Everything you need to know about teaching and learning in one podcast. Top Class, the OECD Education Podcast, interviews leading educators, researchers and pol...
What skills are needed for the AI and green jobs era?
As technologies transform businesses, what critical skills are needed to succeed in the workforce of the future? With artificial intelligence, the green transition, globalisation and much more all impacting the world of work, there is an urgent need for policymakers, educators and businesses to respond. In this episode of Top Class, we explore what needs to happen to ensure people can develop the right skills to prosper in the years ahead. Stefano Scarpetta, the OECD’s Director of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, and the Chief Economist at LinkedIn, Karin Kimbrough, tell OECD Editor Duncan Crawford how people can adapt and upskill to ensure they don’t get left behind.
Want to learn more about taking a skills first approach? Read: https://oecdedutoday.com/unfilled-job-vacancies-a-skills-first-approach-can-help/
Want to learn more about the OECD Survey of Adult Skills? Read our Insights and Interpretations brochure: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/support-materials/2024/12/survey-of-adult-skills-2023_1ab54c9e/PIAAC2024_InsightsInterpretations_FULL.pdf
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Why are adult literacy skills dropping? Insights from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills
Over the past decade, literacy and numeracy skills among adults have largely declined or stagnated in most OECD countries. This is the main finding from the second OECD Survey of Adult Skills, a once-in-a-decade assessment that measured the skills of adults across 31 countries and economies. Despite efforts to strengthen education and adult training systems, only Finland and Denmark have seen significant improvements in adult literacy skills. However, adults performed better in the numeracy proficiency test, with eight countries seeing their average scores improve. In this episode of Top Class, the OECD’s Director for Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher, tells OECD Editor Duncan Crawford why he is concerned about the findings.
Learn more about the OECD Survey of Adult Skills here: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/do-adults-have-the-skills-they-need-to-thrive-in-a-changing-world_b263dc5d-en.html
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Tired, stressed & burnt out: strategies to support teacher well-being & healthy working environments
Every year, countless teachers face stress-related illnesses and burnout. While some manage to keep going, often at a reduced capacity, others leave the profession entirely. In this episode of Top Class, we explore how policymakers and schools can better support teacher well-being and create healthy working environments to ensure educators remain happy and healthy. The CEO of mental health and well-being charity Education Support Sinéad McBrearty and Pedro De Bruyckere, the head of Leerpunt in Flanders in Belgium, a knowledge broker in education, speak to OECD Editor Duncan Crawford about practical strategies to create sustainable and supportive environments for teachers.
Teachers in the UK can get mental health and well-being support with Education Support: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/
Learn more about some of the OECD’s work in this area with the New Professional and the Future of Teaching Project: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/new-professionalism-and-the-future-of-teaching.html
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How to close the STEM gender gap
Why is there a persistent gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects? Despite their growing importance for many future jobs, women make up only about a third of STEM graduates, with numbers dropping to as low as 20% in some OECD countries. This disparity is alarming to many policymakers, especially considering the lucrative and impactful careers STEM fields offer.
In this episode of Top Class, Beatrice Boots, Director of the Dutch STEM Platform PTvT and Chair of the EU STEM Coalition, and Priscilla Wanjiku Gatonye, Program Officer for Inclusion and Youth at UNESCO’s International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, tell OECD Editor Duncan Crawford that increasing female participation in STEM subjects should be a priority.
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How the WorldSkills ‘Olympics’ is breaking the vocational taboo
Many countries are experiencing a growing skills gap – what can be done to address the issue? WorldSkills, the largest international skills competition, aims to help. Held every two years, it sees more than 1,400 talented young people compete in 62 different technical disciplines, from Cloud Computing and 3D Game Design to Plumbing and Floristry. The aim is to show off the importance of skills-based learning and to make technical and vocational professions more attractive to school leavers. The OECD is working with WorldSkills to ensure quality vocational schemes support the jobs of the future. OECD Editor Duncan Crawford travelled to Lyon to check out the contest.
Learn more about the work of the OECD and WorldSkills here👉 bit.ly/4dcVxTq
Learn more about the OECD’s new PISA-VET initiative here 👉 https://bit.ly/3uMb9wX
Everything you need to know about teaching and learning in one podcast. Top Class, the OECD Education Podcast, interviews leading educators, researchers and policy experts about the big issues facing education systems around the world.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and arguments employed on the "TopClass" podcast and the recordings contained therein do not necessarily represent the official views of the OECD, its member countries, or non-members who have participated in any related work. This site may display third party videos or recordings. The inclusion of such videos or recordings does not imply any endorsement of, or responsibility for, the opinions, ideas, or information presented in these videos. The "TopClass" podcast is subject to the Disclaimers section of the General Terms and Conditions of the OECD website. http://www.oecd.org/termsandconditions/
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