Reports

For the first time ever, PISA measured the creative thinking skills of 15-year-old students across the world. Alongside assessments in mathematics, science and reading, students in 64 countries and economies sat an innovative test that assessed their capacity to generate diverse and original ideas, as well as to evaluate and improve upon others’ ideas in creative tasks. These ranged from written and visual expression to scientific and social problem solving. This PISA in Focus highlights some of the main findings from Volume III of PISA 2022. It focuses on the main factors linked to students’ creative thinking performance, including their proficiency in other academic subjects, their gender, socio-economic profile, views on creativity, attitudes, social-emotional characteristics and their school environment.

Le Programme international de l’OCDE pour le suivi des acquis des élèves (PISA) analyse les connaissances et les compétences des élèves dans le monde entier. La présente version abrégée est la traduction partielle de la version anglaise du volume III, La pensée créative en milieu scolaire – l’un des cinq volumes qui présentent les résultats du huitième cycle d’évaluation du PISA. Elle contient le résumé ainsi que le chapitre 7 « Tirer des enseignements des données ». Pour la première fois en 2022, l’enquête PISA a cherché à évaluer dans 64 pays et économies la capacité des élèves à faire preuve de créativité, c’est-à-dire la capacité des élèves à proposer des idées originales et variées. Ce volume détaille la performance des élèves en matière de pensée créative dans différents contextes et comment les attitudes et résultats à cet égard varient au sein des pays et économies et entre eux. Il analyse les différences de performance en se basant sur diverses caractéristiques des élèves, notamment le sexe et le milieu socio-économique, ainsi que sur les caractéristiques de l’établissement fréquenté. Ce volume donne également un aperçu de l’attitude des chefs d’établissement et des enseignants envers la pensée créative, en examinant dans quelle mesure les possibilités d’exercer sa créativité diffèrent selon les établissements et de quelle façon elles déterminent les résultats des élèves.

OECD countries are increasingly investing in better understanding the potential value of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve public governance. The use of AI by the public sector can increase productivity, responsiveness of public services, and strengthen the accountability of governments. However, governments must also mitigate potential risks, building an enabling environment for trustworthy AI. This policy paper outlines the key trends and policy challenges in the development, use, and deployment of AI in and by the public sector. First, it discusses the potential benefits and specific risks associated with AI use in the public sector. Second, it looks at how AI in the public sector can be used to improve productivity, responsiveness, and accountability. Third, it provides an overview of the key policy issues and presents examples of how countries are addressing them across the OECD.

As part of broader digitalisation efforts, half of public employment services (PES) in OECD countries are employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their services. AI is being adopted across all key tasks of PES, including most commonly to match jobseekers with vacancies. While several PES have been using such tools for a decade, adoption of AI has been increasing in recent years as these become more accessible. New AI use cases have emerged to assist employers in designing vacancy postings and jobseekers in their career management and job-search strategies. AI initiatives have significant impact on PES clients, changing how they interact with the PES and receive support, and PES staff, altering their day-to-day work. As PES seek to maximise the opportunities brought by AI, proactive steps should be taken to mitigate associated risks. Key considerations for PES include prioritising transparency of AI algorithms and explainability of results, establishing governance frameworks, ensuring end-users (staff and clients) are included and supported in the development and adoption process, and committing to rigorous monitoring and evaluation to increase the positive and manage any negative impact of AI solutions.

Social and emotional skills (SES) are important for various life outcomes, such as academic achievement, mental health, job performance or civic engagement. The assessment of these skills in children and adolescents, however, currently relies heavily on the use of self-reported questionnaires. As such, there is an urgent need for more direct measurement approaches of SES, which look at behaviours, actions and choices, in order to diversify the current portfolio of available assessments. The aim of this working paper is, thus, to map and review innovative assessment tools as well as technological approaches, aimed at the direct assessment of SES. Firstly, the paper documents almost 60 different behavioural tools, namely tasks and digital games. These instruments are reviewed according to a set of criteria, including their reliability, construct and ecological validity, and feasibility. Secondly, the paper identifies technological approaches, such as biophysiological measures, virtual reality or different artificial intelligence applications. Many of these technologies have the potential of being transversally integrated into different tasks and game, enriching the quality of SES assessment, albeit bringing new challenges. Lastly, the paper promotes a dialogue between the different types of innovative assessments, identifying comparative strengths and challenges.

Most workers who will be exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) will not require specialised AI skills (e.g. machine learning, natural language processing, etc.). Even so, AI will change the tasks these workers do, and the skills they require. This report provides first estimates for Canada on the effect of artificial intelligence on the demand for skills in jobs that do not require specialised AI skills. The results show that the skills most demanded in occupations highly exposed to AI are management, communication and digital skills. These include skills in budgeting, accounting, written communication, as well as competencies in basic word processing and spreadsheet software. The results also show that, in Canada, demand for social and language skills have increased the most over the past decade in occupations highly exposed to AI. Using a panel of establishments confirms the increasing demand for social and language skills, as well as rising demand for production and physical skills, which may be complementary to AI. However, the establishment panel also finds evidence of decreasing demand for business, management and digital skills in establishments more exposed to AI.

The upsurge in children’s screen time has sparked concerns about its impact on children’s learning, development, and well-being. Three-quarters of students in OECD countries spend more than one hour per weekday browsing social networks and nearly one in three students gets distracted by using digital devices in class. How to protect and equip students to navigate digital environments? This PISA in Focus explores why students rely on devices and how their digital device use relates to their mathematics performance, sense of belonging at school, and how much they become distracted. It highlights the role of education policies that improve students’ digital skills and behaviours and prepare teachers to teach with technology in protecting students from digital distractions at school and beyond, and building their ability to navigate digital environments.

Dans le monde d'aujourd'hui, le paysage numérique joue un rôle crucial dans la vie des enfants, en leur offrant des possibilités d'éducation, de socialisation et de divertissement. Cependant, il présente également des risques tels que la cyberintimidation, l'exposition à des contenus inappropriés et la violation de la vie privée. On craint également qu'un temps d'écran excessif ait un impact sur le développement social et émotionnel des enfants, ce qui donne lieu à des débats sur la qualité de leurs interactions. Les résultats récents de l'enquête PISA mettent également en évidence une corrélation négative entre l'utilisation d'appareils numériques à l'école et les résultats scolaires. Cette brochure de l'OCDE intitulée « Élèves et écrans : performance académique et bien-être » rassemble les dernières recherches sur les appareils numériques et l'éducation menées par la Direction de l'éducation et des compétences de l'OCDE afin d'aider les pays à définir des politiques dans ce domaine.

This paper explores the state of teenage career development in England. It sets out findings from the 2022 round of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a comparative international survey of young people in secondary education. PISA 2022 provides considerable data related to young people’s engagement in, and perceptions of, career development, including information on occupational and educational intentions and participation in career development activities. This paper compares student responses in England to OECD averages, disaggregated by a range of student characteristics, including gender, socio-economic background, academic proficiency and school type attended. This comprehensive analysis finds that in many ways student career development in England compares well with many other OECD countries, particularly countries identified as providing most relevant comparisons. However, analysis of longitudinal cohort studies show that students in England and across the OECD fail to engage sufficiently in career development by the age of 15. In England, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds engage less consistently in career development than their more socially advantaged peers. As in many countries, low performing students in England demonstrate forms of career development that raise particular concerns. The career expectations of all students align poorly with patterns of labour market demand.

Childhood is changing in ways that we are still unpacking, affected by digitalization, globalization and climate change, as well as shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In many OECD education systems, child empowerment is increasingly an explicit aim of policies and practices. But it is often poorly defined, which risks turning it into a mere slogan. With the advancement of children’s rights, children are increasingly being included as stakeholders in decision-making processes. This report gives examples of how children in OECD countries can and do participate in making decisions about issues that affect them. The report examines children's emotional well-being and physical activity, and the role of schools as a physical space to create and support relationships. It also underlines the untapped potential of media education when it comes to seizing opportunities in childhood. Empowering all children to make the most of digital opportunities starts with further narrowing the gap in terms of access to digital tools and the Internet, where inequalities are persistent and pervasive. So, what does child empowerment mean today? Empowered children have the opportunity and ability to act on issues important and relevant to them, can learn by making mistakes, and are key contributors to democracy.