Educational indicators reflect a large regional disparity: only 32% of the population of Extremadura between 25 and 64 years old have university or higher vocational training studies, compared to 56% in the Basque Country; enrollment in early childhood education (0-2 years) is more than double in Madrid than in the Canary Islands, and there are many more repeaters in Murcia than in Catalonia.
In the Canary Islands, there is also the largest drop in the percentage of the population with education below upper secondary level (4th year of ESO, Baccalaureate, and Basic and Intermediate Vocational Training), from 51.1% in 2012 to 36.2% in 2022.
These are results from the annual report "Commented Indicators on the State of the Spanish Education System," presented today, Wednesday, by the Ramón Areces Foundation and the European Society and Education Foundation, which proposes advancing towards greater convergence and directing efforts, especially, to the autonomous regions with the worst performance.
The study analyzes, since 2014, the situation of education in Spain based on national and international statistical sources and offers a synthesis of the most relevant indicators.
The schooling of children from zero to two years old
In the comparison of enrollment rates in the 0 to 2-year-old range, the study observes large differences between autonomous communities or cities. The highest rates for the 2021-2022 academic year are in the Basque Country (53.8%) and Madrid (51.7%), and the lowest are in Ceuta (21.4%) and Murcia (21.7%).
In general, it adds, there is a "notable increase in these rates in the last decade," with increases exceeding thirty percentage points in Extremadura (31.6) or La Rioja (34.9).
In contrast, the rate has remained stable in Castilla-La Mancha, which has gone from being one of the communities with the highest rate in the 2011-2012 academic year -33.8%- to being below the average (41.4%) in the 2021-2022 academic year, with 33.9%.
According to one of the authors of the report, the researcher and professor at the University of Zaragoza, Eduardo Sanz-Arcega, the analyzed indicators also show differences in the suitability rates at 12 and 15 years old.
In this way, the variability in the percentage of 12-year-old students who are not in the grade that corresponds to them by age between Catalonia and Murcia is 12.1 percentage points, a difference that becomes even greater in the 15-year-old students of both territories, reaching 17.8 percentage points.
Regarding the educational level of the population aged 25 to 64 in 2022, it highlights the "still high rate" with a level lower than the second stage of Secondary Education -4th year of ESO, Baccalaureate, and Basic and Intermediate Vocational Training-, despite its positive evolution in recent years to be lower than that of the population with Higher Education studies (41.1% compared to 35.8%).
There is also a "notable disparity" in tertiary education (Higher Vocational Training and University): in 2022, the highest proportion of these graduates was in the Basque Country (56.4%) and, at the opposite pole, only 32% of Extremadurans completed tertiary studies, with 48.3% without studies beyond the first stage of secondary education (the first three years of ESO).
Catalonia is the community in which the percentage of the population with tertiary studies has grown the most in the last ten years, from 32.8% in 2012 to 44.7% in 2022.
These data highlight "the need to orient policies towards improving results throughout the national territory and directing efforts, especially, to those communities with lower educational performance."
To this end, the professor from the University of Zaragoza proposes giving more prominence to sectoral conferences and strengthening the role of the Higher Inspection and evaluation.