European Education between Justice and Selectivity

A new study comparing Germany to Estonia, Spain, and Finland

Germany’s education policy has faced scrutiny ever since the results of the very first PISA survey were released in 2000. The report revealed that academic success in Germany fell below the OECD average and was more strongly contingent upon a student’s socio-economic and family background than was the case in any other participating country.

Since then, a series of measures has been implemented with regard to education policy, including the expansion of childcare facilities, the proliferation of full-day schooling, and, most recently, the Startchancen Programme, which provides specialized support for educationally disadvantaged students.

However, the improvements that were anticipated as a result of these endeavours have yet to come to fruition — neither with regard to improving students’ basic competencies (reading, writing, numeracy) nor eradicating the growing degree of educational inequality.

With this in mind, the present study seeks to broaden the perspective, analysing any potential differences in terms of funding, structure, and allocation of authority in each country’s national education system and how these may explain the disparity in academic success and educational inequality between countries. Spain (which, like Germany, falls below the OECD average in both fields) and Estonia and Finland (which both exceed the OECD average) were selected to provide points of comparison to Germany.

The study indicates that adequate funding for education is a necessary but not solely sufficient criterion for ensuring a quality education experience. Finland is the only one of the four countries analysed that exceeds the OECD average in terms of education funding; Spain’s expenditure is equivalent to the average, while Germany and even Estonia, the PISA leader, fall below the average. It would seem that early childhood education (which was admittedly not a focus of this particular study) and longer periods of shared learning are guarantors of success in terms of ensuring a high standard of education that balances and overcomes inequalities — Estonia and Finland are clearly ahead of Germany and Spain in this regard. The level of privatization of a country’s education system also has some bearing on academic success and educational equity; countries with a comparatively high degree of privatization (which is even more prevalent in Spain than it is in Germany) tend to perform significantly less well in this respect than countries in which educational institutions are state-owned or municipally owned (Estonia and Finland).

The study revealed some significant commonalities between the four countries analysed in terms of teacher training, which is typically obtained through a Master’s-level university degree. However, there are marked differences when it comes to training for preschool teachers: while specialization as an early childhood educator in Finland and Estonia generally necessitates a BA-level university qualification, the same is not mandatory in Germany. The standing of teachers also varies dramatically between the four countries under analysis: it is highest in Finland and Estonia, significantly lower in Spain, and very low in Germany.

Accordingly, the challenges faced by each country with regard to education policy differ; the key requirements or ensuring a viable education policy in Germany in the long term are outlined in the conclusion of this study.

Katrin Schäfgen is Advisor for Education Policy at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

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