Building World Class Learning Systems

Geoff Masters, CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), discusses how five jurisdictions that have performed unusually well on the OECD’s PISA assessment organise their school systems now and how these jurisdictions are aiming to transform their systems to better meet the changing economic and social context. In partnership with NCEE, Masters has led a three-year study of the learning systems of British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea to better understand the systems they have in place now and the direction of their reforms going forward. He says that all five are aiming to better prepare young people for work and life and ensure equity of opportunity and high achievement for all students. He argues that while the systems these jurisdictions have built over the last half century have resulted in high achievement to date, there is a need for transformational change of each to maintain that level of achievement going forward.