Ryan Hermansen
Dr. Perparim Gutaj
Political Science 2200
7/18/2021
France and Spain: Comparative Analysis of High School Graduation Rates
Literacy and secondary education have overwhelmingly evolved in our modern society. As recent as the 1800's, literacy rates among much of the world barely hovered above single digits. In as little as 200 years later, the reverse is now true as only 14% of the world remains illiterate as of 2016 (Roser, M 2016). While these trends are remarkable and should offer optimism about the advancement experienced in such a short time, there are developed countries who are lagging in their ability to produce high rates of secondary education completion. In an age when there is a plethora of information, we should be well versed on how best to formalize this information to teach rising generations. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) studies and reports trends such as literacy rate as well as primary and secondary education involvement. According to data from 2010-2019 adults aged 25-34, France was found to have an 87% secondary education completion rate while neighboring Spain reported a modest 70% (Education At A Glance). The OECD average is 85% and the United States is reporting 93%, comparatively. This paper will discuss why Spain and France secondary education rates differ and the implications that can have. As globalization becomes the way of the future, we see how important it is for states to produce citizens that are sufficiently trained and can compete in their respective markets, locally and abroad. This should be a prudent issue for the Spanish government, seeing that it is not currently meeting the OECD average.
Methodology
Both France and Spain are considered developed countries and are members of the European Union (EU). With such close geographical proximity and the same geo-political membership, one would think outcomes would be similar; in this case, educational outcomes are not aligning. To begin analyzing this problem, we will first look at this scenario through a Most Similar Systems Design (MSSD) to understand how similar countries have differing outcomes. Some of the independent variables we will consider will be economic development, political system, socioeconomic (poverty level), and percentage of GDP directed toward education. While all variables will be weighed out, the variable of interest will be the amount of funding legislated toward education.
As noted, both Spain and France are considered economically developed countries as determined by the UN. They have sustainable annual GDP’s, France 3% and Spain 1.5% of world total, as well as high gross national incomes (United Nations, Classification). The two countries both boast high Human Development Index (HDI) values. A level above 0.80 is considered the benchmark for a flourishing society. France and Spain are 0.90 and 0.89, respectively. HDI’s can be used as a metric to determine a more developed country by factors other than GDP (Roser, M 2016). Next, we consider the political systems. Broadly speaking, both Spain and France have democratic political systems. Spain has a constitutional monarchy that historically has been a multi-party system but as of early 1990’s has become a two-party system, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (left) and the People’s Party (right). The left-leaning groups believe the increased funding for education while the right-leaning party believes in a metered approach toward the same goal. France has a semi-presidential system, a president and prime minister, in which it carries out legislative agendas. France is a multi-party system with La Republique en March! (center), The Republicans (right), and The Socialist parties (left) making up the majority. France has a strong teachers union which can impact policy. In recent years, there have been attempts to reform the educational system within France, an effort pushed by the current third-party representative. Perhaps this highlights the benefit of a multi-party system when it comes to implementing new policy. One way reform has been sought is through requiring school for children at the age of three, previously it was six years old (Melander, I 2018).
Now we look at the poverty level. Poverty can speak volumes about a country and its relative stability. Data surveyed from 2018 demonstrated that poverty was prevalent at 21.6% while France was 14.8% (The Poverty Line). Poverty can take on many meanings and is not only limited to lack of income. It is typically defined as the inability or degree of stress it takes to fulfill basic needs. When basic needs are unavailable, families often make choices that include whether to continue a child’s education. The added cost of a uniform or school supplies may be the difference between regular meals. Children may also lack the support from unavailable parents or parents that were unable to complete their own education, rendering children without assistance in the home. France’s poverty rate has remained consistent while Spain has continued to see an improvement. While poverty is a topic in and of itself, these two states are classified similarly in this regard. Lastly, we consider educational spending based on GDP. On average, Spain is spending approximately 4.1% of its GDP, or $5.7 billion euros, on education annually (European Commision, 2018). While this is in the relative ballpark for the rest of the EU, it is still below the EU average of 4.9%. France on the other hand expends 5.7%, amounting to $76 billion euros, according to the latest data (UNESCO, France 2017).
While France clearly is devoting a larger annual portion of its GDP to education and has a larger GDP to work with, its relative annual contribution has remained quite stagnant since the 1990’s despite a relatively consistent 2% growth. Much of the same could be said concerning Spain, it contributed just shy of 5% in 2010 but has returned to 1995 levels more recently despite a consistent 3% growth pattern (World Bank, 2021). As mentioned in the opening of the paper, the OECD average completion rate should be 85%; with Spain sitting at 70%, why isn’t increased educational spending a priority?
Implications
While lack of education is typically not thought of as criteria for poverty, it can be labeled as an instigator to and byproduct of poverty. When we look at two countries with relatively similar political systems, economic development, and socioeconomic levels, we see how France appears to be making some headway with their investment in education; they are also doing this through policy reform. As mentioned previously, they have lowered the compulsory age from six to three, allowing education to start earlier for many children. Spain has kept the compulsory age at six. Other initiatives France is moving forward are less children in the classroom to allow for better educational access for each child within the classroom. A difficult challenge to take on, seeing that 200,000 new teachers will need to be recruited by 2022 (Melander, I 2018). These are but a few ways that France appears to be attempting to improve its system, which at present is operating above the OECD threshold average of 87%.
Spain on the other hand does not appear to be as progressive in its initiatives for educational reform or increased spending, as it remains at 70% completion. Various approaches have been suggested as a way to increase the total GDP percentage toward education in Spain. The Spanish Socialist Workers Party has proposed to immediately achieve 5% by the next legislative session but the People’s Party has proposed a gradual increase to the EU average of 4.9%, through a process of annual increments. Since Spain’s political system is controlled by two major parties, issues such as education can remain at gridlock, sometimes for years. Other research shows heated debate among Spaniards with regard to Spanish versus Catalan language taught within the classroom. They also banter about the age at which sexual education should be introduced. While seemingly important issues, these efforts do not increase enrollment, retainment, completion rates, or redirect GDP. The process of teacher attainment is one way that Spain is attempting to take the problem head-on. Currently, 14-32% of teachers are considered temporary, which averages out to 1 in 4 unreliable educators. In 2018 a type of amendment was made which may make it possible to begin offering permanency to teachers which should offer consistency (European Commision, 2018). Arguably, this will fall under the premise of increasing educational funding at some future point.
Another recent yet encouraging benchmark within Spain is the declining Early School Leaving (ESL) percentage. Between 2013 and 2018, there was a drop from 23.6% to 18.3% in a matter of five short years. The national target rate is to have the ESL <15% but it appears to be trending in that direction (European Commision, 2018). This could be correlated to the parallel decline of the poverty rate which currently sits at 21%. While not directly linked to our discussion surrounding education, these markers are reassuring trends. As poverty is linked to poor educational outcomes and participation, we can hope that declining poverty rates will result in increasing educational completion rates too.
Conclusion
As we have read, attempting to examine one facet within society can be difficult and as easily done as untangling a cobweb. There are many factors to consider and factors are either directly connected or cause a ripple effect when tamped with. In the case study of Spain and France and their differing secondary schooling completion rates, increased attention must be granted to the amount of funding in terms of percentage GDP that is allotted to their respective education ministries. If Spain can work on finding constructive ways to increase their GDP to the EU standard of 4.9%, this will be one way to help effectuate change. Increased spending may come in the form of increased teacher salary, full-time permanent staff, increased teachers for smaller classrooms, classroom supplies; there are many ways in which this funding can be allotted responsibly. While by and large, poverty is a global issue with people affected in each country, Spain and France could likely improve their poverty rates which would boost both of their educational completion rates. If legislative conversations in Spain were centralized more around the needs of their students and less about secular debates on sexual education, society at large would benefit more greatly. That is a benefit and skill set they will need as our world grows ever smaller.
Citations
EDUCATION AT A GLANCE: International Comparison Places the United States Near the Bottom in High School Graduation Rates and College Graduates. Alliance For Excellent Education. (n.d.). https://all4ed.org/articles/education-at-a-glance-international-comparison-places-the-united-states-near-the-bottom-in-high-school-graduation-rates-and-college-graduates/.
European Commission . (n.d.). Education and Training: Monitoring Spain 2018.
France. UNESCO UIS. (2017, April 12). http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/fr.
Melander, I. (2018, July 5). 'No kid left behind': Macron tries to fix France's education system. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-reforms-education/no-kid-left-behind-macron-tries-to-fix-frances-education-system-idUSKBN1JV0MM.
The Poverty Line - Countries. Chow and Lin. (n.d.). https://www.chowandlin.com/countries.
Roser, M. (2013, November 24). Economic Growth. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/economic-growth.
Roser, M., & Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2016, August 13). Literacy. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/literacy.
United Nations . (n.d.). UN Current Country Classification .
World Bank. (2021). Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP) - France, Spain. World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS?locations=FR-ES.