Last Tuesday, the report 'Education Overview 2024. OECD Indicators' was published, revealing various data related to schooling in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education, the evolution of Higher Education and the situation of teachers. We show the most relevant data from the study.
Schooling in Early Childhood Education and the situation of the teaching staff
The enrolment rate in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education in Spain is higher than the OECD and European Union (EU) averages, and has increased by almost ten points (9.9) between 2013 and 2022. Thus, schooling from 0 to 3 years old reaches 41.8% and places Spain among the countries with the highest percentage together with Sweden (47.3%) and Norway (58.9%). In Spain, according to the study, 29.7% of children under two years of age and 64.2% of two-year-olds were enrolled in Early Childhood Education centres in 2022. On average for OECD countries, these percentages are 17.7% and 41.8%, respectively, and 13.4% and 38.6% in the EU. The boost to early childhood education is also evident in the enrolment rate for 4-year-old students, which stands at 97%, well above the OECD average (89%) and the EU countries (92%).
On the other hand, and as regards the situation of the teaching staff, the report states that Spain has an average of students per teacher from Primary to Higher Education that is lower than the averages of the OECD and the EU countries at all educational levels except for the first stage of Secondary Education, where it is equal to the community average. As regards the hours that teachers dedicate to direct teaching in public centres, Spain is among the highest of all the countries analysed in Europe, with 854 hours in the case of Pre-primary and Primary education, and 656 hours in the first and second stages of Secondary Education.
Higher education and employment
The report also reveals that Tertiary or Higher Education (Higher Vocational Training and university studies) has become the most common educational level among young people aged 25 to 34 in Spain. So much so that the percentage has grown by 11 points between 2016 and 2023, going from 41% to 52%. According to the study, the expansion of Higher Education in Spain has especially benefited women, who reach this educational level in a greater proportion than men (58% compared to 46.1%). In our country, the percentage of the population with higher education stands at 41.4% and has grown by 5.7 points between 2016 and 2023. This proportion is slightly higher than the average of the OECD (40.7%) and the EU countries (37.3%).
In this sense, the report points out that the higher the education, the higher the level of employment. According to the data, in Spain, when a person goes on to obtain the second stage of secondary education, the probability of unemployment decreases by 28%. In fact, 84% of the Spanish population between 25 and 64 years of age with higher education have a job. A figure that contrasts with the 61% of those who have a level below the second stage of secondary education. The relationship between education and level of employment is clearly seen in the age group of young people between 25 and 34 years of age with higher education, since their employment rate has increased by 6.8 percentage points between 2016 and 2023, reaching 83%. This percentage is 71% in the case of those who had reached the second stage of secondary education.
Public spending on education
Finally, the study also points out that Spain is among the countries that has increased its public education spending the most in relation to GDP between 2015 and 2021. Thus, the increase in public spending on education as a percentage of GDP, from Primary to Higher Education, was 14%, much higher than the OECD average (1%) and the average of EU countries (3%). In that period, total education spending in Spain went from 4.4% of GDP to 4.9%. In fact, Spain is, of the countries selected for the national report, the only one that has annually increased the percentage of the budget allocation allocated to Education at all levels.
