John O'Dowd: — the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Equality Commission and the Human Rights Commission? It is time to educate everyone, not just a few.
John O'Dowd: ...that they were given, but that was wrong, and it did present our students in a very dim light, which was unfortunate and unacceptable. I have already received a letter of apology from the OECD in relation to this matter, but it should never have happened in the first place.
John O'Dowd: I am not always a great defender of the media, but as soon as the BBC was made aware of this matter, it published the OECD's retraction on its website. I published a statement welcoming the clarification around the qualifications and abilities of our young people and expressing my severe disappointment with OECD in relation to the publication of the figures. It did make headlines, thankfully...
John O'Dowd: ...has been dismissed by some. Can you dismiss the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child? Can you dismiss the Equality Commission? Can you dismiss the Human Rights Commission? Can you dismiss the OECD experts in education? Can you dismiss those high-performing educational systems internationally that are not only outperforming our education system but are also outperforming our...
John O'Dowd: ...is about. Does the system work well? No, it does not. Evidence of that is in the draft Equality Commission report published only a fortnight ago. The evidence is in the report published by the OECD two years ago. The evidence comes from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Commission. The evidence has been presented by the trade union movement...
John O'Dowd: ...talk of the levels being too broad. They are deliberately broad to match the high-level assurance that we need that the range of skills has been acquired by pupils. However, schools and the OECD, which were described by Mr Allister, who is morphing into Enoch Powell as each week passes, as foreigners — by the way, the foreigner who headed the OECD report was a Claire Shewbridge from...
John O'Dowd: ..., but if any Member is serious about moving our education system forward, and if any Member is serious about ensuring how we do that, you need to have measurements in place. I commissioned the OECD report, and the amendment supports the principles of our current levels of progression assessments. That is stated in the amendment. Yes, there were criticisms in the report, and I have...
John O'Dowd: ...at how they might improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools, and all good schools want to improve further. A key strength of our system, which was identified not by me but by the OECD, was the coherence of our school improvement policies and the appropriateness of their focus on promoting school self-evaluation. However, that review also recognised the benefit and...
John O'Dowd: The most significant step that I have taken was to bring in the OECD, and we brought the OECD in to look at our assessment procedure. Its report has been very valuable in the ongoing discussions between my officials and representatives of the teachers' side in regard to these matters. The OECD points out that our assessment processes are robust and necessary but we have failed to convince...
John O'Dowd: In fairness, the OECD tells us that it is a good assessment for learning, but we have to adapt it and work with those who are delivering it on the ground, so I am not going to suspend it. I believe that our discussions with the unions are bearing fruit, and, if we keep going forward with the discussions that we are having with the trade union side, I am confident that we can reach agreement...
John O'Dowd: With your permission, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, I will answer questions 5 and 8 together. The OECD report was extremely positive about the synergies between our evaluation and assessment policies, saying specifically that the rationale behind the development and implementation of levels of progression was: “sound and congruent with European practice.” In building an assessment...
John O'Dowd: ...forward for 2013-14 and beyond. My Department is reducing the pressure, real or perceived, as I said, on schools in this matter. Part of my reason for bringing in the internationally respected OECD was to have a look at our assessment arrangements from an international perspective. The OECD said that our assessment procedures are fit for purpose. Where we fell down was on the...
John O'Dowd: ...should take the form of a single statutory test at the end of each year so that you work to those results and move forward. There is no universal agreement on this island or beyond. The OECD reflected on that as well. There is no universal agreement on the way forward for assessment at the end of Key Stages, but the OECD said that our assessment procedure was fit for purpose.
John O'Dowd: ...save schools the money and time needed to seek out and procure individual assessments. A significant number of our schools use commercially available assessments, and that is referred to in the OECD report. Indeed, it was touched on in the CBA report as well. Those assessments, though useful, do not meet the needs of our curriculum. Although they are somewhat useful to our schools,...
John O'Dowd: The OECD reported that the use of the free school meals entitlement was a robust measure of social deprivation — in the absence of any other measure, it has to be said. I am moving ahead with it as a robust measure in the absence of anyone else coming forward with further proposals. I understand that the Committee for Education will conduct an inquiry and produce a report on...
John O'Dowd: I thank the Member for his question. I beg his indulgence because there was one point in the Chair's question that I did not respond to about the OECD and its comments about support to schools. I acknowledge and support the recommendation of the OECD that we have to ensure that we have the proper supports in place for our schools for continuous teacher development and support. I assure...
John O'Dowd: There has been a root-and-branch review of end of key stage assessment. I brought in the internationally respected OECD to take a look at it. I do not think that I could be asked to do much more in looking at our assessment system. They are saying to us that the assessment systems are fit for purpose but we have to work with teachers and professionals in schools to ensure that they have...
John O'Dowd: ...remains. It follows therefore that our arrangements for assessing pupils and evaluating our system must be appropriate. It was for that reason that I was keen for us to be part of a much wider OECD review of evaluation and assessment frameworks and their contribution to school improvement. I thank the OECD team that visited us in February/March last year and published its report on 10...
John O'Dowd: I welcome the fact that the OECD has now reported. On Friday, we are bringing together educationalists for the OECD to come and make a presentation on the report and open it up to a debate on the way forward. I think that that will be a very useful engagement. The OECD report contains a wide range of findings across a range of areas, including 41 strengths inherent in our current...
John O'Dowd: I do not think that such programmes of work should be a one-off. As I said, the OECD is coming back to engage with our educationalists and further with my Department. I would like to see a rolling programme of work with organisations such as the OECD. We subject our schools and a variety of areas in our society to inspection. I think it is useful to bring that out. At times, our...
