Context 

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment – Vocational Education and Training Assessment is the OECD’s first international largescale assessment focused on vocational education and training. Inspired by PISA, it was created to address a persistent evidence gap: many countries lack globally comparable data on how well VET students apply their occupation specific skills (e.g., trade and vocational, hands-on technical abilities) to real workplace challenges. Without this kind of comparable measurement, it is difficult to benchmark outcomes across different VET models, understand learner characteristics, and identify which programme and labour market features drive stronger results further limiting policy action to improve the relevance, quality, equity, and effectiveness of skills systems. 

Approach 

PISAVET is designed as a recurring international assessment (every 3–5 years from 2030 onward subject to a successful development phase) and is being built in stages to ensure credibility and comparability across countries and programmes. 

Phased international build-out 

· Development phase (2023–2027): 14 participating countries co-develop instruments and methods. Seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Portugal, and the United Arab Emirates) are first to implement instruments for measuring occupational skills. 

· Pilot phase (2027–2030): at least 10–15 countries implement the full set of instruments. 

· Largescale phase (2030–2034): expansion to more countries worldwide. 

PISAVET assesses applied occupational competence using methods that go beyond traditional knowledge tests, building on international experience such as ASCOT (Germany), WorldSkills International, and ETS. The assessment combines three task types: 

1. Knowledge-based items Scenario-based questions (PISA-style) to test occupation-specific knowledge and the ability to reach correct solutions. 

2. Interactive digital simulations Workplace tasks that replicate professional environments to observe problem-solving and decision-making in dynamic contexts. 

3. Demonstration tasks Live or recorded practical performances evaluated by expert judges, supported by digital tools to improve consistency and comparability. 

This approach enables measurement of multiple dimensions, including outcomes, thought/decision-making approaches, performance-based skills, and elements of contribution to team performance via simulation tasks. 

In addition to occupational tasks, PISAVET captures broader employability skills (e.g., literacy, problem-solving, collaboration) and contextual factors such as student background, institutional features, and labour-market links so countries can interpret results and track patterns over time. 

Results 

The programme has established strong international collaboration and employer engagement to co-design credible, innovative assessment methods. A key lesson emerging from the work so far is the value of combining knowledge items, digital simulations demonstration tasks to capture both occupation-specific and transversal skills in authentic ways. 

From 2030 onwards, the program aims to generate internationally comparable evidence on applied VET outcomes and produce actionable policy insights to strengthen VET system performance. Success is defined by the reliability and validity of instruments, comparability across countries and programmes, the ability to link performance with contextual indicators, and the practical uptake of findings by policymakers, educators, and employers.