DEVELOPMENT

More documents

Recommendations

Info

even more than 20% more) lays the foundation for the predominance of women in higher education. At the same time, the statistics do not confirm a connection between poor vocational education and the high dropout rate among boys. Highly developed vocational education exists in Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark, yet boys still comprise a large portion of the young people that drop out of school, whereas in Denmark the gender gap is very big. One’s level of education affects the ability to cope on the labour market. Generally, people with higher educations find jobs faster and earn the highest salaries. Yet, there are considerable variations by country in these aspects. In Estonia, the acquisition of education has a weaker impact on the salary level than in the OECD countries on average. In 2009, a person with a higher education in Estonia earned 36% more on average than a person with a secondary education; the OECD average for the additional educational contribution was 55%. The gender- based salary gap is even more drastic: a woman with higher education in Estonia earns only 63% of the salary of a man with a higher education, which is the largest gap in the OECD (OECD 2012b). It is worth stressing that the gender-based salary gap in Estonia increases along with the level of education, i.e. the salary gap between men and women with higher educations is larger than between the salaries of men and women with secondary or basic educations. Thus, a singularly paradoxical situation exists in Estonia – higher education is much more attractive to women than for men, but they receive considered less material benefit from this than the men. Acquired knowledge and skills Compared to the quantitative indicators related to education, the international measurement of the quality of education is a less developed field of activity. It has acquired Figure 1.3.4 Drop-out rate by gender, %, 2010 Females Denmark EU-27 Estonia Ireland Netherlands Finland Hungary Austria Poland Switzerland Slovenia Czech Republic Slovakia Males Percentage 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Source: Eurostat estimable influence with the onset of globalisation, which increased the importance of education in the preparation of qualified and competitive workforces. The measurement and comparison of educational performance was also encouraged by the neoliberal approach to education that was popular in the 1990s, according to which results are the primary yardstick of the quality of education, and the publicly available information on these results helps to increase the public’s satisfaction with education, as well as the level of the educational system (Martens et al. 2007; Furlong, Cochran-Smith, Brennan, 2009). Figure 1.3.5 The percentage of males and females studying at general education schools at the secondary school level (ISCED3) in relation to the total number of males/females. 2010, % Figure 1.3.6 The percentage of males and females studying at vocational education schools at the secondary school level (ISCED3) in relation to the total number of males/females. 2010, % Females Males Females, vocational secondary Males, vocational secondary Hungary Austria Estonia Czech Republic Poland Finland Ireland Slovakia Denmark Netherlands Slovenia Switzerland Switzerland Slovenia Netherlands Denmark Slovakia Ireland Finland Poland Czech Republic Estonia Austria Hungary Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Source: Eurostat Source: Eurostat 34 Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013
The reciprocal dependence of the problems faced by countries and their economies has resulted in the need to standardise the output of education and increased the hope that by benchmarking, it is possible to increase the efficiency of one’s educational system (Ozga, Dahler-Larsen, Segerholm, Simola 2011). In order to satisfy these needs, policymakers are ever more frequently employing the OECD and IEA surveys for assessing educational performance. The most important of these is measurement of the level of knowledge at the second level of basic education (14- to 16-year-old), in the subjects that are considered important for the economy, such as mathematics, sciences and functional literacy. The PISA performance scores are included in the OECD Better Life Index and the targets of the EU’s Education and Training 2020 framework. It is worth noting that the OECD measures the knowledge score (i.e. achievement), although the European Union measures the percentage of students with low performance levels (i.e. social cohesion). The most influential IEA surveys are the TIMSS, which is a comparative study of mathematics and the sciences and the PIRLS, which measures the reading skills of fourth graders. Unlike the PISA’s age-based sample (15-year-old students), the IEA surveys are grade- and curriculum-based (4 th and 8 th grades). Therefore, the IEA is supposedly a better instrument for measuring educational policies and teaching practices, and evidence-based intervention in planning. However, the PISA surveys provide better information on the preparedness of students for the workplace. When comparing the result of the IEA and OECD PISA surveys, it seems generally that the same countries are among the top dozen, regardless of the specific survey. Hong Kong is in the top five in all the surveys in seven cases out of a possible eight; and Singapore in three cases out of a possible four. South Korea and Finland are constantly in the top three, except for one unsuccessful performance by each. The results of most of the post-Communist countries in various surveys fluctuate, but Estonia is the exception with its stable good results. At the same time, Estonia’s participation in comparative surveys is limited, which is why fundamental generalisations cannot be made. Against the background of the educational success of Southeast Asia, little attention has been paid to the unevenness of the European countries in the PISA surveys (Figures 1.3.7; 1.3.8; 1.3.9). Coherent regions like Scandinavia or Eastern Europe do not form a uniform group in regard to the efficiency of basic education. Thus, Finland’s performance is among the best in the world, while Sweden’s and Denmark’s performances are middling. In Eastern Europe, Estonia is the only one to be above average in mathematics, sciences and reading, while Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary is sometimes above average and sometimes below average. In the case of Estonia, the phenomenon of a “strong average” can also be noticed. This means that Estonia generally placed 10 th to 15 th in the rankings, but, in comparison to countries at the same level, we have few very weak students (which is Estonia’s strength) and also few very smart children (which is Estonia’s weakness). Table 1.3.3 The education systems in the world with the highest performances (TOP10) based on the OECD and IEA surveys, place in the ranking is indicated. PISA 2006 PISA 2009 TIMSS 2003 (math) Finland 1 3 - - 8 1 - 3 Hong Kong 2 4 3 1 4 7 2 1 South Korea 11 2 2 - 1 3 - - Singapore - 5 - 2 2 - - 4 The Netherlands 9 10 10 9 - 15 12 13 Taiwan 4 23 4 3 3 22 9 Estonia 5 13 8 - - 12 - - Hungary 21 26 9 15 11 - 8 20 Slovenia 12 31 21 19 13 15 28 24 Russia 35 43 11 6 6 19 1 2 1.3.3 The search for a successful educational model Based on Estonia’s relatively successful international testing, some causes for concern have also appeared. Firstly, along with the high performance results, the students and teachers are troubled by discontent and doubts about their own success (HTM, PISA 2009). Secondly, in international comparisons, the Estonian school system is able to mitigate the impact of background characteristics on study performance quite well, but the differences in schools is discernible in the study results of almost 20% of the students (Kitsing 2012). Estonia’s less successful schools are located in socio-economically poorer areas and the language of instruction is often Russian. Therefore, an accumulation of negative factors may occur – the positive effect from school may not compensate for to the shortcomings related to the home. Results from the current PISA surveys do not indicate such an accumulation. Although, the students from poorer families usually have a harder time getting ahead in school, there are always those whose learning performance is significantly better than one might assume from their backgrounds (“positively capable” students). The top-performing countries are characterised by a large percentage of “positively capable” students. The schools of Hong Kong and South Korea significantly increase the percentage of the positively capable; Finland, Estonia, Taiwan and the Netherlands are also successful in this regard. However, Hungary and Russia are not able to increase the capability of children in disadvantaged circumstances (OECD 2011). Based on studies by Woessmann et al. (2009), the relatively greater success of children with poor socio-economic backgrounds is related to several traits of the education system, such as the accountability systems of the schools, the in-school TIMSS 2007 (math) TIMSS 2011 (math) ICCS 2009 PIRLS 2006 PIRLS 2011 Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013 35
Page 1: ESTONIAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2
Page 4 and 5: Table of Contents 1 Human Capital /
Page 6 and 7: Dear Reader Since the moment when E
Page 9 and 10: 1Human Capital Estonian Human Devel
Page 11 and 12: the HDI’s content has also been h
Page 13 and 14: Figure 1.1.1 The human development
Page 15 and 16: Figure 1.1.7 The income sub-index:
Page 17 and 18: The results of the Princeton Projec
Page 19 and 20: the hypothetical generation. The to
Page 21 and 22: Figure 1.2.3 Life expectancy. Eston
Page 23 and 24: Table 1.2.2 also presents the most
Page 25 and 26: The new trends that are appearing i
Page 27 and 28: Figure 1.2.8 Components of populati
Page 29 and 30: New features were introduced into E
Page 31 and 32: Initiation of Voluntary Birth Contr
Page 33 and 34: Table 1.3.1 Best-known educational
Page 35: (OECD 2012b). Therefore a certain r
Page 39 and 40: Figure 1.3.8 Percentage of students
Page 41 and 42: Table 1.3.4 The quality of educatio
Page 43 and 44: 1.4 Health Raul-Allan Kiivet Change
Page 45 and 46: Table 1.4.1 Usage of prescription m
Page 47 and 48: allude to the fact that approximate
Page 49 and 50: promote healthy lifestyles among th
Page 51 and 52: Figure 1.5.1 The World Values Surve
Page 53 and 54: Table 1.5.2 Estonia’s participati
Page 55 and 56: Figure 1.5.3 The percentage of the
Page 57 and 58: Figure 1.5.5 Percentage of the Esto
Page 59 and 60: The fact that Estonia’s position
Page 61 and 62: Summary Mati Heidmets The global vi
Page 63 and 64: 2People and Society Estonian Human
Page 65 and 66: Table 2.1.1 Structure of the Bertel
Page 67 and 68: tioning market economies (15 states
Page 69 and 70: 2.2 Freedom and democracy Martin M
Page 71 and 72: Table 2.2.1 Democracy indicators Po
Page 73 and 74: Figure 2.2.2 The distribution of th
Page 75 and 76: would be something that none of the
Page 77 and 78: political participation are general
Page 79 and 80: strongest, while a very small perce
Page 81 and 82: is concerned, Estonia is one of the
Page 83 and 84: Figure 2.4.2 Average circulation of
Page 85 and 86: 2.5 Corruption Jüri Saar In accord
Page 87 and 88:
Lithuania, 61%; and in Russia, 69%.
Page 89 and 90:
2.6.2 Intentional homicides in Esto
Page 91 and 92:
crime. And thirdly, there was a wis
Page 93 and 94:
References 1. Ahven, A. & Tabur, L.
Page 95 and 96:
states included in the EU Kids Onli
Page 97 and 98:
2.8 Public assessments of the state
Page 99 and 100:
Figure 2.8.4 Changes releated to tr
Page 101 and 102:
of the state’s development are en
Page 103 and 104:
Table 2.9.1 The positions of Estoni
Page 105 and 106:
3. IEP (2011). Structures of Peace.
Page 107 and 108:
3Welfare and the Quality of Life Es
Page 109 and 110:
choices made, not what people say t
Page 111 and 112:
Figure 3.1.5 Public social spending
Page 113 and 114:
tion agreed upon the social contrac
Page 115 and 116:
References 1. Aidukaite, J. (2006).
Page 117 and 118:
hand, to the “inequality of acces
Page 119 and 120:
and explanations of the extent of i
Page 121 and 122:
5- much more than I deserve. Some d
Page 123 and 124:
people in Estonia consider the inco
Page 125 and 126:
Table 3.3.1 Experienced Well-Being
Page 127 and 128:
at about 70%. In Latvia and Lithuan
Page 129 and 130:
sign. It seems that the usual view
Page 131 and 132:
3.4 Quality of life Anu Toots 3.4.1
Page 133 and 134:
a uniform composite indicator has n
Page 135 and 136:
3.4.6 The components of life qualit
Page 137 and 138:
Figure 3.4.4c Perceived quality of
Page 139 and 140:
Figure 3.4.5 Changes in the depriva
Page 141 and 142:
3.5 Environment dimension of well-b
Page 143 and 144:
Figure 3.5.1.b Estonia’s position
Page 145 and 146:
3.5.4 Energy intensity The energy i
Page 147 and 148:
productivity, which is defined as t
Page 149 and 150:
perceive themselves as worse off th
Page 151 and 152:
4The Economy Estonian Human Develop
Page 153 and 154:
vide a valuable connection for maki
Page 155 and 156:
Figure 4.1.3 Components of economic
Page 157 and 158:
ule of law, the sub-indicators for
Page 159 and 160:
References 1. Acemoglu, D.; Robinso
Page 161 and 162:
Development Report employs generali
Page 163 and 164:
and pasture land, and this was capi
Page 165 and 166:
Basing the total and net savings re
Page 167 and 168:
4.3 Labour market Reelika Leetmaa,
Page 169 and 170:
The problems include the very limit
Page 171 and 172:
• Expenditures for active labour
Page 173 and 174:
who lose their jobs. These ensure i
Page 175 and 176:
4.4 Productivity and the economic s
Page 177 and 178:
labour costs at the company level r
Page 179 and 180:
Table 4.4.4 Comparison of the produ
Page 181 and 182:
Figure 4.4.1 Annual average increas
Page 183 and 184:
4.5 Innovation Erik Terk, Katrin M
Page 185 and 186:
Table 4.5.2 Comparison of innovatio
Page 187 and 188:
Table 4.5.4 Comparison of the indic
Page 189 and 190:
in order to make the R&D potential
Page 191 and 192:
It is characteristic of the South K
Page 193 and 194:
mechanisms for increasing their sta
Page 195 and 196:
Globalisation and Policy Patterns 5
Page 197 and 198:
When Estonia regained its independe
Page 199 and 200:
5.2 The impacts of globalisation an
Page 201 and 202:
Table 5.2.2 Support of the differen
Page 203 and 204:
5.3 Development policies Erik Terk,
Page 205 and 206:
• C -the “Estonia-centred” su
Page 207 and 208:
Figure 5.4.1 Support for the possib
Page 209:
Summary Erik Terk Estonia is part o
Page 212 and 213:
ehavioural patterns. Therefore, it
Page 214 and 215:
EDR 2012/2013 authors Clemens Buche
Page 216 and 217:
EDR 2012/2013 authors Alari Purju i
Page 218:
Editor-in-Chief: Mati Heidmets Prod
show all

DEVELOPMENT

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?