommendations.
At the time of publication, 12 review visits had been conducted, involving 25 external reviewers with a range of research and policy backgrounds. The reviews involved a planning visit and a main review visit. Details on the composition of the review teams for the main visits can be found in Table B.4. The country review reports are published on the project website (www.oecd.org/education/schoolresourcesreview.htm).
Analytical background papers
The School Resources Review was also informed by the following analytical background papers and literature reviews prepared in the context of the project:
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School Size Policies: A Literature Review, by Macarena Ares Abalde, OECD Education Working Paper No. 106 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1787/5jxt472ddkjl-en.
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Learning Support Staff: A Literature Review, by Francesc Masdeu, OECD Education Working Paper No. 125 (2015), https://doi.org/10.1787/5jrnzm39w45l-en.
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Student Learning Time: A Literature Review, by Anna Gromada and Claire Shewbridge, OECD Education Working Paper No. 127 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1787/5jm409kqqkjh-en.
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Budgeting and Accounting in OECD Education Systems: A Literature Review, by Tala Fakharzadeh, OECD Education Working Paper No. 128 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1787/5jm3xgsz03kh-en.
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Regulating Publicly Funded Private Schools: A Literature Review on Equity and Effectiveness, by Luka Boeskens, OECD Education Working Paper No. 147 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1787/5jln6jcg80r4-en.
Dissemination
To facilitate dissemination and encourage feedback, all project documents and outputs are published on the review’s website (www.oecd.org/education/schoolresourcesreview.htm). Throughout the review, the OECD Secretariat presented the project and its findings at a wide range of internal and external meetings and a significant number of countries organised national events to discuss both the international results from the review and the conclusions of specific country reviews.