Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 38

Indicator 38. International Comparison of Educational Systems

Characteristics of educational systems in selected countries: 1991

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                       |   Average   |Age for |   Average   |Average num-|  Percent of
                       |  days of    |starting|   minutes   |ber of hours| students who
        Country        | instruction | school | of instruc- |of instruc- |spend 2 or more
                       |in the school|        | tion in the |  tion per  |hours on home-
                       |   year/1/   |        |school day/1/|school year | work daily/2/
-----------------------|-------------|--------|-------------|------------|---------------
China/2,3/                       251   6 or 7           305        1,276              35
Korea                            222        6           264          977              38
Taiwan                           222        6           318        1,177              44
Israel/4/                        215        6           278          996              49
Switzerland/5/                   207   6 or 7           305        1,052              21
Emilia-Romagna, Italy/2/         204        6           289          983              78
(Former) Soviet Union/6/         198   6 or 7           243          802              52
Jordan                           191        6           260          828              54
Scotland                         191        6           324        1,031              15
Slovenia                         190        5           248          785              27
Canada/7/                        188        6           304          953              26
Spain/8/                         188        7           285          893              62
United States                    178        6           338        1,003              31
Hungary                          177        6           223          658              61
France                           174        6           370        1,073              55
Ireland                          173        6           323          931              66
Portugal/2/                      172        6           334          957              30
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/1/ For 13-year-olds.

/2/ Populations with exclusions or low participation.

/3/ Includes 20 provinces and cities.

/4/ Schools where instruction is in Hebrew.

/5/ Fifteen cantons.

/6/ Schools in 14 republics, where instruction is in Russian.

/7/ Nine provinces.

/8/ Includes Spanish speaking schools, except in Cataluna.

-Data not available.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, International Assessment of Educational Progress, Learning Science.

Indicator chart and text.

[Indicator 37. International Achievement Comparisons] [Indicator 39. Extracurricular Activities]