Our selection of research on Policy Evaluation for you

We have prepared a short summary of two really interesting recent academic articles. The first one examines whether English subtitles of TV programmes can improve language skills. The second study examines a German secondary school reform that aimed to reduce schooling by one year to free up students for the labour market earlier.

How to improve the English proficiency of a country’s population? Just stop dubbing and use subtitles for our television programme!

A brilliant research idea

Generally, we perceive schools as the main important transmitter of English skills. In their study "Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills, they look a bit further" 

What is their research approach?

Across Europe, countries either subtitle or dub English-language TV and films. The authors exploit that TV exposure is unlikely to affect math ability. Hence, they treat mathematical proficiency—which is not influenced by TV exposure—as the reference point for assessing the impact on English proficiency.

Building on this idea, the researchers apply a difference-in-differences strategy: they compare, within each country, the gap between English skills (measured through large-scale proficiency tests and self-assessments) and math skills, and then examine how this gap differs between countries that subtitle and those that dub.

What is the result?

Our reflections

While traditional wisdom would make us believe that English teachers are the sole heroes of language education, Baumeister, Hanushek, and Woessmann have discovered that the remote control has a proper value added.

©Photo by Derek Arguello on Unsplash

A quick switch from dubbing to subtitles (which is probably more cost-effective) could transform TV time into unexpected language classes. Who knew that binge-watching your favourite shows could be your new secret weapon in mastering English? Expanding this further: using television streaming providers, we can nowadays watch films in any language we want.  What about adding “Learning a new language” to your “New Year's Resolution”? Let's watch our favourite programmes in a new language in 2026 using subtitles!

Better learning or a waste of time? The German school reform reducing the time for completing upper secondary education from 13 to 12 years 

In some European countries, like France, the Netherlands and Spain, students generally need to study for 12 years to complete upper secondary education. In other countries, like Norway, Czechia and Italy, the qualification of upper secondary education requires 13 years of schooling. This leads to the question: why do some European kids get schooled longer and does this have any effect?

While we cannot answer this question directly, we would like to draw your attention to the recently published study “Does instructional time at school influence study time at university? Evidence from an instructional time reform” by Schwerter, Netz and Hübner (Economics of Education Review), which gives some evidence for Germany.

Which policy was evaluated?

Up to the early 2000s, schooling, which is organised at the federal state level within the 16 Länder in Germany, lasted 13 years on the basis of a G9 system (9 refers here to the number of years spent in secondary school). The G8 reform condensed nine years of learning into eight without altering the core curriculum and by keeping the hours of instruction constant to expedite students’ entry into the labour market. Students, therefore, had an increase of instruction hours per week of 13%. The reform was accompanied by a huge debate in Germany around the waste of time and better learning with a considerable number of Länder having reverted to G9 by now.

How could the German G8 policy be evaluated?

The authors used the German Student Social Survey covering a representative sample of all students in German higher education.
	The study applies a specific form of Differences-in-Differences (DiD) given that different Länder implemented the reform at different times, which economists call “staggered design”. Their design also allowed for different effects of the reform over time .
Using data collected before the implementation of the reform, they show that the key assumption of DiD, the parallel trend assumption, holds.

What was the effect of G8 on students’ study time investment at university?

University students, who completed secondary education within 8 years, spent less time attending university classes and on self-studies during the workweek,  than students having attended secondary school under G9.
In addition, G8 students tended to have a larger gap between completion of secondary school and tertiary education enrolment.  These effects were similar across students from different socio-economic backgrounds, but smaller for women than for men.		©Photo by Giulia Squillace on Unsplash
The results of the study are in line with other studies that showed as well rather negative effects of the G8 reform on students.

Our reflections

It is interesting to see that secondary schooling impacts on educational behaviour at tertiary level. Certainly, it is difficult to say whether these results of the German system can say anything about differences between countries that use 12 or 13 years of schooling for completing upper secondary education. Making international comparisons remains challenging due to the numerous variables at play, such as tracking, curriculum, and teaching methods.