Future of Education and Skills 2030/2040

1. Student Voice on Education We Want

No one knows how the curriculum is experienced in the classroom today better than students themselves. Therefore, we collected student voices from secondary schools around the world on the six major curriculum issues facing policymakers and curriculum designers. Watch the students' videos to learn how they would improve the curriculum to create the education (and future) we want.

Students are critical stakeholders in the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project.

• This brochure shares stories from students about their experiences with curriculum.
• This video shows students' reflections on the question "What challenges did you face during online learning? What benefits did online education offer during Covid-19" in 2020.

The Six Curriculum Issues

1. Time lag between today's curriculum and future needs If you were in charge of the curriculum in your country, what one thing would you change to make it relate better to the lives of students today, and why?
2. Curriculum overload Often there is just too much to learn and not enough time to learn it. What change in the curriculum do you think would help students learn at their own pace and learn the content on a deeper level, and why?
3. Ensuring equity through curriculum innovations Think about some of the barriers that prevent certain learners from having opportunities to learn. What is one change you could make to the curriculum in your country to help ensure that no student is left behind because of their personal or social backgrounds (e.g. special learning needs, socio-economic background, gender, ethnic origin, location), and why?
4. Curriculum flexibility and autonomy Think about what you learn, how you learn, when you learn, where you learn, and how you are assessed. Pick one of these aspects, and tell us about a change you would make to improve that particular aspect of your learning experience, and why?
5. Values in the curriculum In your opinion, what are the top 3 most important values to include in your country’s curriculum, and why?
6. An ecosystem approach to curriculum redesign and implementation Your learning and well-being are affected by so many people around you. Who are the 3 most influential people that motivate you to learn and make you feel safe and happy at school, and why?

2. International Comparative Curriculum Analysis

Policy analyses and research findings on these issues are presented in the E2030 series of international synthesis reports as indicated below., with relevant materials.

An overview to this series of thematic reports is also available: “Curriculum (re)design” (English/Japanese).

3. Subject-specific curriculum analysis: 

1. Making Physical Education Dynamic and Inclusive for 2030: the report examines the state of physical education and health education policies and practices in a variety of countries.
2. An Evolution of Mathematics Curriculum: the report takes stock of the evolution of mathematics curriculum in the past decades, and discusses how countries are facing the challenge of incorporating 21st-century skills, such as creativity, digital literacy and critical thinking into their mathematics curricula. The report includes a number of concrete examples of curriculum innovation in mathematics. There is a working paper comparing mathematics curriculum across 19 countries/jurisdictions.

• Visions of curriculum and laws regulating curriculum (xlsx)
  
• Structures and principles of curriculum  (xlsx)
  • Goals described in curriculum (xlsx)
  • Contents in curriculum
  • Learning areas/subjects (xlsx)
• Values (xlsx)
• Distributions of competencies across learning areas/subjects (CCM) (xlsx)
• Instruction time *
• Curriculum redesign process (xlsx)
• Curriculum redesign brochure (English / Japanese)

*These data items will be updated with the release of the related reports from the Curriculum Redesign series.

• Technical report: Curriculum Analysis of the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030
• From Learning Compass to Curriculum Design (Intended curriculum) - Video messages from policy makers
• Contextual information table “Student-Teacher well-being country profiles”*

*This item will be updated with the release of the related reports from the Curriculum Redesign series.

The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project was launched to support countries to explore the long-term challenges facing education. As part of this process, the project identified essential underlying concepts that are crucial for students to thrive and share a better future. Key concepts include: e.g. student agency, student well-being and competencies (including  knowledge, skills, attitudes and values). The project is currently also looking at teacher agency, teacher well-being and teacher competencies, as well as the types of learning environments and institutional arrangements, which would help students develop their competencies, exercise their agency and ensure well-being.

In addition, the project supports countries/jurisdictions in sharing and creating new knowledge and aims to make the process of curriculum design, implementation and evaluation both evidence-based and systematic. The project aims neither at nor involves the prescription of national curricula but rather seeks to establish a common language and shared space within which countries can individually and collectively explore issues that affect curricula & education systems. 

We cannot predict the future; but we need to be open and ready for it. The project aspires to help shape our societies towards a more sustainable and creative future by highlighting the role of education. The goals of education are much wider than just preparing young people for the world of today’s work. Schools need to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented, to solve problems that have not yet been anticipated. Education can equip young people with agency and a sense of purpose, as well as the competencies they need to fulfil their own potential, contribute to the lives of others, and help shape a better future. The project assists countries/jurisdictions in preparing students, teachers and education systems for the future by looking at education goals, curricula, teaching models, assessments, teacher professional development and learning environments. The project is aligned with, for instance, goal 4.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for Education. As an example, the project’s knowledge base on how countries embed “Global Citizenship” and “Education for Sustainable Development” into existing subjects (Curriculum content mapping exercise) provides the basis on which countries can reflect on their own curriculum design and learn from each other.

No, the project does not prescribe; rather, it provides an opportunity to look forward and broaden the ways of thinking about what competencies young people need to thrive in and shape the future for the better. The OECD 2030 Learning Compass framework is globally informed and to be locally contextualised. The project chose to use the word “learning” as opposed to “curriculum” for the framework to embrace all forms of learning, including formal, non-formal and informal learning. The framework acknowledges that competencies are developed both in and outside of school.

The first phase of the project (2015-19) focused on the development of the OECD Learning Compass. It engaged multiple stakeholders (governments, school leaders, teachers, students, academic experts, social partners, etc.) in a global dialogue to develop a common language/vision that captures shared aspirations for a better future of education, particularly focusing on the types of competencies deemed important for students to thrive in the future.

The second phase of the project (2019 and beyond) is focusing on the development of the OECD Teaching Compass, which will be outlining what teacher agency would entail, what types of competencies teachers would need in order to empower their students to shape a better future, what well-being would mean for teachers to feel, for example, a sense of professional identify.

In both phases, the project promotes an integrated view of future curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation. It conducts comparative analyses on curriculum issues that are highly relevant and should be prioritised in making the vision of education (OECD Learning Compass) a reality. The analyses include trends in curriculum redesign, innovations in curriculum implementation and evaluation, as well as lessons learned from countries on curriculum reform, to enable evidence-based debates and facilitate international peer-learning and self-reflection on curriculum redesign for the future.

Our stakeholders include policy makers, school leaders, teachers, students, academic experts and social partners (e.g. private foundations, private companies/EdTech companies) who are involved and have a genuine interest in supporting education system change for a better future. The project is composed of a multi-stakeholder community that participates in the co-creation of vision-/concept-making, which requires expertise beyond research evidence. For more information about the multi-stakeholder structure, please see the Global Forum on the Future of Education and Skills 2030 page.

OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 welcomes stakeholders to actively contribute to the project. If you are interested, please contact: education2030@oecd.org.