Policymakers and experts from business, labour, education and other sectors agree that education and investment in competencies are crucial for coping with the complex demands and global challenges of today's world. But what competencies do we need for an overall successful life and a well-functioning society? This question was the starting point of an interdisciplinary, policy-oriented project carried out under the auspices of the OECD. This volume lays out relevant normative, definitional, and conceptual criteria for defining and selecting key competencies in an international context.

The construction of three broad, theory-grounded categories of key competencies - acting autonomously, using tools interactively, and functioning in socially heterogeneous groups - and the identified key competencies within these categories represent an important transition from a multidisciplinary approach to interdisciplinary insight and towards international consensus. The volume also addresses questions such as how can these competencies be validated with regard to broad desired outcomes and what are the implications for international comparative assessments?