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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published this week the 'Education Panorama 2023' report, which highlighted that 27 percent of Spaniards between 25 and 34 years old only have basic studies, so more than one of every four young people of those ages decided not to continue in the classrooms once they had completed Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO). Therefore, they do not have a Baccalaureate or an intermediate degree in Vocational Training. A percentage that almost doubles the average of OECD countries, which stands at 14 percent, and is fifteen points more than that of the European Union states. The work of the international organization does not offer data by autonomous community, but statistics from the Ministry of Education detail that 23.5 percent of Castilians and Leonese of that age have a level of training lower than the second stage of Secondary Education. That is to say, he has remained in Third Year of ESO. A rate that is very similar to that of Spain as a whole, which is one tenth higher. The same number of those under 35 years of age in the Community (23.7%, specifically) have a high school diploma and more than half (52.8 percent) have higher education.
The Ministry's data, consulted by the Ical Agency, show that there are differences in terms of sex since young women have a higher level of training in Castilla y León. It is something very clear among people under 35 years of age who have higher education, since 59.5 percent of women have this type of studies, which is almost thirteen points more than among men. As for Castilian and Leonese between 25 and 34 years old who do not have compulsory education, women are also better situated, accounting for 19.1 percent compared to 27.4 percent of men.
Although one in four young people in the Community only has basic education and is very far from the average of the OECD and EU countries, in 2022 Castilla y León reached the lowest percentage in the historical series since 2002. when it stood at 35.3 percent. To the point that in the last twenty years, this rate exceeded 30 percent eight times. Furthermore, since 2016 it has always been below that level and there has been a constant decline except for the two-point rebound in 2020, when it went from 27 to 28.9 percent, motivated by the covid pandemic. In the last year, there was the largest decrease of the entire period, since it fell from 28 percent in 2021 to 23.5 percent last year.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development emphasizes the particularity of Spain in that there are many young people who have not continued studying after ESO or who have a university education or a higher degree but, on the other hand, there is a very low proportion of young people with intermediate levels (Baccalaureate and intermediate vocational training), which stands at 22.9 percent, compared to 39.4 percent for the OECD as a whole. The OECD recalls that the probability of having a job increases with the educational level achieved, but varies depending on the type of studies. Something that is highlighted by another statistic from the Ministry of Education that states that 16.7 percent of young people between 15 and 34 years old who have reached the Third Year of ESO in the Community do not study or work. A percentage that drops among those who have a secondary school diploma or have higher education to 9.6 percent.
Moments of abandonment
The study refers to the "critical moments" in which students are at greater risk of abandoning education early, such as the end of ESO, when they turn 16 and education is no longer compulsory. In contrast, 96% of the students who had completed compulsory secondary education in the 2013-2014 school year continued in the formal educational system, which includes post-compulsory secondary education programs.