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A country’s level of human capital – the knowledge and skills in the population – has a strong bearing on its economic potential for growth and prosperity. On the other hand, its level of social inequality might prevent prosperity to be shared in equitable ways across the population. This papers looks at the relationship between the distribution of numeracy skills in the population to measures of economic prosperity (per capita GDP) and social inequality (Gini coefficient). Country-level correlations between various measures of the skills dispersion and these two indicators are presented. The correlations suggest that a higher numeracy skills dispersion is related to higher social inequality. A higher share of low-skilled adults relates positively with greater social inequality, while a higher share of high-skilled adults seems to be related with higher levels of economic output.

Education

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The second OECD educationtoday Crisis Survey was carried out in 2010. Twenty-five OECD member countries completed the questionnaire. The results of the survey relies largely on the informed opinion of education officials regarding various aspects of the impact of the economic recession and fiscal crisis on education. The main outcomes of the 2010 survey are the following: The survey data does not portrait an education system dramatically affected by overall budget cuts. In countries where public investment in education has diminished, the effects are still very specific and concentrated, and vary across and within sectors of education. In general, governments seem to be rather successful in protecting education spending. Although in some cases the impact on teachers and schools is significant, governments are trying to contain the negative impact of fiscal consolidation. Some countries even have increased funding for specific parts of the education system in order to enhance output and efficiency. Only in the few countries which have been severely hit by the crisis a more general expenditure cut has occurred. The demand for non-compulsory education continues to augment, especially in vocational education and training, although the recession reduces the capacity of enterprises to uphold their training investments. As a result, higher demand is not systematically transformed in all cases into more training places. The recession has not slowed down reforms in education; on the contrary, some countries have accelerated reforms. Alleviating unemployment, meeting increased demands, preparing future growth and fostering innovation are the most frequently mentioned policy rationales for education policies which are trying to enhance the education system’s capacity and efficiency. Some governments are also taking into consideration the difficult situation of private households by increasing social measures to contain education cost.

Education

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OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) has worked on Open Educational Resources (OER) in the past, which led to the publication Giving Knowledge for Free – the Emergence of Open Educational Resources (2007). This working paper thus builds on exploratory and forward-looking research in CERI and invites countries to consider the policy implications of the expansion of OER, its benefits and associated challenges. A small OER expert group was established to discuss the subject, link it to other relevant developments in the field, and develop a draft questionnaire for member countries in order to collect information regarding the policy context related to OER. The expert group met in June 2011 and for a second time in September 2011. The questionnaire was sent to the 34 OECD member countries in August 2011. It outlined a short informative note about the benefits and challenges of OER. The responses to the questionnaire are analysed in this document.

Education