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In 2023, the European Commission analysed the situation of education and training in the respective Member States. This monitoring includes different items, such as education sector pay, low levels of achievement in different subjects (reading, maths and science) or upper secondary level attainment.
In the case of Italy, the report stresses that school leaders are relatively well paid; on the other hand, early school leaving is on a downward trend (currently at 11.5%, while EU is at 9.6%). Italian fourth-graders literacy ranks above EU average (537 points against 527).
As for Poland, low achievement in reading, maths and science (14.7%, 14.7% and 13.8%, respectively) remains well below the EU average (22.5%, 22.9% and 22.3%, respectively). The conservative government formerly in power until 2023 dedicated 4.9% of GDP on public expenditure for education, slightly above the EU’s 4.8%; if this is analysed as a share of the total public expenditure, the gap is even more in favour of Poland’s national figures, with 9.8% against the Union’s 9.4%.
If we turn to another Member State with a conservative government, Hungary, their upper secondary level attainment overpasses the EU average by a short margin, namely, 83.7% versus 83.6%. As it was the case in Poland, public expenditure for education in Hungary, according to the policy decided by the Fidesz party, flies well over general Union data: 4.9% of national GDP (same as Poland), and 9.8% of total public expenditure, once more equal to their Polish counterpart and ahead of the 27 average.
What about Member States with left wing governments? Do they perform better in education, as they typically boast? Is education a real priority for them and what are their results, their level of efficiency?
Let us focus first on the most radical of them, that is, Spain, managed by the Socialist-Communist coalition in power. Low achievement in reading and maths (23.2% and 24.7%, respectively) outnumbers the EU average (22.5% and 22.9%, respectively). Poor achievement for science (21.3%) shows a better result than the Union’s (22.3%); however, interestingly enough it has degraded in more than three percentage points along the past ten years, with 18.2% in 2012 to the current 21.3%. During that period, Spain changed from a centre-right government to the one headed by Pedro Sanchez up to now. Education investment shows lower levels, both compared to the former two countries as well as to the EU average.
Moreover, one fourth of teachers lack job stability, despite the fact that the European Union has repeatedly warned Spain to reduce temporary contracts in the public sector to 8% by 2025, already an impossible goal to achieve.
Spanish fourth-graders perform lower than the rest (521 points in comparison to the Union’s 527). The employment rate of vocational training graduates is among the lowest in the EU.
Finally, let us compare the previous cases with the two largest economies among the 27 Member States, those of Germany and France.
The report warns that German schools face a serious lack of teachers, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. In part, this is due to the fact that the teaching profession in Germany lacks appeal, despite the comparatively good wages. Over one fourth of teachers (28%) would not advise young people to enter the profession due to the high workload and a general lack of prestige.
Contrasting with the lack of teachers and particularly STEM teachers, Germany has the largest share of STEM graduates among all graduates, 11% above EU average.
With regards to France, teachers also mention low salaries, working conditions and perceived low prestige as the main difficulties in their jobs. More temporary teachers are hired to fill the vacant positions, but often without the same level of qualification. The level of low achievement in reading and science has increased over the past ten years.
Source of image: European Education Area