Foreword
The Education Policy Outlook, the OECD’s analytical observatory of education policy, is a collaborative effort between OECD countries and economies, the OECD Secretariat, and invited organisations, as well as all actors working within participating education systems, to help students achieve their potential.
This report was prepared by members of the Education Policy Outlook Team (Diana Toledo Figueroa [Project Leader], Jonathan James, Christa Rawkins, and Christopher Olivares). Mustafa Saygin also provided analytical contributions and Deborah Nusche provided comments. It was prepared under the responsibility of Paulo Santiago, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division, and Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD Secretary-General. Ameline Besin provided editorial and administrative support, with valued communications input from Sasha Ramirez-Hughes, Eda Cabbar, Rachel Linden, Duncan Crawford, Kevin Gillespie, Della Shin, and Luisa Constanza.
The preparation of this report was possible thanks to the work undertaken by the Education Policy Outlook (EPO) in its three strands of work—comparative and thematic analysis, country-based work (mainly through the preparation of country policy profiles) and policy dialogue. These act as building blocks to develop, strengthen, and mobilise international knowledge of education policy. The OECD Secretariat is thankful to its EPO National Coordinators and key actors’ representative bodies at the OECD—including the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) and Business at OECD (BIAC)—for their valuable input during the project’s activities, which have informed the preparation of this publication.
The Education Policy Outlook comparative reports are the flagship publication of the OECD on education policy. Grounded on extensive research and data analysis, they provide evidence-based insights into international education policy. From 2023, the Education Policy Outlook will also support countries to follow up on the goals established by the 2022 Declaration on Building Equitable Societies Through Education. As part of this support, this report continues the Education Policy Outlook’s work on responsiveness and resilience since 2020 and provides insights relevant to education actors in 2024 based on priority areas of the Framework of Responsiveness and Resilience in Education Policy. The report presents insights from international comparative analysis of relevant and promising policy efforts adopted by participating countries in recent years, predominantly since 2020, to support the transition to greener and fairer societies.
The report also builds on education system’s responses to the Education Policy Outlook National Survey for Comparative Policy Analysis 2023: Empowering All Learners to go Green, collected mainly between April and August 2023. The 36 education systems participating in this survey are: Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flemish Community, French Community, German-speaking Community), Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye and the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland).
This report was launched at the Education Policy Reform Dialogues 2023: Building Resilient and Sustainable Societies, co-hosted with the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland in the city of Helsinki on 20-21 November 2023. The Education Policy Reform Dialogues, organised annually since 2018, are the leading OECD forum on education policy. Outcomes of the discussions inform the future work of the OECD on education and skills, including the Education Policy Outlook.