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4. Annex

The structural indicators on achievement in basic skills concentrate on a selection of policies that can contribute to improving student achievement. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, around a third of all education systems were forced to cancel at least some of the national tests that were scheduled to take place in spring 2020. In the majority of European countries, standardised national assessments in compulsory education and national report on achievement focus on the language of instruction and mathematics, and to a lesser extent on science. Additionally, the majority of countries include student performance data in the evaluation of schools and stipulate that competences to tackle low student achievement should be acquired during initial teacher education (ITE). The aim is to deal with student difficulties, and for this, 18 European systems provide central level regulations, recommendations and/or guidelines. Lastly, the central education authorities in most education systems allocate additional resources to schools that enrol large numbers of disadvantaged students.

Overall, there have been few policy changes and reforms in the past six years, possibly showing a lack of priority in this area.

In the school year 2019/2020, several countries have conducted policy changes and reforms in the legal framework of early childhood education and care. Belgium lowered the starting age of compulsory education from 6 to 5 years in 2020/2021, including one year of ECEC, and Romania lowered the age of compulsory education to 5.

Other countries, such as Spain is expected to draw up an eight-year plan for increasing the offer of public places in the first cycle of ECEC to meet all requests for schooling of children under age three. In this process, students at risk of poverty and social exclusion will have priority. Lithuania, has also put emphasis on ameliorating the conditions of children at social risks for attending compulsory pre-primary education. Slovakia, Bulgaria and Lithuania will conduct reforms in the upcoming years.

Over the past five years, several countries have introduced structural reforms concerning staff qualification or continuing professional development (CPD). Some countries such as Ireland, Italy, Malta or Finland have raised or are in the process of raising a minimum qualification requirement for all or for a large proportion of staff working with children. The Flemish Community of Belgium and France have recently introduced non-binding educational guidelines for the youngest children. Currently, Italy and Portugal are in the process of adapting the educational guidelines for the ECEC provision for children under age 3. New ECEC educational guidelines are in place in several countries. Some countries conducted reforms such as Romania, which adopted a new ECEC Curriculum in 2019 proposes a unitary approach to early education and care from birth to age 6 as previously there were different guidelines for each group.

The structural indicators on ELET focus on key policies and measures to cover prevention, intervention and compensation. National data collection systems based on a student register can be used to understand the scale of the problem and implement the right policies. Increasing the flexibility helps preventing ELET by removing potential obstacles to the competition of programmes. Language support for students with a mother tongue other than the language of instruction is also crucial as these students are often at increased risk of early leaving. Addressing ELET in ITE and/or CPD improves teachers’ understanding on how to support students who are showing signs of disengagement at school, additionally, education and career guidance services also play a crucial role in preventing students from leaving education and training. Lastly, support for early leavers to re-enter the education and training system has been strengthened through a number of policy developments since 2015. These have involved the provision of second chance education, education and career guidance and/or “Youth guarantee” related initiatives.

Policy changes and reforms related to ELET have taken place in 2020/21 in three education systems (Cyprus, Poland and Portugal), additionally policy developments are implemented in Spain, which include the development of alternative education programmes, the recognition of professional skills and competences, and various language programmes implemented in different Autonomous Communities.

Five structural indicators were developed related to the tertiary level attainment. Very few reforms have taken place since 2015. Areas with new policies were quantitative targets for widening participation and attainment of under-represented groups, and completion as a required criterion in external Quality Assurance (QA). For the reference year 2020/21, in more than two thirds of the education systems, monitoring of socio-.economic characteristics of the student body was most widely implemented policy. Also, recognition of prior informal or non-formal learning and the requirement of completion rates was implemented in more than half of the education systems. The two areas, which focus the most on the social dimension and widening participation in higher education, were implemented in less than half of the education systems.

Figures below present the overall situation in the EU concerning one structural indicator from the areas of early childhood education and care (ECEC), achievement in basic skills, early leaving from education and training (ELET) and tertiary attainment.

Notes

²⁸⁹ The “structure indicators” presented here use qualitative system-level information to support the analysis in the Education and Training Monitor. Since 2015, these indicators provide annual information on the national policies and structures that contribute to achieving the benchmarks set in the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training.

²⁹⁰ "■" refers to children aged 2.5 years or more in Belgium (French and Flemish Communities) and to children aged 4 years or more in Greece, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein.