PSI joined the TUAC Working Group on Education and Skills, held in Paris on 15-16 January, which discussed a wide range of OECD policies that attempt to address the needs of young people, teachers and workers overall. In a changing world, technology has become a means but also an important factor of how work is organized. Our societies are increasingly diverse and life-long learning has become more relevant than ever. For PSI, the financing of skills training is a key issue, as well as the need to ensure inclusive training opportunities.

Public employment services all over the OECD are faced with cuts and outsourcing to private companies, which has a direct impact on those who need the most support. At the same time, employment programmes for disabled workers are being abolished which pushes them into poverty. These are trends that will only deepen exclusion and deserve more attention as well as the link with social protection programmes that support people in transition between jobs.

The meeting included presentations on the OECD’s Education Directorate’s work programme and objectives, the OECD’s focus on financial education as well as on recent TALIS work on teachers’ well-being. There was also an item on the Skills Summit.An internal discussion was held on the OECD use of paradata.

The second day started with a detailed assessment of the PISA collaborative learning report. Participants focused more specifically on the TUAC priorities on the OECD Jobs Strategy – with an emphasis on the future of work and skills, exchanged with the Employment Directorate, and followed this up by two consecutive roundtables on Skills anticipation and systems (featuring several different perspectives), as well as on Tertiary education systems and outcomes (including the Education at a Glance results).

More information:

• Draft agenda of the meeting with links to background material
• Other documents are available on the protected part of the TUAC website (www.tuac.org)