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This paper illustrates similarities and differences between two international surveys that assess adults' skills: the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the Skills Towards Employment and Productivity (STEP) survey. In particular, the paper highlights the issues that can arise for researchers interested to jointly analyse the data from the two surveys and to compare their results. The paper finds that, in spite of the many similarities, important differences exist between PIAAC and STEP, both in the way the data are collected, and in the way the proficiency of respondents is estimated. These issues can indeed affect the cross-country comparability of results from the two surveys. There is instead little evidence that the literacy assessment used in the two surveys is not adequate to form a basis for a valid assessment of adults' proficiency on a global scale.

This working paper identifies OECD countries' interests in digital innovation in education by analysing their policy papers on digital education. Many OECD countries have adopted a specific strategy on digital education, or integrated the topic in a generic strategy on digital innovation as such. The ideas that are expressed in the strategies differ greatly; some are work in progress, others contain bold envisions of the future. There is a high awareness among OECD countries of the benefits of digitalisation, and the role of government to support digital innovation in education. This paper covers and documents countries' policy focus before the 2020 coronavirus crisis.

Despite the international commitment to Roma social inclusion from 2005 onwards, the overall situation has not significantly changed. In education, important achievements have been reached, mainly in terms of access to primary. Yet, Roma students still lag behind. This paper maps policy initiatives for Roma inclusion in European education systems, analyses remaining challenges and explores policy perspectives. It first describes European countries' conceptualisation and categorisation of ethnic groups. In doing so, it differentiates colour-blind countries that prohibit diversity data and prioritise integrated approaches in policymaking, and countries that collect such data and use targeted approaches. This work then identifies initiatives aimed at improving Roma students' inclusion and recurrent challenges, such as segregation in education and anti-Gypsyism. The few evaluations available indicate that best practices are those that (1) combine mainstream and targeted approaches; (2) are community-based, with a genuine participation of Roma; (3) are conscious of cultural disparities; and (4) adopt an intercultural approach.

The number of countries that regularly participate in international large-scale assessments has increased sharply over the past 15 years, with the share of countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment growing from one-fifth of countries in 2000 to over one-third of countries in 2015. What accounts for this increase? This paper explores the evidence for three broad explanations: globalization of assessments, increasing technical capacity for conducting assessments, and increased demand for the microeconomic and macroeconomic data from these assessments. Data were compiled from more than 200 countries for this analysis, for six time periods between 2000 and 2015, yielding more than 1,200 observations. The data cover each country's participation in each of six cycles of PISA as it relates to the country's level of economic development, region, prior experience with assessment, and OECD membership. The results indicate that the odds of participation in PISA are markedly higher for OECD member countries, countries in the Europe and Central Asia region, high- and upper-middle-income countries, and countries with previous national and international assessment experience; the paper also finds that regional assessment experience is unrelated to PISA participation.

The European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Internationalisation in learning and teaching" considers strategic and comprehensive internationalisation as a fit-for-purpose and timely means for universities to address global challenges and provide high-quality education. This paper presents the work and conclusions of the group. The group found that while mobility and language issues are central aspects of an internationalised education, many institutions place too much focus on these while neglecting other means of ensuring the provision of internationalised education designed to educate globally minded and skilled citizens. These alternative means are further explored in the paper.

The global spread of COVID-19 has led to unprecedented disruptions in schooling around the world that have animated increased interest among policymakers, educators, researchers and the general public in knowing about how education systems have responded to the pandemic and how students' learning experiences have changed. The PISA Global Crises Module was developed to address this need. 62 student questionnaire items (grouped into 11 questions) and 68 school questionnaire items (grouped into 14 questions) were developed following a process that involved input from leading questionnaire development experts, PISA National Centres, as well as small-scale cognitive interview studies in three countries. While all countries were affected by the pandemic in some way, the module seeks to illuminate differential effects on student learning and well-being, and the degree of interruption or changes to education across different education systems. Governing bodies, organisations and researchers can use the instruments and the descriptions of the underlying constructs for adaptation and broader implementation.

This Cedefop study focuses on the contribution that vocational education and training (VET) can make to reducing early leaving from education and training (ELET). Published in two volumes, the first is dedicated to understanding better the learning pathways of young students, providing measurements of early leaving in VET, and understanding the role of VET in breaking the vicious cycle of early leaving and unemployment. This second volume reviews VET-related measures to tackle ELET, either by preventing learners dropping out and/or by bringing those who have already left back to education and training. This volume identifies and discusses the key features of successful policies and practices, plus the conditions necessary to evaluate and upscale successful regional and local practices to national strategies. Contains an annex of reviewed evaluations and main results. Includes a bibliography and webliography. [ICF consulting services conducted the research for this report. For "Leaving Education Early: Putting Vocational Education and Training Centre Stage. Volume I: Investigating Causes and Extent. Cedefop Research Paper. No 57," see ED573444.]

This Cedefop study examines the contribution that vocational education and training (VET) can make to reducing early leaving from education and training (ELET). Published in two volumes, this first looks at quantitative data to understand better the extent of early leaving from VET (ELVET). It analyses mechanisms for monitoring early leaving (at national and EU-levels), and examines VET and labour-market-specific factors, as well as those related to the individual and his/her family background, contributing to this phenomenon. It aims to assist national policy-makers and decision-makers at different levels in developing existing monitoring systems to measure ELVET and inform VET policies to tackle ELET. It also aims to assist European stakeholders to refine the EU indicator to capture the important variations in individual situations of early leavers. The second volume reviews VET-related measures to tackle ELET, either by preventing learners dropping out and/or by bringing those who have already left back to education and training. Contains a bibliography and webliography. [ICF consulting services conducted the research for this report. For "Leaving Education Early: Putting Vocational Education and Training Centre Stage. Volume II: Evaluating Policy Impact. Cedefop Research Paper. No 58," see ED573445.]

At the centre of a student's university experience stands the programme that they follow. Therefore, creating curricula that are fit-for-purpose is at the heart of an institution's teaching mission. These curricula need to be relevant for students during their time at university, as well as serve as suitable preparation for their future professional and civic lives. This paper presents the work and conclusions of the European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Curriculum design", which identified nine components that contribute to the creation of an "ideal curriculum" covering all stages of the curriculum design.

The concept of evidence-based learning and teaching is complex and multifaceted. The European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Evidence-based approaches to learning and teaching" understands it as connecting learning and teaching to evidence-based methods, strategies and processes through the cultivation of an institutional culture that is committed to continuous improvement of student learning. This paper presents the work and conclusions of the group, which explored how evidence-based approaches to learning and teaching could be adopted at a larger scale and developed further at higher education institutions across Europe.

Cedefop has been conducting monitoring of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) implementation since 2010; this report covers developments from mid-2013 till 2015. It is based on national responses provided by the ECVET users' group from 28 EU Member States and four EFTA countries. The report examines whether existing credit systems provide conditions for individuals to have their learning accumulated or transferred towards a qualification. It examines key aspects: whether qualifications are based on learning outcomes and organised in units; whether individual units are assessed and validated for further transfer and accumulation; whether units are assigned credit points; and whether VET providers use memoranda of understanding and learning agreements to understand better the learning outcomes they provide. The report also focuses on the ways ECVET is promoted among stakeholders and beneficiaries and on examples of support materials that can be useful to ECVET promoters throughout Europe. Two annexes provide country summaries and websites with ECVET information, by country.

The European labour market is challenged by changes in the demographic composition of the labour force and increasing work complexities and processes. Skills forecasting makes useful contribution to decisions by policy-makers, experts and individuals. In this publication, Cedefop presents the latest results of skills supply and demand forecasts. Alongside the most likely scenario, it shows the impact of alternative labour market activation or migration policies on future labour market imbalances, illustrating the effects of the "highest possible" labour market activity rates based on past and possible future baseline trends. The role of migration in mitigating labour market imbalances is incorporated into the scenario, responding to available job opportunities, income differentials and unemployment levels across Member States. Three annexes are provided: (1) Skills supply: Detailed baseline scenario results; (2) Skills demand: Detailed baseline scenario results; and (3) List of contributing individual country experts.

Student assessment is integral to curriculum design and to the learning journey of all students. Assessment is about process and outcomes. It enables a learner to determine their progress through the medium of ongoing feedback, and it also determines whether a student has met the intended learning outcomes. The focus on assessment in higher education is increasing, being closely linked to the enhancement of learning and teaching strategies and the emphasis on student-centred learning. There is political and institutional high-level commitment to promoting an assessment design which is holistic and based on co-creation between students and academic staff. Core practices in student assessment often remain problematic, and teachers and institutions face diverse challenges in using research to improve assessment and feedback practices. Crucial challenges include approaches which take into consideration increasingly diverse student cohorts, ensuring the integrity of assessment, and being mindful of the workload for both teachers and students. The EUA Thematic Peer Group "Student assessment", composed of academics, institutional management and students, was invited to examine how student learning can be assessed in a way that takes into account both qualitative indicators and pedagogical progress, including peer and self-assessment, and caters for students' individual needs. This report is the product of the discussions and conclusions of the group. The report aims to encourage further reflections and conversations around student assessment, and to provide tools to support development of assessment feedback at the institutional level.

The digital transformation of our societies is moving ahead, changing the way that we work and interact. It is also changing learning environments and the need for digital skills. This paper argues for a differentiated approach by universities to digital skills, identifying three groups of learners: (1) ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] specialists who need training in ethics (including privacy and bias) and where universities need to ensure diversity, (2) learners who will enter fields where the professional practice is already disrupted by digital technologies, for example medicine and law, and (3) learners who face unpredictability in how digital technologies will impact their careers, but who still require knowledge about them. These groups will have different needs, as will individuals within the groups. This paper offers suggestions on adapting learning environments to meet these needs. These include the use of problem-based learning that will enable universities to provide exposure to digital technology, as well as using interdisciplinary teams and learning analytics as a way to predict and adapt to individual learning needs.

This ETF Issues Paper on the Future of Work and Skills is the first attempt to collect and analyse existing information and data on the skills demands of the future in ETF partner countries, and to explore responses for better managing the transition (transformation) towards an inclusive future for the benefit of individuals and societies. Thus, the paper analyses the impact of global developments on skills demands in ETF partner countries in order to support their discussions on the policy reforms required for managing the transition to the future. Rather than making a detailed analysis of each individual country, the paper reviews the general trends across the four regions of the ETF's partner countries: South Eastern Europe and Turkey (SEET), Eastern Partnership (EaP), Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) and Central Asia.

Universities across Europe are calling for a more student-centred, inclusive university environment bringing together all actors of the university community, while also implementing measures to achieve such a cultural shift. Members of the EUA [European University Association] Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Groups are -- each based on their own perspective and experience -- advocating for such a shift because it is seen as a necessity. This paper highlights common and overarching conclusions and considerations present in the work and reports of these Thematic Peer Groups, while also drawing on other studies and reports concerned with learning and teaching.

Attention to career paths in teaching and staff development, in order to enhance learning and teaching, has gained importance in the European policy arena in recent years. This paper is the result of the work carried out by the European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Career paths in teaching". It reflects the group's discussions on the importance of staff development and better recognising teaching as central to the academic profession. It also points to how teachers' professional career paths can contribute to the overarching goal of continuous improvement in teaching, and what can be done to better promote teaching as an important factor in career progression.

The evaluation of learning and teaching is one central activity through which universities monitor the fitness-for-purpose of their education provision. This paper represents the outcomes of the work carried out by the European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Evaluation of learning and teaching". It reflects the group's discussions on framework conditions through which institutions ensure the quality of their education. It also highlights the interdependency of this topic with other aspects of learning and teaching in higher education.

Higher education stakeholders are increasingly aware of the need for systematic continuous professional development opportunities for university teachers. This report reflects the outcomes of the work of European University Association's (EUA) Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group on "Continuous development of teaching competences". It presents the group's recommendations for a targeted approach to developing pedagogical competences at the European, national, institutional, programme and individual levels, alongside case studies based on practices and initiatives in group members' institutions.

This study uses the PIAAC data to examine the relationships between education system characteristics (e.g. early tracking and vocational education orientation) and distributions of adult numeracy skills. It also investigates the effects of postponing the tracking age and easing university access for students on a vocational track on the average skills and different percentiles of the skills distribution. Correlational analysis suggests that education systems with more students enrolled in vocational tracks have on average higher levels of numeracy skills and more compressed skills distributions between the 50th and 90th percentiles. Further analysis suggests that postponing the tracking age among 14 European countries does not have a significant effect on the average skills of the population. However, it increases skills for individuals at the 10th, 20th, and 30th percentiles of the skill distribution. Expanding university access is associated with an increase in numeracy skills, particularly for individuals at the bottom three deciles of the distribution.

Schools for Future Youth (SFYouth) is an EU Erasmus+ funded project running from 2014-2017, which aims to build the skills and capacity of teachers and young people to use global citizenship to improve teaching and learning. The project encourages both curricular engagement with global issues and spaces for young people to actively participate and take action on global issues through informal spaces in school. This report is a comprehensive account of the data collected on the SFYouth project and answers questions about how the project impacted on teachers' and young people's understandings and experiences of global citizenship and youth participation in Europe. It responds to the project logframe and contextualises this evidence within conceptual understandings of global citizenship and youth participation in different country spaces. Specifically the report responds to the questions: (1) What impact did the Schools for Future Youth project have on schooling activities and approaches to teaching and learning? (2) How did the Schools for Future Youth project impact on participating teachers and young people? and (3) What factors supported the impact of the Schools for Future Youth project? [Also collaborating in the project: Oxfam Italy, Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH), and CARDET.]

Recent world developments have created an opportune time for nations to vigorously pursue a policy of converting the huge portion of their economies that traditionally have been devoted to military expenditures to more socially productive uses. This paper outlines a strategy for such a conversion, and discusses the issues that must be confronted in such a process. Specific aspects of conversion include: (1) misconceptions about lessening military spending; (2) building a conversion coalition; (3) the paths forged by China and the Soviet Union; (4) upheaval in Eastern Europe; and (5) grassroots initiatives in the West. It is concluded that the gathering pressure for disarmament suggests that conversion will be a topic gaining importance during the 1990's. A number of statistical tables, charts, and maps appear throughout this paper, and 127 endnotes are provided. (DB)

Based on the work of the European University Association (EUA) Learning & Teaching Initiative and the outcomes of the 1st European Learning & Teaching Forum, this paper underlines the importance of learning and teaching (L&T) as a core mission and responsibility of universities. Student learning needs and success must remain at the centre of universities' educational mission. Building on this message, the position paper argues for a creative, active and innovative learning environment that is research-based and open to adapt to the changing needs of students and society. To support such endeavours, the paper emphasises the need to better recognise teaching as central to the academic profession, to institutionalise L&T enhancement through a broad-based and clear institutional strategy, and to further explore European and international cooperation on the topic. Above all, the paper advocates for sufficiently autonomous and funded universities that allow further development and implementation of high-quality L&T.

A substantial amount of money is spent on technology by schools, families and policymakers with the hope of improving educational outcomes. This paper explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational purposes: i) classroom use in schools, and ii) home use by students. Theoretically, ICT investment and CAI use by schools and the use of computers at home have ambiguous implications for educational achievement: expenditures devoted to technology necessarily offset inputs that may be more or less efficient, and time allocated to using technology may displace traditional classroom instruction and educational activities at home. However, much of the evidence in the schooling literature is based on interventions that provide supplemental funding for technology or additional class time, and thus favor finding positive effects. Nonetheless, studies of ICT and CAI in schools produce mixed evidence with a pattern of null results. Notable exceptions to this pattern occur in studies of developing countries and CAI interventions that target math rather than language. In the context of home use, early studies based on multivariate and instrumental variables approaches tend to find large positive (and in a few cases negative) effects while recent studies based on randomized control experiments tend to find small or null effects. Early research focused on developed countries while more recently several experiments have been conducted in developing countries.

The European Training Foundation's (ETF) approach to promoting systemic and systematic quality assurance in vocational education and training (VET) is set out in this working paper. Quality assurance in VET is summarised by the ETF as the measures established to verify that processes and procedures are in place, which aim to ensure the quality and quality improvement of VET. The ETF uses the following definition of VET: "education and training which aim to equip people with knowledge, know-how, skills and/or competences required in particular occupations or more broadly on the labour market." The intention of this working paper is to serve as a resource for ETF staff and its function is to support a common ETF approach to promoting quality assurance in VET in partner countries. The paper will be made available to a wider audience with an interest in quality assurance in VET. ETF partner countries have signaled the need for more effective quality assurance measures to help improve the quality and relevance of VET outcomes. They aim to strengthen quality assurance policies and measures that support the development of good VET governance and management, good qualifications systems, good qualifications and good learning environments facilitated by good teachers and trainers. The main purpose of this working paper is to guide ETF staff to support partner countries in their endeavours to develop further their approach to quality assurance in VET. The paper has five chapters. The background to present-day quality assurance is presented in Chapter 1. Concepts important to the understanding of the ETF approach to quality assurance in VET are reviewed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, the evolution of European policies for quality assurance is summarised. The "status quo" of quality assurance policy and practice in ETF partner countries and reform needs and challenges, as presented in the Torino Process reports, are discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 presents the ETF approach to promoting quality assurance in VET development, based on the conceptual framework set out in the preceding chapters. (A bibliography is included.)