OECD Directorate for Education

Who we are
The Directorate for Education is part of the OECD Secretariat and contributes to the organisation's commitment to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

What we do

We provide comparative data and analysis on education policy-making to help build efficient and effective educational systems and improve learning outcomes. We provide a forum where governments, business, civil society and academia can share best practices and learn from one another. Our statistics and indicators provide a strong evidence base for international comparisons of all aspects of education systems. Our policy analyses facilitate peer learning across countries as new policy options are explored and experiences compared. Our future-oriented educational research helps shape policy agendas by identifying upcoming issues while drawing upon the overall breadth of the OECD's policy work.

Who we work with

We develop analysis and best practices together with the 34 OECD member countries and with over 40 non-member economies. We help them to answer the most important questions in education policy: how to best allocate resources in education to support social and economic development, and how to offer everyone the chance to make the most of their innate abilities at every stage of life. We partner with other international organisations (such as UNESCO, World Bank, UNICEF, European Training Foundation) and leading NGOs (such as The British Council, Open Society Institute) as well as the private sector. We collaborate with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture on projects of mutual interest to maximize synergies.

less