OECD

Top 5 actions to take in education today

Oct 19, 2010

What is the most important action we need to take in education today?

People from over 90 countries have expressed their priorities for action in education. They participated in Raise Your Hand – a global ideas marketplace run by the OECD from 15 September through 15 October 2010. People uploaded 325 original ideas and cast over 27,000 votes on line in just 30 days.

What are the top five priorities for action to take in education today? The people participating said:

1. Teach to think, not to regurgitate.
   
2. Commit to education as a public good and a public responsibility.
   
3. Focus more on creating a long-term love of learning and the ability to think critically than teaching to standardised tests.
   
4. Ensure all children have the opportunity to discover their natural abilities and develop them.
   
5. Ensure that children from disadvantaged background and migrant families have the same opportunity to quality education as others.
   

Who took part?

Thousands of students, parents, teachers, higher education and early learning specialists in over 90 countries submitted ideas and voted on a website that was open to all. There was no registration and no collection of personal data. Open to all those with an Internet connection via their mobiles, laptops and computers, votes were cast in all continents.

Albania; Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzogovina; Brazil; Cameroon; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cyprus; Denmark; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; Estonia; Ethiopia; Finland; France; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Kenya; Korea; Kuwait; Laos; Latvia; Lebanon; Lithuania; Macau; Madagascar; Malaysia; Malta; Mexico; Moldova; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Niger; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palestinian Administered Areas; Peru; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Romania; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Singapore; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sweden; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; Turkey; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela; Vietnam.

How did Raise Your Hand work?

The OECD set up an ideas marketplace on All Our Ideas (www.allourideas.org), a platform developed by Matthew Salganik, a professor at Princeton University (United States).

At the launch on 15 September 2010, the question “What is the most important action we need to take in education today?” was posted and voting opened on 50 seed ideas that had been entered beforehand by the OECD. Over the course of 30 days, members of the public from around the world submitted 325 of their own ideas. They also voted in a binary fashion, comparing two ideas at a time. The best ideas rose to the top as the voting took place transparently and in real time around the world.

Four of the five winning ideas were uploaded by users, demonstrating the power of an ideas marketplace to generate new ideas.

Where did the uploaded ideas come from?

What next?

The OECD proposes to now:

1. Disseminate the top results via this educationtoday, twitter, blog and public website.
   
2. Collect video statements from ministers, practitioners, experts, deans and other education stakeholders providing their perspectives on the top ideas.
   
3. Invite other organisations to “adopt an education action” and put it into practice in their schools, universities, communities and countries.
   

The OECD wishes to thank all those who took the time to share and rank their ideas on education – a record number of you!

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