Introduction
This document contains more than 35 structural indicators on education policies in six areas: early childhood education and care (ECEC), achievement in basic skills, early leaving from education and training (ELET), higher education, graduate employability and learning mobility.
Policy context
The indicators provide information on national policies and structures that contribute to achieving the benchmarks set in the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training ('ET 2020'). The framework defines several targets to be achieved at European level by 2020:
- At least 95 % of children should participate in early childhood education;
- fewer than 15 % of 15-year-olds should be under-skilled in reading, mathematics and science;
- the rate of early leavers from education and training aged 18-24 should be below 10 %;
- at least 40 % of people aged 30-34 should have completed some form of higher education;
- at least 15 % of adults should participate in lifelong learning;
- at least 20 % of higher education graduates and 6 % of 18-34 year-olds with an initial vocational qualification should have spent some time studying or training abroad;
- the share of employed graduates (aged 20-34 with at least upper secondary education attainment and having left education 1-3 years ago) should be at least 82 %.
EU and Member States’ performance on the ET 2020 benchmarks are analysed in detail in the European Commission's Education and Training Monitor. The Eurydice project on Structural Indicators for Monitoring Education and Training Systems in Europe contributes the contextual information to this analysis. It provides yearly data since 2015, which illustrate the main policy developments in education and training systems across Europe.
Selection of indicators
The Structural indicators were selected by the European Commission's Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) using information from several recent Eurydice reports that focus on a specific policy area. Within these reports, each indicator has been developed within a larger framework in order to allow readers to better understand a particular topic.
The selection of the Structural indicators was discussed with the Eurydice National Units and country representatives in the Standing Group on Indicators and Benchmarks (SGIB).
Earlier updates
The Structural indicators were published in 2015 and 2016 in detailed Eurydice reports presenting methodology, definitions, country examples and visual representation. In 2017 and 2018, the indicators for the EU Member States were included in the European Commission's Education and Training Monitor 2017 and Education and Training Monitor 2018 (see volume 1, Annex).
This short document presents the complete set of data on the Structural indicators for the 2017/18 school and academic year. It needs to be read as an update of the 2016 report. Additional information can be found in the latest full report Structural indicators for Monitoring Education and Training Systems in Europe 2016.
Country coverage
This annual update of the Structural indicators covers all EU Member States, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey. The information has been collected through a questionnaire completed by the national representative of the Eurydice Network.