Benchmarking Scottish Education

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the international survey of 15 year olds’ attainment in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. 

Scotland has one of the best education systems in the world.  In the last PISA study in 2003, which involved 41 of the most developed nations in the world, for each domain (reading, mathematics and science); Scotland performed in the top third of nations.

Andreas will provide an analysis of Scotland’s performance in PISA 2003, comparing us against other high performing nations (our priority benchmarking countries of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Canada), highlighting factors which may contribute to high performance. 

A number of international good practice workshops, on Scotland’s priority themes, have been organised with Scotland’s benchmarking countries to complement this session.

Andreas Schleicher, Head of Education Indicators and Analysis Division, Directorate for Education, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The Indicators and Analysis Division of the OECD Directorate for Education is responsible for the development and analysis of benchmarks on the performance of education systems, including the examination of the output of educational institutions and the impact of learning, the policy levers that shape educational outcomes, how education systems operate and evolve, and the human and financial resources invested in education.

As Head of the Division, Andreas is responsible for:

• Development, international co-ordination and management of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

• Management of the OECD Education Indicators programme (INES)

• Management of the OECD/UNESCO World Education Indicators programme.

• Co-ordination of the development and publication of education indicators with other international organisations (EUROSTAT, ILO, UNESCO, World Bank).

• Co-ordination of the work of the OECD Board of Participating Countries, the OECD Technical Group on education statistics, the INES Network A on learning outcomes, the INES Network C on the learning environment and the organisation of schools, the DESECO Network on skills and competencies.

Education
Master of Science, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Deakin University, Australia (1992).

Vordiplom Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany (1988).

Honours and awards
Theodor Heuss Preis (2003)

International Bruce Choppin Award for the Master’s thesis “A Computer Based Approach to Survey Design” (1993).

Special national award by the Minister of Telecommunication for the conceptualisation of a “Speech Recognition System” in the national competition “Jugend forscht” (1984).

Employment
2002 – current
Head of the Indicators and Analysis Division of the OECD Directorate for Education.
1997 – 2002 
Deputy Head of the Statistics and Indicators Division of the OECD Directorate for Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
1994 - 1996 
Administrator in the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI).
1993 - 1994 
Director for analysis at the International Association for Educational Achievement (IEA)
1991 - 1992 
International Co-ordinator for the IEA Reading Literacy Study, IEA Data Processing Centre, University of Hamburg, Germany.

Selected publications
OECD (2002) “Improving both Quality and Equity: Insights from PISA 2000”, in Education Policy Analysis - 2002 edition, Paris. Selected as OECD Flagship publication.
OECD (2000-02, 1996-98) Education at a Glance - OECD Indicators, Paris. (Chief editor). Selected as OECD Flagship publication in 1997, 2001, 2002
OECD (2001) Knowledge and Skills for Life – First results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, Paris. (Chief editor). Selected as OECD Flagship publication.
OECD (2000) Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills – The PISA 2000 Assessment of Reading, Mathematical and Scientific Literacy,

Paris. (Chief editor).
OECD (2000), Investing in Education, Paris. (Chief editor).
OECD (1999), Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills – A New Framework for Assessment, Paris. (Chief editor).
OECD (1999) Classifying Educational Programmes. Manual for ISCED-97 Implementation in OECD Countries, Paris. (Chief editor).
OECD (1997) “Learning outcomes” in Education Policy Analysis, Paris.

Schleicher, A. et al. (1995), The conditions of primary schools. A pilot study in the least developed countries, A Report to UNESCO and UNICEF.
Elley, W. B. and Schleicher, A. (1994) International Differences in Achievement Levels. In: Elley, W.B. (Ed.). The IEA Reading Literacy Study, Achievement and Instruction in Thirty-Two School Systems. Oxford: Pergamon.

Keeves, J.P. and Schleicher, A. (1992) Changes in science achievement: 1970-84. In: Keeves, J. P. (Ed.). The IEA Study of Science III: Changes in Science Education and Achievement: 1970 to 1984. Oxford: Pergamon.