Central and Eastern Europe

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

Key indicators on
vocational education and training

2002

European Training Foundation

 European Training Foundation

Villa Gualino, Viale Settimio Severo, 65, I-10133 Torino

Tel: (39) 011 630 22 22 / Fax: (39) 011 630 22 00 / email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.etf.eu.int

This report is published in the framework of the ETF Key Indicators Project
conducted in 2001. It presents a selection of the indicators collected through
the network of the National Observatories.

Contents: Mircea Badescu and Alison Kennedy (European Training

Foundation)

Data processing: Stanka Petkovska (Ministry of Education and Science,

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)

Additional information can be found at:

www.etf.eu.int/cee/statistics
 Key indicators Summary

Foreword
This publication is the outcome of the Key Indicators project conducted and financed by the European
Training Foundation in 2001. The statistics and indicators have been collected, checked and validated
through the network of the National Observatories.

This report is the executive summary of the ETF publication ‘Key Indicators on vocational education and
training, 2002’ which will be published later this year.

Reader’s guide
Coverage of the statistics
The indicators presented in this report are collected by the European Training Foundation on a regular
basis through the National Observatory network. In some cases they are supplemented by data
collected by Eurostat and OECD. If not otherwise indicated data refer to the entire national education
system regardless of the ownership or sponsorship of the educational institutions concerned and
regardless of educational delivery mechanisms. Although a lack of data still limits the scope of the
indicators presented all the partner countries are taking steps to improve the process of data collection
and analysis.

ISCED levels of education

ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) is the internationally-agreed system used
for classifying and presenting statistics on education. The present classification approved by UNESCO
in 1997 (also known as ISCED97) covers primarily two cross-classification variables: levels and fields
of education and training. ISCED97 distinguishes among six levels of education: pre-primary,
primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary, and tertiary education.

Data sources
If not otherwise indicated, the data sources are the National Statistical Offices/Institutes, and the
statistical units of different Ministries (i.e. education, labour and finance). Labour market indicators
have been selected from the national Labour Force Surveys.

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Key indicators Summary

Symbols for missing data

a - data not applicable because the category does not apply

m - data not available

n - nil or negligible

x - data included in another category/column of the table

Central and Eastern European participants in the 2001

ETF Key Indicators Project
Albania (AL), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Czech Republic (CZ),
Estonia (EE), Hungary (HU), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(MK), Montenegro (MG), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Slovak Republic (SK), Slovenia (SI)

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 Key indicators Summary

Introduction
The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe have
already undergone substantial changes and vocational education
and training is part of this process. In the last decade, changing
labour market and economic and social conditions in the Central
and Eastern European countries (CEECs) have resulted in a clear
demand for more and better education and training. Different
skills are now in demand as many economic sectors are in the
process of change. Vocational education and training is becoming
more and more important for an increasing proportion of jobs as
greater weight is placed on individual knowledge and skills.

This publication provides a basic analysis of data collected through Access to and participation in
the European Training Foundation’s Key Indicators project. Access vocational education and
to and participation in vocational education and training as well as training as well as spending
spending patterns on such programmes are reviewed in Part 1. As patterns on such programmes
the process of enlargement will substantially modify the and the main aspects of
characteristics of the EU labour market, Part 2 looks at the main national labour markets are
aspects of national labour markets. As a step towards improving presented. Some issues related
the quality of the data collection process, some issues related to to measurement are also
measurement are also covered in this publication. covered in this publication.

The indicators presented in this report are collected by the The data collected through the
European Training Foundation on a regular basis through the National Observatory network
National Observatory network.1 were supplemented by those
collected by Eurostat and
OECD as…

All the partner countries are taking steps to improve the process of
data collection and analysis. There is an increasing need for refined … there is an increasing need
indicators, which reflect and monitor recent trends in vocational for refined indicators which
education and training. The Foundation will continue to support reflect and monitor recent
the partner countries in the field of data collection, to assist them in trends in VET.
identifying and filling data gaps and to make better use of the
international comparative analysis for informing the debate on
vocational education and training.

1 The National Observatories are a network of observatories for analysis of labour markets and training reform
in the partner countries.
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 Key indicators Summary

Part 1
All CEECs are undergoing a process of economic and societal This part looks at participation
reform in which a greater emphasis is now put on education and in secondary education.
training. An increasing value is therefore given to human capital.
Part 1 looks at participation in secondary education and levels of
educational attainment in the adult population. It also presents
basic information on the allocation of financial resources to
education in CEECs.

Growing diversity in educational provision has been one of the

policy responses to increasingly variable demands for skills. One
important aspect of managing the development of education
systems is to ensure that all sections of the population benefit and
that disparities are reduced. Changes in participation rates and
attainment levels of the population provide a picture of how
countries have responded to increasing demands for education
and training. Today, in almost all CEECs, an increasing number of In almost all CEECs, an
young people are studying until the age of 20 to acquire either a increasing number of young
general or a vocational qualification at upper secondary level. people are studying until the
Participation rates remain high in CEECs for 16 year olds but start age of 20.
to tail off after the end of compulsory education.

Figure 1.1 Educational attainment of the population aged 15-64 (2000)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

The distribution between general and vocational students has been In the last few years the
stable since 1995 for countries like Slovak Republic, Poland or distribution of students in
Romania in which more than 60% of the students are enrolled in many CEECs between general
vocational programmes. In many CEECs, in the last few years and vocational education has
there has been a marked shift away from lower level vocational been stable …
programmes towards programmes in secondary vocational and
grammar schools leading to matura-type qualifications.

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Key indicators Summary

Figure 1.2a Distribution of students in upper secondary education ISCED 3 (2000)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

… and there has been an In many CEECs, despite increases in overall participation and
important shift towards attainment levels, it cannot always be assumed that all groups are
programmes leading to matura- benefiting equally or that historical gaps present during the former
type qualifications but… political regimes are closing sufficiently rapidly. Although the
gaps seem to have been reduced in some countries they still exist
… differences are still likely to in others. ETF data also show that differences are still likely to exist
exist between the enrolment in some countries between the enrolment patterns of males and
patterns. females in vocational education and training.

Figure 1.2b Distribution of students (ISCED 3) in vocational education

by gender (2000)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

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 Key indicators Summary

Although many CEECs have a young age structure, in almost all

countries there has been a decrease in the child population as a
result of rapidly declining birth rates. The next few years will offer There will be a window of
a window of opportunity for many CEECs to implement policy opportunity for many CEECs
and practice reforms in education as reduced cohort ease the to implement reforms in
demand for school places and allow access and quality issues to be education.
addressed more easily.

Figure 1.3 Proportion of population under 15 years

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

A very important issue for most CEECs is the allocation of

resources for education and training. When governments decide
on their education budgets they must make choices between
different educational priorities and their associated costs. If
education costs are to be judged accurately, the data on finance, Data on finance, teachers and
teachers and students need to be considered in combination rather students need to be considered
than in isolation. Within limited education budgets, governments in combination rather than in
must make difficult decisions on how to invest their resources. The isolation.
relationship between the GDP per capita and participation rates is
shown below.

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Key indicators Summary

Figure 1.4 Participation in education and training (18-24 year olds) compared
with GDP per capita (1999)

Source: Eurostat

The issue of resource allocation for education needs to be seen in a

The relationship between the broader context. CEECs unable to match increases in participation
participation rates in education especially at the post-secondary levels with increases in resources will be
and GDP per capita is more faced with difficult choices as to how to adjust the educational services
varied between CEECs provided so as to meet the demands of a larger student population.

Public spending on education as a percentage of GDP is often seen

as the commitment which governments make to the provision of
CEECs allocate between 4% education. According to ETF data, CEECs allocate a percentage of
and 7% of GDP to education GDP for educational expenditure ranging from 7% in Estonia to less
and … than 4% in Romania. A better measure of governments’ commitment
to education is the proportion of total public expenditure devoted to
education. Some countries allocate a high percentage as is the case in
Lithuania and Slovenia where public spending on education
accounts for more than 25% of total public expenditure.

Figure 1.5 Public expenditure on education as a percentage of total public

expenditure (2000)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

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 Key indicators Summary

Although both indicators can offer a picture of a country’s … even though some countries
financial commitment to education, each of them takes into may spend less on education as
consideration different factors such as number of students and a proportion of GDP, the
national wealth. Thus, even though some countries may spend less percentage of total public
on education as a proportion of GDP, the percentage of total public expenditure on education may
expenditure devoted to education may be substantial. be substantial.

Comparisons of how countries allocate financial resources between

various categories of expenditure (e.g. salaries, teaching materials
and equipment, etc.) can also provide some insight into variations in
the organisation of an education system. As teacher salaries are the
largest single component of educational expenditure (typically 70%
or more of the total), the remuneration of teachers is a critical factor
for policy-makers seeking to maintain both the quality of teaching
and a balanced education budget.

Better measures of teacher compensation

In all CEECs teachers’ salaries and allowances are the largest single
components in the overall cost of providing vocational education
and training. The level of teachers’ compensation can affect the entry Many elements can influence
of new teachers into the profession, the motivation of teachers in teacher remuneration and the
their jobs and the retention of current teachers. The fact that many teaching environment.
elements influence teacher remuneration and the teaching
environment means that it is not easy to make international
comparisons of teachers’ salaries. One possibility, although not so
far used by ETF, is to compare information on “statutory” salaries.
These are the salaries, which accord with the national or official pay
scales for teachers in, usually, public institutions.

The structure of compensation packages differs from one country to It is not easy to make
another. Gross salaries are the principle element of the total international comparisons of
remuneration received by teachers but additional benefits may teachers’ salaries.
include a wide variety of monetary allowances or other forms of
recompense. For example, in some countries teachers may receive
bonuses on top of their gross salaries, monetary incentives for
working in difficult circumstances or allowances according to the
teachers’ family status. Salary comparisons are also affected by
differences in the salary scales used by governments to pay the
teachers they employ. There is usually a difference between the
starting salaries of newly qualified teachers entering the profession for
the first time and those who have a number of years of experience.

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Key indicators Summary

The profile of teachers is not entirely consistent across different

countries and problems associated with using head counts of teachers
may arise depending on the prevalence of part-time employment
amongst the teaching force. Individuals who are employed to work for
fewer than the statutory working hours required of a full-time
Full-time equivalent (FTE) can employee are usually regarded as part-time teachers. A possible
offer a better measure of solution is to compare full-time equivalent (FTE) numbers of teachers
teachers’ workload. instead. In this way, teachers are counted by expressing the workload of
part-time teachers as a proportion of the workload of full-time teachers.
For example, a part-timer who works half the statutory hours of a full-
time teacher is “equivalent” to half a full-time teacher or 0.5 FTE. There
are comparatively large numbers of part-time teachers in countries like
Latvia, Slovenia or Slovak Republic where they make up over 20% of
the teachers in secondary education. As a common pattern, in many
CEECs part-time teachers are found mainly in upper secondary and
tertiary education, with the exception of Latvia where the proportion of
part-time teachers is higher in primary education.

Student-teacher ratio remains a Student-teacher ratios based on head counts can also often be
very important indicator but … misleading whereas when FTEs are used, a more comparable
indication of the teaching conditions can be obtained. Differences
in student-teacher ratios between levels of education or for
different educational pathways may indicate differences in the
priority given to particular levels of education but they may also
reflect delays in matching the teaching force to changing student
populations.

Table 1.1 Student-teacher ratio (based on head counts) in general and

vocational education (2000)
Student-teacher ratio based on head counts
Country
ISCED 3 ISCED 3 ISCED 3
general vocational
Czech Republic 14.7 12.7 13.3
Estonia 10.9 10.7 9.7
Hungary4 14.7 x x
Latvia 8.9 x x
Lithuania 13.7 x x
Poland² 18.1 20.3 17.1
Romania² 14.4 15.3 13.9
Slovak Republic 14.1 13.7 14.2
Albania 18.1 19.8 12.0
Bosnia and Herzegovina³ 9.2 x x
Macedonia, FYR1 14.8 15 14.8
Montenegro 13 x x
Source: ETF Key Indicators database
1. Year of reference 1998 - 2. Including ISCED 4 - 3. Federation only – 4. UOE

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 Key indicators Summary

By the same token the student-teacher ratio is one of the most often
misinterpreted indicators. When used to assess the teaching
conditions, it does not accurately reflect class size, the variable that … class size often influences
offers a broader image of teaching conditions and which often broader education financing
influences broader education financing policies. On the one hand, policies.
larger class sizes may result in lower teacher costs per student – a
factor that cannot usually be ignored by education planners.
However, on the other hand, the costs associated with increasing
class sizes must be weighed against other policy goals such as:
increasing the quality of education, competitive salaries for
teachers, investment in school infrastructure, equipment and
supplies.

The transition from school to work has become a main policy focus
especially in relation to the reform of vocational education and
training systems in most CEECs. One reason why people pursue
higher levels of education is the anticipated benefits in the labour
market, not only in terms of the types of job for which they will be
qualified, but also in terms of the ability to find employment,
remain employed and earn higher salaries. Part 2 looks at the main
labour market indicators in relation to educational attainment.

Part 2
The proposed enlargement process of the European Union will
have a significant impact on the characteristics of labour markets
in CEECs. One of the most important objectives within the
enlargement process is to seek to monitor the labour market on a
regular basis and within a common EU framework.

More comprehensive and reliable measures of labour market

issues are required in order to portray the trends in the CEECs on a
comparative basis. Even though national Labour Force Surveys LFS have already become one of
have only been introduced within the last few years, in many the main instruments for
Future Member States (FMS) they have already become one of the monitoring developments in
main instruments for monitoring developments in national labour national labour markets in
markets. While all FMS have made substantial progress towards many CEECs.
adopting the mandatory standards, concepts and definitions
required by the European Labour Force Survey their full
implementation is still far from complete in many countries.

Labour Force Surveys (LFS) are designed to meet a specific

demand for good quality, reliable employment data across the
national economy. Due to their inherent flexibility, the national
Surveys can easily be harmonised in terms of content, concepts,
definitions, data processing and analysis. But what sort of
information can be gathered through an LFS?

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Key indicators Summary

The central feature in all LFS is the classification of people aged 15

or over according to their labour status (i.e. employed,
A number of statistics and unemployed or inactive). A number of statistics and indicators can
indicators can be derived from be derived from age and labour market status: working age
the LFS. population, labour force activity rates, employment and
unemployment rates. In addition, a number of concepts relating to
specific conditions of employment, unemployment or inactivity
can be also measured (e.g. long-term or youth unemployment,
duration of unemployment, the number of hours usually worked
per week)

The implementation of the Labour Force Surveys in FMSs

One of the problems faced by countries is the coverage of the
survey. The LFS is intended to cover the whole resident population
in a country regardless of age or type of household in which they
live (although results are usually only produced for the population
aged 15 and over living in private households). However, in
several countries the persons living in collective households are
counted through their private household of origin. In such cases,
they often cannot be identified separately from those living in
private households due to the lack of corresponding questions or
response categories and hence cannot be excluded from the key
results. In some countries, persons in compulsory military or
community service, who should normally be excluded from the
LFS results, are in fact excluded entirely from the survey.

There are several problems related to the age group of

respondents. For example, in countries like Bulgaria or Poland, the
LFS does not cover the under 15 population while in Estonia the
age limit (15) is defined as of 1 January rather than the EU
standard, which should be the last day of the reference or survey
week. For some countries there are inconsistencies due to the use
of different age limits for the respondents. There are substantial
data gaps mainly regarding data about people in education and
training or the number of hours usually worked.

Demographic changes have a continuing impact on key

employment statistics. The slowdown in population growth over
the last years is a common trend in many CEECs except Slovakia
and Slovenia. Between 1990 and 1999 only Cyprus and Malta
reported a fairly substantial increase in the total population (crude
rate of natural increase), while in Poland and Slovakia a slight
increase was noted. Turkey has by far the largest crude rate of
natural increase of all FMS. Even excluding Turkey, according to
recent estimations2, the effect of enlarging the EU by 12 countries
will lead to a 28% increase in the total EU population (to more than
480 million inhabitants).

2 Eurostat - Statistics in Focus (Theme 3, number 12/2001) - Demographic consequences for the EU of the
accession of twelve candidate countries
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 Key indicators Summary

Figure 2.1 Working age population

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

Labour force participation (or activity) rates are one of the most Labour force activity rates rise
important labour market indicators. In almost all CEECs, activity with increasing levels of
rates have fallen in the last few years. The patterns of labour force education.
participation are different in many CEECs. Labour force activity
rates rise with increasing levels of education but they do so much
more for women than for men. As a result of staying longer in
school and higher participation rates in education a marked
decrease in the activity rate can be observed for young people (the
under 20’s). In the Czech Republic, for this age group, between
1994 and 2000 the activity rate went down from 35% to 15%.

Figure 2.2 Labour force activity rates by educational attainment (2000)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

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Key indicators Summary

According to ETF data, in 2000 the unemployment rate remained

high in countries like Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria, was stable in
the Czech Republic and even fell in Hungary and Slovenia. Apart
from these official unemployment rates, what sort of information is
usually available to characterise unemployment?

Registered versus survey data

The information gathered from national Labour Force Surveys
ensures that analyses are based on standardised sources, providing
a consistent and comparable set of data. However, there are certain
limits to the use of LFS for specific regional or sectoral analyses or
to monitor trends over a short period of time.

The differences in reporting practices often lead to problems with

employment indicators at both national and international levels. In
nearly all countries, including CEECs, information on registered
unemployed persons usually held by public employment offices
differs in coverage and definition from those used in LFSs.

As a result of differences between national laws governing the

entitlement of job-seekers to benefits and other assistance (which
normally form the basis for defining the coverage and definition of the
registered unemployed) it is difficult to harmonise the two measures of
the unemployed. As a result the figures for a given country can differ
considerably. For example in 2000, the unemployment rate in Romania
was 7.1% according to LFS data while the registered data showed a
much larger rate (10.5%). While the definition applied to this indicator
Data on registered is the same in the Labour Force Surveys of all FMS, the figures on
unemployment are rarely registered unemployment are rarely comparable between countries,
comparable between countries. depending on the different regulations used in each country.

ETF unemployment data by age group tends to show differences

between CEECs. The relationship between the unemployment rate and
the participation rate in education can be seen in the following figure.

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 Key indicators Summary

Figure 2.3 Unemployment and education participation rates, 15-19 years (1999)

Source: ETF Key Indicators database

The relationship between unemployment and participation in The relationship between

education and training is more varied between CEECs. For unemployment rates and
example, in countries like Romania although the participation rate participation rates in education
in education is low, the unemployment rate for the 15-19 age is more varied between CEECs.
group is also low. A better measure of the economic benefits of
education completion is the relationship between unemployment
and the level of education.

The process of enlargement will modify the composition and

characteristics of the EU labour market. Comparisons between the
FMS and the EU are needed to illustrate how these countries are
performing. But how can we deal with the information available?

Regional and international averages

Often provided as a benchmark, international averages can easily International averages can
be misinterpreted due to the fact that different approaches are easily be misinterpreted due to
often taken as a basis for comparison. For example, in many OECD the fact that different
publications two types of average are computed. The first is the approaches are often taken as a
unweighted mean of all data values for a particular group of basis for comparison.
countries for which data are gathered or estimated. Each country
in the group contributes equally to the average and the purpose of
this indicator is to illustrate how an indicator value for a country
compares with the value of a typical or average country.

The other average is the weighted mean of the data values of all
OECD countries (i.e. for which a value can be assigned to a certain
indicator, either through a direct observation process or by
estimation). This indicator is often used to compare finance data
(e.g. expenditure per student or as a percentage of GDP) to analyse
the spending patterns in one country as against the group of
countries where the latter is regarded as a single entity.

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Key indicators Summary

However, one problem with weighted averages is that the extreme

values or extreme weights can have a substantial effect on the
value of the indicator constructed for a group of countries. For
example, in Romania certain labour market developments in recent
years have been unique among the FMSs. A decline in urban
employment accompanied by substantial job growth in agriculture
has led to rather higher and more stable employment and activity
rates and lower unemployment rates. If we calculate a regional
average and exclude Romania, there will be a marked difference
given both Romania’s relatively large contribution to the total
population of the FMSs and the extreme values of these indicators.
Given the employment rate of Romania in 2000 (64.2%), for the
remaining countries the employment and activity rates are
somewhat lower (57% and 66% respectively).

This report shows that While it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the different policy
comparative analysis could be a options on a common basis, the information presented in this
useful instrument for report shows that comparative analysis could be a useful
informing the debate. instrument for informing the debate. To advance the debate
further, reliable and relevant information of good quality is
needed. The provision of data, therefore, remains one of the most
important objectives for the ETF Key Indicators project.

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