quality and equity of education in serbia: data to think and act!

Aleksandar BaucalFaculty of Philosophy, Belgrade

It is not the most important where we are today, but how to be better tomorow

Before we start…A child that enrolled in elementary school in

september 2008 shall graduate from high school in 2020.

By then Serbia will be an EU member state even according to the most pessimistic estimates!How much can current education system prepare children for such a future?

Why is PISA important for Serbia?Children currently in school will be EU citizens and

that is the reason why it is important monitor the capability of the education system to prepare them for the future

It demonstrates the ability of the education system to support development of economy and society

PISA is an important instrument of measuring certain EU indicators related to the Lisbon Agenda implementationFor example, one benchmark for 2010 is to reduce the

percentage of functionally illiterate to 17%

It represents a reference report about the education quality in certain country.

Mathematic Literacy

Scientific Literacy

Reading Literacy

23,023,9

28,019,3

13,112,814,214,9

4,8

19,629,4

24,79,3

4,68,15,7

7,31,1

2,83,11,24,8

13,71110,610,4

24,4

60 40 20 0 20 40

SerbiaBulgaria

RomaniaCroatia

SloveniaSlovakia

PolandNorwayFinland

% functionally illiterate (level 1 and below)

% on the highest levels (levels 5 and 6)

28,1

22,3

27,9

15,3

12,1

16,6

11,2

14,0

4,0

23,6

28,8

25,6

6,2

4,4

11,2

5,0

8,4

0,8

0,3

2,1

0,3

3,7

5,3

5,4

11,6

7,7

16,7

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30

SerbiaBulgaria

RomaniaCroatia

SloveniaSlovakia

PolandNorwayFinland

% functionally illiterate (level 1 and below)

%on the highest levels (levels 5 and 6)

A bit more about the functionally illiterate

PISA does not cover the whole population of youth older than 15 years => % of functionally illiterate is higher if student that drop out of the system after 8th grade are taken into account

Within the reading literacy, the % of the functionally illiterate has increased by 5% between 2003 and 2006 (in two other criteria it has remained at the same level)

StudentsMathematical

LiteracyReading Literacy

Scientific Literacy

20% of the poorest students

65.2%(2.5)

73.9%(2.6)

59%(2.3)

Total Population 42.6% 51.7% 38.5%

What is the height of each step? Height: _________ cm

The picture below shows stairs with 14 steps and height of 252 cm:

Total depth 400cm

Total Height 252cm

Quality lower, equity lower

Equity of education

Quality of education

Equity in Serbia is somewhat better than in OECD countries

Equity: there is one “but”The poorest students within the 20% most

successful students group are 3.7 times less likely to enroll to gymnasium

One possible explanation: poor student are “forced” to enroll into trade schools to reach employment as soon as possible -> both individual and society lose!

Possible win-win solution: providing stipends to these students!

Bug

Pol

Rum

Slo

Slovačka Hrv

Srb 1

Fin

Nor

396

436

476

516

556

596

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5

% BDP za obrazovanje (2005. godina)

Postižu iznad očekivanja

Postižu ispod očekivanja

EU prosek: 5.03%

Naučna pismenost(PISA 2006)

500OECD prosek

Srb 2

Bug

Pol

Rum

Slo

SlovačkaHrv

Srb

Fin

Nor

380

420

460

500

540

580

40% 60% 80% 100% 120% 140% 160% 180%

Sci

enti

fic

Lit

erac

y (P

ISA

200

6)

Average annual teacher salary as a share of GDP per capita

Bug

Pol

Rum

Slo

SlovačkaHrv

Srb (procena)

Fin

Nor

380

420

460

500

540

580

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Sci

enti

fic

Lit

erac

y (P

ISA

200

6)

Average number of students per teacher in mandatory education system (2005)

PISA results in the wider context: possible conclusionResults could be better in current condition

=> Does that suggest that education system

lacks motive?Does that mean that significant

improvements in quality and equity could be achieved through “mobilization”?

National Perspective: Quality and equity of education in different parts of Serbia?

National TestingInstitute for quality evaluation in

educationYear 2004Elementary school 3rd gradeRepresentative sample, 4500 studentsMath and Serbian Language (knowledge

and skills from the national curriculum)

Math: achievements Math: quality

Math: Equity

Achieved

Expected

Thank you for your attention!