Australia is being urged by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to ramp up government spending on early-childhood education to help meet Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's goal of boosting national productivity and innovation. 
The call comes as both the OECD and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) use this weekend's Group of 20 meeting in China to encourage the world's biggest and wealthiest countries to spend more on infrastructure and other investments to spur faltering economic growth. In a report published on Friday as Treasurer Scott Morrison joined G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs for two days of talks in Shanghai, the OECD challenged Australia to tackle its relatively weak global performance in education.
It cited the latest rankings according to the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which show Australia's high school students are only around the international average in science and reading proficiency, with a "tendency to show a high variation across students".
In its annual report on how countries should boost their economic performances, the OECD's main message for Australia was the need to focus on productivity by ensuring the education system is up to standard. It also repeated last year's call to address the tax mix and public infrastructure.
"Boosting productivity requires that a number of common structural weaknesses be addressed, in particular the areas of educational outcomes - to ensure that education qualification translates into skills - tax revenue structure and public infrastructure," the OECD said in its Going for Growth 2016 report.
"Improving all levels of education will be crucial to boosting the long-term productive and innovative capacity of the economy.
"Reform should be geared towards increasing the supply and quality of early-childhood education, as well as towards improving outcomes at the primary and secondary levels."
The OECD's focus on education presents a challenge to Mr Turnbull, under pressure to trim future budget spending at a time when he has put innovation and skills at the centre of his plan to restore the economy as resources investment peters out.
Calls for additional education spending by the OECD come as the IMF insisted that the world's wealthiest economies do more to generate growth through fiscal stimulus rather than constantly relying on more official interest rate cuts.
In a separate IMF report released on Friday that echoed a call by the OECD last week, Australia - as well as other G20 nations - was told to consider allowing national budgets to blow out further in exchange for additional investment in new projects that help generate economic growth.
"A comprehensive approach is needed to reduce over-reliance on monetary policy," the fund's officials said.
The OECD's chief economist, Catherine Mann, said: "With governments in many countries currently able to borrow for long periods at very low interest rates, there is room for fiscal expansion to strengthen demand in a manner consistent with fiscal sustainability."