The OECD has now developed sophisticated measurement tools to test more complex skills, which means it is increasingly possible to focus on what matters most rather than what is measurable. Moreover, our apparently good performance masks huge domestic inequalities, as well as the fact that we have been treading water while our competitors have surged ahead in key areas.

But PISA tests were always prone to being too narrow and, given the changing nature of employers’ skills needs, they are on their own increasingly unsuited to educational realities. For example, the UK has remained relatively well placed in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Attainment (PISA) rankings of educational achievement. Yes, the government can point to some positive outcomes on its watch, at least when measured in more conventional terms. This was the wrong turn at the wrong time. Instead, by doubling down on a narrow core of traditional, knowledge-heavy subjects and designing accountability measures around these, the government has missed a prime opportunity to heed these changes. But to flourish in increasingly digital workplaces, they also need more space to develop attributes such as critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaborative problem-solving (which experts dub the “4Cs”). Of course, pupils still need a good grounding in knowledge. Taken together, the current curriculum, mode of assessment and inspection regime drive schools to overemphasise knowledge, and to instil this via a narrow set of methods and subjects.

However, the education system in England continues to rely heavily on passive forms of learning focused on direct instruction and memorisation. At the core of these changes was a long-overdue and welcome focus on accountability, discipline and safe school environments. In order to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by automation and artificial intelligence (AI), human workers will require skills that complement these technologies – and adapting to them will require a radically different education system.Įngland has undergone several decades of reform in education, aimed at improving standards. The new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are profoundly altering society, the economy and the labour market.

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