1
1
2005 edition of Education at a Glance
Under embargo until
13 September 2005, 11:00 Paris time
2
2
3
3
In the dark…
…all schools and education systems look the same…
But with a little light….
4
4
But with a little light….
…important differences become apparent….
5
5
Main headings

Strong educational investment







Consistently rising investment
in education

High investment in pre-primary
education, rapidly growing

participation
Strong and improving
performance in primary
education
Above-average instructional
hours and teacher salaries at
school
Public/private cost-sharing in
line with individual and social
benefits


Strong public investment in
pre-primary education
Growing private share in
tertiary spending
Strong internal efficiency of
higher education and high and
growing labour-market returns

Large class sizes and high
teaching load
Limited resources for capital
investment in higher education
Comparative advantage in
higher education output
diminishing


Above average participation in
non-formal continuing education
and training, but



Below-average increase in
enrolments and entry
Declining market share in
foreign enrolment
low intensity of courses
large disparities in participation
patterns
Below-average output for
baseline qualifications

With large labour-market
penalties
6
Between 1995 and investment in primary and secondary education
increased in the UK by 36% (OECD average increase 26%)…
… while spending on tertiary education grew, at 18%, only half as fast
as at the OECD average level (OECD average increase 36%)
 Spending on education also grew faster than GDP

From 4.3% of GDP in 1990 to 5.5% in 1995 to 5.9% in 2002
(a value that is now above the OECD average (5.8%)

The UK stands out in showing consistent
rises in educational investment

A growing share of a public budget that shrunk relative to
GDP
is devoted
to education
…in
terms
of a rising
share of GDP devoted to education

Spending on institutions plus public subsidies to households rose
…in terms
of a growing educational share in the public budget
from 11.4% in 1995 to 12.7% in 2002
B2.1
OECD
EU
Turkey
Greece
Japan
Private
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Spain
Ireland
Germany
Hungary
Korea
Public
Netherlands
Italy
Mexico
Australia
United Kingdom
Austria
6
United States
% of GDP
Finland
Luxembourg
Poland
France
Switzerland
Belgium
Denmark
Portugal
Norway
New Zealand
Sweden
Iceland
7
7
Expenditure on educational institutions as a
percentage of GDP (2002)
Primary and secondary education
Total 95
5
4
3
2
1
0
B2.1
OECD
EU
Slovak Republic3 ,5
Czech Republic
Italy
Portugal
Private
Japan
Germany
United Kingdom
Austria
France
Iceland
Public
Turkey
Greece
Spain
Hungary
Ireland
Netherlands
3
Mexico
Belgium
Poland
Norway
New Zealand
Australia
Finland
Sweden
Denmark
Korea
United States
Expenditure on educational institutions as
8
8
a percentage of GDP (2002)
Tertiary education
% of GDP
Total 95
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
B4.1
OECD
Total 95
EU
Tertiary education
Slovak Republic
Primary and secondary
Greece
Below primary and unclassified
Czech Republic
Germany
Italy
Hungary
Japan
Netherlands
France
Spain
Austria
Belgium
Portugal
Finland
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Ireland
Sweden
expenditure
Australia
% of total public
United States
Denmark
Iceland
Norway
Korea
New Zealand
Mexico
9
9
Public expenditure on education
as a percentage of total public expenditure (1995, 2001)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Spending at the pre-primary level
 Spending in primary and secondary schools
Annual
expenditure

UK has
highest spending
level in the per
OECDstudent

Roughlyinstitutions,
average spending…
oneducational
in equivalent
US public
dollarssources
converted using PPPs
An above-average
share
comes from
… together with long school days (Scotland ranks 1st, England 8th)

A significant increase since 1998…
… and above-average teacher salaries, although these have risen less
… while, than
at the
same
time,asthe
rate of participation
of 4-year-olds
half
as fast
on average
in OECD countries
underatas26
a percentage
ofclass,
3-4-year-olds
increased
…and
result,
students per
in one of the
largest class sizes
USD
12,000
from
51%
in
1998
to
77%
in
2002
(only Turkey, Japan and Korea have larger class sizes and all but
USD 10,000
nine countries
have between 16 and 21 students per class)
USD 8,000
With only 75% of current expenditure devoted to compensation
staff, schools have much greater capacity to purchase other
USD of
6,000
goods and services than do OECD countries on average
United(81%)
Kingdom

USD 4,000
EU
In primary and secondary education, spending increased by 36%
USD 2,000
while enrolments rose by 21%, resulting in a 12% OECD
per-student
increase between 1995 and 2002 (OECD average increase 26%)

Te
rt
ia
ry
on
da
ry
ti
on
ed
uc
a
The spending choices may be effective
Se
c
– Student performance at 4th grade level improved significantly in
both mathematics and science between 1995 and 2003 (TIMSS)
Pr
im
ar
y

ar
y
USD 0
pr
im

Pr
e-
10
10
Cumulative expenditure on educational institutions per student over
the average duration of tertiary studies
Annual expenditure on educational institutions per student multiplied by average duration of
studies, in equivalent US dollars converted using PPPs (2002)
Equivalent US dollars converted
using PPPs
80000
Each segment of the bar represents the annual
expenditure per student. The number of segments
represents the number of years a student remains on
average in tertiary education.
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
Sweden
Austria
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Finland
Italy1
Japan
France
Spain
Hungary1
Ireland
Australia
United Kingdom
B1.3
Greece
Iceland
Mexico
0
Korea
11
11
Changes in spending per student
in tertiary education
12
12
relative to different factors (1995=100, 2002 constant prices )
Change in expenditure
Change in expenditure per student
Change in the number of students
Index of change (1995=100)
220
200
180
174
160
141
129
117
103
102
100
112
100
93
85
84
84
OECD
104
EU
Norway
Germany
France
Austria
Japan
Italy
Mexico
Ireland
Denmark
Spain
105
Czech Republic
B1.4
Greece
Switzerland
80
Turkey
100
107
Slovak Republic
110
Poland
118
Sweden
118
Australia
121
United Kingdom
121
120
Hungary
129
Portugal
132
Netherlands
134
Finland
140
13
13
Share of private expenditure on schools
(1995, 2002)
An above-share
of spending
on schools
Private
share Private
share 95
comes from private sources…
… and it has increased
at the
highest rate
Switzerland
Primary,
secondary
andafter
post-secondary

30
%
(in percentage points)
non-tertiary education
Note that this covers all types of expenditure from private sources,
irrespective of whether the institution concerned is public or private
20
10
OECD
EU
Portugal
Sweden
Norway
Finland
Denmark
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Poland
Italy
Ireland
Austria
Iceland
Netherlands
Hungary
Spain
Greece
France
Japan
United States
Turkey
New Zealand
Switzerland
Australia
United Kingdom
B3.1
Mexico
Germany
Korea
0
14
14
Share of private expenditure on higher
education institutions (1995, 2002)
Private
share level,
OECD
Private share
95 roseLinear
At the
tertiary
the private
share
from(OECD)
20% to 28%,
the fastest rise after Australia…
… whereas public spending rose only
at 6%
(compared with an
Tertiary
education
OECD average increase of 38%)
 The reverse is true for pre-primary education, here the UK
funding was at 96% public significantly larger than the OECD
average of 83%

80
%
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
OECD
EU
Greece
Denmark
Norway
Finland
Iceland
Austria
Germany
Portugal
Turkey
Sweden
Czech Republic
Belgium
Ireland
France
Slovak Republic
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
United Kingdom
Mexico
Poland
New Zealand
Australia
B3.1
United States
Japan
Korea
0
16
16
17
Growth in high-level qualifications
The massive growth in participation…
…has now levelled off
A1.3a
Portugal
Luxembourg
Austria
Italy
1980's
Mexico
Turkey
Greece
Belgium
Slovak Republic
14
Korea
Spain
Ireland
1970's
New Zealand
Czech Republic
France
9
Poland
20
Germany
Japan
Iceland
1960's
Finland
30
United Kingdom
Australia
Hungary
Switzerland
Sweden
Netherlands
Canada
40
Norway
Denmark
United States
18
18
Approximated by the percentage of persons with ISCED 5A/6 qualfication in the age
groups 55-64, 45-55, 45-44 und 25-34 years (2003)
Growth in university-level qualifications
1990's
3
10
23
10
21
0
The UK has an above-average university-level completion rate…
Tertiary-type
A graduation
mostly from
short courses rates, by duration (2003)

Percentage of graduates to the population at the typical age of graduation
 The UK ranks 4th with regard to the number of science
graduates as a percentage of 100,000 employed in the age group
%
25-35 and 1st among women
More than 6 years
… but rapid growth in university-level
qualifications has now
5 to 6 years
levelled off and the UK no longer3tops
graduation rates as was
to less than 5 years
still the case in 2000
60
50
40

30
Tertiary enrolment grew at much lower rates than at the OECD
average level (18% between 1995 and 2002, compared with an OECD
average of 28%)
20
10
Turkey
Czech Republic4
Austria
Germany
Switzerland
Slovak Republic4
France
Italy
Spain
United States
Japan
Hungary
Sweden
Ireland
United Kingdom
Norway
Denmark
Poland
Iceland
Finland
0
Australia
19
19

Entry
into
tertiary
education
… andrates
entry rates
to higher
education
are, at 48%, (2003)
now well below
20
20
Sum ofthe
net OECD
entry average
rates forofsingle
53% year of age in tertiary-type A and
educationwith a UK entry rate of 48%

In 1998 thetertiary-type
picture was stillB different,
significantly above the OECD average of 40%

%
90

80
70
A
OECD-B
But theTertiary-type
success rateB is, atTertiary-type
83%, significantly
better than at the
OECD average level (70%)
And entry rates at at the non-university tertiary level remain
well above the OECD level

60
In fact, here the UK improved slightly from the 6th to the 5th place
among 16 countries with comparable data
50
40
30
20
10
OECD
EU
Czech Republic
Austria
Belgium
Mexico
Switzerland
Germany
France
Ireland
Japan
Slovak Republic
Denmark
Spain
Italy
Korea
Netherlands
Hungary
United States
New Zealand
Poland
Finland
United Kingdom
C2.1
Iceland
Sweden
Australia
0
21
21
22
Tertiary education is rapidly becoming
an international domain
…and the UK remains one of the most attractive student destinations…
…with growing foreign enrolment…
…although its international market share has declined faster
than that of any other country.
23
23
Distribution of foreign students
by country of destination (2003)
Percentage of foreign tertiary students reported to the OECD who are enrolled in each country of destination



Sweden, 1.2
New Zealand; 1.2
Netherlands; 1
Malaysia, 1.3
Austria; 1.5
Other OECD
Switzerland, 1.6
Other non-OECD
Italy; 1.7
Belgium, 2
In 2003, 2.1 million people studying in OECD
countries were foreign students
An 11.5% overall increase
Spain; 2.5
But UK saw the fastest decline in market
share
Russ. Federation, 3.2
among OECD countries,

from 16.2% in 1998 to 13.5% in 2003
Japan, 4.1
United States, 27.7
Australia, 8.9
France; 10.5
United Kingdom; 12.1
Germany, 11.4
Belgium
New Zealand
Korea
Poland3, 4
Turkey3
Slovak Republic
Italy
Japan
Greece
Finland
Spain
2003
Hungary
United States
Portugal
Netherlands3
Iceland
Czech Republic
Norway
Ireland
Sweden
Denmark
France
Germany3
United Kingdom
C3.1
Austria
Switzerland
Australia
24
24
Percentage of foreign students in tertiary education
(1998, 2003)
Percentage of foreign students to total enrolment in tertiary education
1998
%
20
18
9
16
8
14
7
12
10
6
8
5
6
4
4
3
2
2
0
1
25
25
26
Stagnation in baseline qualifications
The UK has falls well behind the OECD average with adult attainment
27
Baseline qualifications
27at the upper*secondary level*

Approximated
by the percentage of persons with uppersecondary qualfications in
equivalent to 5 or more GCSEs at grades A to C or NVQ Level 2 or higher
the age groups 55-64, 45-55, 45-44 und 25-34 years (2003)
With serious consequences for those who have not completed this level
1970's
1980's
1990's
100
– While1960's
UK employment rates
among university
and upper-secondary
90 graduates are well above the OECD average, for those who
1 failed to
they remain, at 62% for men and 47%
80 attain the upper secondary level 8
9 12
for women, significantly below the OECD averages of 73% and 49%
70
22
–60 Among those without upper secondary
qualifications 37% earn half or
less of the national median earnings, and only 1% are in the group of top
50
earners, whose earnings exceeds twice the OECD median
40
30
Portugal
Mexico
Turkey
Spain
Very modest progress with participation at age 17
Italy
Greece
Korea
Ireland
Poland
Belgium
Australia
France
Iceland
Luxembourg
Hungary
Netherlands
Finland
United Kingdom
Switzerland
New Zealand
Japan
Austria
Sweden
Slovak Republic
Canada
Denmark
Norway
Czech Republic

– Likelihood of unemployment 1.4 times as high as for upper secondary
20
graduate
24
1 2
1314
10
Note that the youngest individuals in this comparison (25-year-olds in 2003)
0
passed
the age of 16 in 1994
Germany

– These earnings penalties are much larger than at the OECD average
United States

Only Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and Turkey had a lower
proportion of their 17-year-old population enrolled
… while at age 20, the UK’s participation rate is above OECD average
level

28
28
29
Initial education alone can no longer satisfy the
rising and changing demand for skills
An above-average share participate in non-formal continued
education and training…
…even though the intensity of participation is low…
…and participation rates are lowest among those who need it
most
Participation
of the of
labour
force in non-formal
job30
 However,
the intensity
participation
in non30 formalrelated
continuing
education
and training
job-related
education
and training
is (2003)
comparatively low
in the UK
All levels of education

70
upper secondary
education
With the meanLower
number
of hours
per participant in the
%
post-secondary
non-tertiary
labour
force atUpper
28secondary
hours and
well
below the
OECDeducation
average of 62 Tertiary
hourseducation
60
50
40
30
20
10
OECD
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Poland
Czech Republic
Ireland
Germany
Luxembourg
Belgium
France
Slovak Republic
Austria
Canada 1
Switzerland
Finland
United Kingdom
C6.2
United States
Sweden
Denmark
0
C6.3
OECD
Greece
Hungary
%
Italy
Unemployed
Spain
Portugal
Poland
Ireland
Czech Republic
Employed
Germany
Luxembourg
Belgium
Austria
Total
France
Slovak Republic
Canada 1
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Finland
United States
Denmark
Sweden
31
31
Participation of the labour force in non-formal jobrelated continuing education and training (2003)
Labour
force
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Participation of the labour force in non-formal jobrelated continuing education and training (2003)
32
32
Total
Resource industries
Goods-producing industries
Lower-tier services
Upper-tier services
%
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
OECD
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Poland
Czech Republic
Germany
Luxembourg
Ireland
Belgium
France
Austria
Slovak Republic
Canada1
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
C6.5
Finland
Denmark
Sweden
0
33
The individual and social returns to
qualifications
34
34
qualification earn, on average, twice as much
than males who completed only upper secondary
education (OECD average 162%).
240
A9.1
Males below upper sec
In the UK, males without upper secondary
education earn 73% of those with it
Females below upper sec. (OECD average 82%).
Males Tertiary-B
Females Tertiary-B
Males Tertiary-A
Females Tertiary A
OECD
United States
United Kingdom
Sweden
Spain
Norway
New Zealand
Luxembourg
Korea
Italy
Ireland
Hungary
Germany
France
Finland
Denmark

In all but three of the 20 countries with available data, the
120
earnings benefit increased between 1997 and 2003, in
100
Germany,
Italy and Hungary by between 20% and 40%
(UK
9%).
80
Growing benefits in many of the countries with the
60
steepest attainment growth
Canada

Switzerland
220
In the
UK, higher education pays off even more so than
200OECD average level
at the
Rising180tertiary level qualifications seem generally not to
have 160
led to an “inflation” of the labour-market value of
qualifications.
140
Belgium

Relative earnings of 25-64-year-olds with income from employment (upper
In the education=100)
UK, females with a tertiary-Type A
secondary
Australia

The earnings advantage of education
35
35
Distribution of 25-64-year-olds by level of
earnings and educational attainment
OECD average
UK
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Be
lo
w
pp
e
U
up
pe
r
A9.4a
se
co
nd
r
ar
y
Te sec
o
rt
nd
ia
ar
ry
y
Te
-t
rt
yp
ia
e
ry
B
-t
Be
yp
lo
e
w
A
up
pe
r
se
U
co
pp
nd
er
ar
y
Te sec
o
rt
nd
ia
ar
ry
y
Te
-t
rt
yp
ia
e
ry
B
-t
yp
e
A
0%
More than 2 times the median
More than 1.5 times the median
but at or below 2.0 times the
median
More than the median but at or
below 1.5 times the median
More than half the median but
at or below the median
At or below half of the median
36
36
Private internal rates of return (RoR) for an individual obtaining a
university-level degree (ISCED 5/6) from an upper secondary and
post-secondary non-tertiary level of education (ISCED 3/4) (2002)
MALES
United States
Switzerland
Sweden
Norway
at age 40, no fees, income/male
Netherlands
at age 40, fees, income/male
Italy
Immediately to higher ed/male
France
Finland
Denmark
Belgium
-5
A9.5
0
5
10
15
20
37
37
Private internal rates of return (RoR) for an individual obtaining a
university-level degree (ISCED 5/6) from an upper secondary and
post-secondary non-tertiary level of education (ISCED 3/4) (2002)
FEMALES
United States
Switzerland
Sweden
Norway
at age 40, no fees,
income/female
Netherlands
at age 40, fees, income/female
Italy
Immediately to higher ed/female
France
Finland
Denmark
Belgium
0
A9.5
5
10
15
20
Enhancements in human capital contribute to
labour productivity growth
39
39
Average annual percentage change (1990-2000)
Hours worked
Hourly GDP per efficient
5
•In the UK, improvements
in educational
Level of education
attainment between 1990 and 2000
unit of labour
Labour productivity
contributed to labour productivity much more
than in the United States and in any of the
other 14 countries except Portugal
4
3
2
1
0
New Zealand
Netherlands
France
Canada
Germany
Norway
Italy
Australia
Portugal
Denmark
Sweden
United Kingdom
A10
Finland
Ireland
-2
United States
-1
40
40
Overview

Strong educational investment







Consistently rising investment
in education

High investment in pre-primary
education, rapidly growing

participation
Strong and improving
performance in primary
education
Above-average instructional
hours and teacher salaries at
school
Public/private cost-sharing in
line with individual and social
benefits


Strong public investment in
pre-primary education
Growing private share in
tertiary spending
Strong internal efficiency of
higher education and high and
growing labour-market returns

Large class sizes and high
teaching load
Limited resources for capital
investment in higher education
Comparative advantage in
higher education output
diminishing


Above average participation in
non-formal continuing education
and training, but



Below-average increase in
enrolments and entry
Declining market share in
foreign enrolment
low intensity of courses
large disparities in participation
patterns
Below-average output for
baseline qualifications

With high labour-market
penalties
41
41
Further information

www.pisa.oecd.org
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– The complete micro-level database

email: pisa@oecd.org

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