EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Participation and Student Flows

The supply of formal education is a primary concern of the United States, as it is for most other countries. Nations have increasingly turned to formal education for a number of political and economic purposes, including the training of a competitive labor force and the reduction of social problems./1 Indeed, policymakers around the world have actively embraced the notion that a highly educated citizenry is vital to a country's economic success./2

While the United States does not stand out on measures of compulsory schooling or overall enrollment in formal education, its rate of participation in noncompulsory education (preprimary, high school, and higher education) differed from many of the G-7 countries.

In 1992, the enrollment of 5- to 29-year-olds in formal education in the United States was in the mid-range of enrollment in the G-7 countries54 students enrolled per 100 5- to 29-year-olds. In all of the G-7 countries except Italy, approximately 6067 percent of enrollment was in primary and lower secondary education (Indicator 1).

Early childhood education. Approximately 29 percent of 3-year-olds in the United States were enrolled in early childhood education in 1992. Corresponding rates for 3-year-olds in the G-7 countries ranged from 23 percent in Japan to 99 percent in France (Indicator 2). Structural differences in early childhood education systems help to explain these differences. For instance, in the United States, children begin early childhood education as early as age 3, although it is not until age 5 that the vast majority of children are enrolled. In many other countries, children typically begin early childhood education at different ages (e.g., age 2 in France and Belgium, age 4 in the Netherlands, and age 5 in Switzerland).

Differential enrollment rates also stem from cross-country differences in how early childhood education is defined and how data are collected. To illustrate, some countries only reported education programs in their measure of early childhood education, while others also included programs that focused primarily on physical and social development. The United States reported only enrollments in schools or other educational institutions.

Compulsory education. Since the 1960s, there has been a persistent increase in the proportion of children attending formal schooling, especially at the elementary, middle/junior high, and high school levels. Enrollment at these levels is almost universal in most developed countries. Since schooling at these levels is typically compulsory, it is not surprising that participation rates are almost universal for 14- to 15-year-olds (Indicator 3).

Postcompulsory education. Compulsory education ends at different ages across the G-7 countries. In theUnited States,3 Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, mandatory schooling ends at age 16; the end point is age 14 in Italy and 15 in Japan. In Germany, full-time compulsory education ends at age 16, although students are required to be enrolled at least part-time through age 18. (See the matrix entitled Structure and Governance of Education Systems in G-7 Countries.)

After compulsory education, enrollment rates drop off, but the drop-off patterns differ in different countries. In the United States, enrollment in secondary education dropped from 72 percent for 17-year-olds to 21 percent for 18-year-olds. In contrast, the rate declined as early as age 16 in the United Kingdom, whereas several countries (e.g., the former West Germany) had a sizable percentage of 19-year-olds still enrolled in secondary education (Indicator 3).

Differences in the structure and processes inherent in the education systems of these countries help to explain the differential drop-off. The student certification processes of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are a case in point. In the United States, the first opportunity for students to receive secondary certification is upon completing high school, usually at age 17 or 18. In the United Kingdom, students take the examination for the general certificate of secondary education when they are 16. Youth who do not continue to upper secondary schooling and are unemployed are eligible for training programs supported by the government but outside the education system. In Germany, the majority of secondary school students who continue after age 16 and are not preparing for university education participate in vocational training at the upper secondary level, including the country's dual system of part-time schooling and part-time apprenticeship. Because the certification offered by the dual system is a prerequisite for many fields, a significant number of students enroll in it. There are sizable upper secondary participation rates in Germany even after age 19 because students may enroll in a second upper secondary program after completing one program.

Differential enrollment and drop-off also reflect differences in the types of programs offered or classified as upper secondary or higher education. To illustrate, nursing training takes place in any variety of posthigh schools. The end point of compulsory education also varies within the United States. In some states, mandatory schooling ends later than age 16, training programs in the United States (nonbaccalaureate and baccalaureate). In France, it occurs in nonbaccalaureate programs at schools of nursing; and in Austria and Germany, it occurs at the secondary level in full-time nurse training schools.

Participation in higher education in the United States and Canada was among the highest in the world in 1992 (Indicator 4, Indicator 5). However, this does not mean that young adults the age of U.S. college students are more likely to be enrolled in education programs in the United States than in other countries. For example, when higher education and upper secondary education are considered together (Indicator 6), the percentage of 19-year-olds who are enrolled in education programs is higher in many countries, including France and the former West Germany, than in the United States.

One reason that young adults in the United States are among the most likely of those in the G-7 countries to pursue higher education is that the U.S. system of higher education is more accessible and less restrictive than that of many other countries. Many countries limit access to higher education through mandatory examinations or by offering a relatively small number of slots in their institutions of higher education.

Footnotes

1/ J. Meyer, F. Ramirez, R. Rubinson, and J. Boli-Bennet, "The World Educational Revolution, 1950-70," in National Development and the World System, Educational, Economic, and Political Change, 1950-70, ed. J. Meyer and M. Hannan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979).
2/ U.S. Department of Labor, Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, Learning a Living (Washington, D.C.: 1992).

[Introduction]

[Indicator 1]