Just as a compass orients a traveller, the OECD Learning Compass 2030 indicates the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values students need not just to weather the changes in our environment and in our daily lives, but to help shape the future. The Learning Compass 2030 is composed of seven elements: (1) core foundations; (2) transformative competencies; (3) student agency/co-agency; (4) knowledge; (5) skills; (6) attitudes and values; and (7) anticipation-action-reflection cycle. This concept note focuses on the concept of core foundations. The OECD Learning Compass 2030 defines core foundations as the fundamental conditions and core skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values that are prerequisites for further learning across the entire curriculum. The core foundations provide a basis for developing student agency and transformative competencies. They are also the building blocks upon which context-specific competencies for 2030, such as financial literacy, global competency or media literacy, can be developed.