By Andreas Schleicher. At the OECD, we tend to look at French education through the lens of statistics. These show one of the largest gaps between the learning outcomes of children from poor and wealthy families. And the opportunity gap keeps widening. Read more...
By Andreas Schleicher. When it comes to technology, education seems stuck in the age of chalkboards. But at an international conference on technology in education, held in Qingdao, China, last week, I got the feeling that educators and education ministers might finally be ready to join the technological revolution. Read more...
By Andreas Schleicher. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability, launched today, asserts that this unacceptable waste of human potential stems partly from the fact that too many young people leave education without having acquired the right skills (according to the 2013 Survey of Adult Skills, 10% of new graduates have poor literacy skills and 14% have poor numeracy skills); and that not enough young people have experience in the world of work (less than 50% of students in vocational education and training programmes, and less than 40% of students in academic programmes in the 22 OECD countries and regions covered by the Survey of Adult Skills participate in any kind of work-based learning). Read more...
By Olaf Merk. Ever bigger container ships inspire awe and fascination, and are one of the hottest topics in maritime transport. They are also a headache for ports and terminals – mainly because of their vast size. More...
By Damiano de Felice. According to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), business enterprises are expected to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others and to address adverse impacts with which they are involved. Since 2011, key elements of this corporate responsibility to respect human rights have diffused across international organizations, standard-setting bodies, governments, civil society organizations and companies themselves. More...
By Agustín Díaz-Pinés. Bundles of services or products are part of our daily lives: having a set menu in a restaurant (starter, main dish and dessert), opening a bank account with a set of financial services (credit cards, cheques, deposit), or buying a laptop with a number of pre-installed software applications. Communication services are not an exception. Most communication bundles today are a combination of the following services: fixed telephony, fixed broadband, pay-television and mobile services (already a bundle of mobile telephony, SMS and data). More...
By Katryn Wright. With China’s growing importance in the global economy, increasing overseas foreign direct investment, and very real human rights impacts, Chinese and international companies face greater imperatives at home and abroad to address human rights. In China and internationally, there are greater pressures and incentives to address business and human rights – from rights-holders, governments, business partners, investors, consumers and civil society. In this context, Chinese approaches to responsible business will be discussed as part of the agenda of the OECD’s 3rd Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris on the 18th and 19th June 2015. More...
By John Morrison. This week, the OECD’s Global Forum Responsible Business Conduct includes a plenary session on the issue of “Responsibility in International Sporting Events” with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) included amongst the panellists. More...
By Jolanda Profos. The OECD’s new report States of Fragility 2015: Meeting Post-2015 Ambitions addresses the substantial challenges of defining – and classifying – fragility. The report proposes a multidimensional approach to the concept of `fragility’, rather than using a simple one-dimensional list. It argues that breaking down concepts of fragility into various dimensions can enable better understanding of the causes and drivers of fragility, thereby informing a better response. More...
By Veronique Siegler. In general terms, social capital represents social connections and all the benefits they generate. High social capital means a “happy society”, where people are connected, tolerant, help each other and spend time for the “common good”. They have trust in others and in institutions, and are empowered to shape the society they live in. This has positive impacts on a range of areas, such as personal well-being, health, employment or crime. More...
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