Measuring education beyond academic learning

With PISA, the OECD has a long history of establishing global metrics for academic schooling outcomes. But these are just part of the story of what makes individuals, businesses and countries successful. For the first time the OECD now provides an international comparative assessment of social and emotional skills that complements the picture. We know that employers greatly value such skills and many education and skills systems seek to prioritise their development. But it has always proved difficult to measure such skills in reasonably reliable and comparable ways, and what isn’t measured rarely gets improved. The survey covers a range of outcomes which research shows are highly predictive for labour-market and social success, such as open-mindedness (including curiosity and creativity), task performance (including responsibility, self-control and persistence), sociability and assertiveness, collaboration as well as stress resistance and emotional control