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by Dirk Van Damme Head of the Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate for Education and Skills Mean literacy and numeracy score, by age and education enrolment status OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), 2012 or 2015 Moving from the world of school to the world of work is one of the most dramatic changes in the lives of young people. And for many youngsters this transition does not go smoothly. Spells of frictional or longer-term unemployment, job insecurity because of low-paid or temporary contracts, and the uncertainties associated with starting to live autonomously produce a challenging phase in young people’s lives. The most vulnerable people are those who fall between the two systems: the so-called NEETs (not in employment, education or training), who are no longer in school and are either unemployed or inactive. Some 6% of 15-19 year-olds in OECD countries – in other words, half of those of that age who have left school, or around 5 million young people – are NEET...

Interview with Oley Dibba-Wadda, Executive Secretary of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)  by Marilyn Achiron, Editor, Directorate for Education and Skills Oley Dibba-Wadda  is the dynamic (and first female) Executive Secretary of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) . The organisation’s mission is to assist in “the transformation of education and training to drive Africa’s accelerated and sustainable development”. We spoke with Dibba-Wadda in June when she participated in the OECD Forum in Paris. Marilyn Achiron: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge facing African youth today?  Oley Dibba-Wadda: The challenge that youth are facing, first and foremost, is skills for employability. It is a fundamental issue. What we have realised in education is that going to school has not necessarily translated into quality learning. The learning being taught in schools does not resonate with the current job mar...