Abstract:

Educational policies, and in broader context also economic discussions, address quality and efficiency of education. A number of qualitative and quantitative indicators are applied to evaluate quality of education. The paper aims to evaluate selected indicators of quality education, focusing on similarities and differences in European countries.

The research deals with selected quantitative indicators of education quality:
1) early leavers from education and training - percentual share of population aged 18 to 24,
2) percentual share of population with tertiary educational attainment aged 30 to 34,
3) employment rates of recent graduates – percentual share of population aged 20 to 34 with at least upper-secondary education,
4) adult participation in learning – percentual share of population aged 25 to 64.

The research was carried out for a selected set of 31 European countries in the period 2010-2017. Applying hierarchical cluster analysis, the countries are divided to four clusters according to internal similarity. Higher similarity is observed in countries by early leavers from education and training in the first and second clusters, according to tertiary educational attainment in the selected countries in the second and fourth cluster, and by employment rates of recent graduates (countries in the second and third clusters). Results of the cluster analysis based on the evaluated indicators of education quality have also shown differences between countries. These are mainly seen in countries in the third cluster, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, with the highest adult participation in learning, and Bulgaria and Romania in the fourth cluster, with the lowest adult participation in learning. Differences have also manifested in employment rates of recent graduates in the countries in the second cluster (Germany, Austria, Malta, with the highest employment rates of graduates) and countries in the fourth cluster (Greece, Italy, with the lowest employment rates of graduates). These differences are associated with not only the level of educational policies and quality of educational systems, but also different economic and social characteristics of the individual countries.

Keywords:

Education, quality of education, quantitative indicators, European countries, cluster analysis.