Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact: ESTAT-SDI-EU2020-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

The indicator measures the share of 15-year-old students failing to reach level 2 (‘basic skills level’) on the PISA scale for the three core school subjects of reading, mathematics and science. The data stem from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.

not applicable

Formal education

see link to external data source under point 18.1.

15-year-old students

15-year-old students in formal education (schools)

All EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro, FYROM, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, United States, Japan and South Korea

Presented time series start in 2000 (reading), 2003 (mathematics) and 2006 (science).

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% of 15-year-old students

Calendar year

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Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

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In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Dissemination format') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

every three years

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Analysis of the indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards the SDGs in an EU context)

See table educ_outc_pisa and sdg_04_40

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Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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Data are collected from reliable sources applying high standards with regard to methodology and ensuring a high degree of comparability across countries. Because of the short time series and changes in the questionnaire the comparability over time is restricted.

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and quality education for all.

SDG 4 seeks to ensure people have access to equitable and quality education through all stages of life, from early childhood education and care, through primary and secondary schooling, to technical, vocational training and tertiary education. Achieving universal literacy and numeracy and acquiring knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development are also considered crucial for empowering people to live independent, healthy and sustainable lives.

In 2016, the European Commission launched the New Skills Agenda for Europe. In December 2016 the Council adopted a Recommendation ‘Upskilling Pathways: new opportunities for adults’, under which Member States agreed to improve their adult learning provision to specifically address the needs of low-skilled, low-qualified adults. Reducing underachievement is also a target of the Education and Training 2020 framework.

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See table educ_outc_pisa and sdg_04_40

High

The data are coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is an internationally standardised assessment which was developed by the OECD and administered to 15-year-olds in schools. PISA is methodologically highly complex, requiring intensive collaboration among many stakeholders. The PISA Technical Report describes those methodologies, along with other features that have enabled PISA to provide high quality data to support policy formation and review. The descriptions are provided at a level of detail that will enable review and potentially replication of the implemented procedures and technical solutions to problems.

See also link to related metadata of the external data source under point 18.1.

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New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.

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Data for all presented countries are comparable.

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is more than 4 data points.

This indicator belongs to the set of education indicators used for monitoring progress towards attainment of the objectives set in the Europe 2020 strategy as well as the Sustainable Development Goals in an EU context.

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PISA

Data set: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Data set provider: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

every three years

see link to external data source under point 18.1.

see link to external data source under point 18.1.

not applicable

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None