Skills Policy
Simon Field is a leading expert on the comparative analysis of technical education systems globally, and on how the technical and skills systems of the UK compare. Until 2016 he led the OECD’s work on technical education systems, and has led and taken part in reviews undertaken in more than 30 countries in every inhabited continent. He is the lead author of many OECD reviews, including flagship reports on Skills beyond School and No More Failures: Ten steps to Equity in Education. More recently, as an independent expert and director of Skills Policy, he has undertaken many studies for the OECD, the ILO, and UNESCO. Alongside studies of technical education, he has worked extensively on wider education issues, most recently in a major OECD review of the education system of Brazil published in June 2021.
Simon Field’s work on the UK includes recent studies on higher technical education and apprenticeship in both England and Scotland, and co-authorship of an influential report on numeracy and literacy in the English skills system — Building Skills for All. He is currently working with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation on a study of assessment in technical education.