Relevance
Data related to education
statistics is required by Regulation EC No. 452/2008 and
implemented under Regulation EU No. 912/2013.
The topics covered include student enrolments, entrants, student
mobility, graduates (education attainment), personnel and education expenditure. Information on classes and languages is also collected.
In turn EUROSTAT has a data
sharing agreement with UNESCO-UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). The goal of the UNESCO-UIS/OECD/Eurostat
(UOE) data collection on statistics of education and training is to provide
internationally comparable data on key aspects of the education systems,
specifically on the context, participation, and the costs and resources of
education.
Methodological
description of survey
Information covers three economic
sectors: state, church and private. Data
is collected on an annual basis. An updated list of institutions (schools) is
supplied from the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE).
Pre-primary to secondary levels
Students attending state schools;
data on teaching staff in state schools, church and private schools; as well as
data on non-teaching staff in state and church schools, is supplied by MEDE.
Students attending church and
independent schools are collected through paperless questionnaires sent
directly to the concerned schools. The same
applies for information related to non-teaching staff and education expenditure
in independent schools.
Post-secondary and tertiary levels
Questionnaires are sent via email
to church and registered private institutions.
This data collection covers students enrolled, student
mobility, graduates (students obtaining a qualification), personnel employed in
educational institutions. Data on
education expenditure is requested to private institutions.
Accuracy and
reliability of data
Information on the accuracy and
reliability of data can be viewed in a dedicated metadata report available on
the NSO’s metadata website.
Timeliness and
punctuality of data
At a national level, the Unit
publishes four releases on a yearly basis related to education statistics. These are the ‘Student Enrolments’,
‘Graduates Students’, ‘Absenteeism’ and ‘Teaching English as a Foreign
Language’ news releases. These news
releases normally refer to previous academic year. The Unit is currently
working on improving timeliness for the dissemination of Education statistics
at a national level. Such releases are
published on the NSO’s website as scheduled in the Advance Release Calander.
Annual data on enrolments,
entrants, personnel, foreign languages learned, and class size data are
transmitted to the Eurostat annually by 30 September in year t+2. Annual data on graduates and education
expenditure are transmitted to the Eurostat annually by 30 November in year
t+2.
Accessibility and
clarity of data
A number of publications on education
statistics were released and made available on the NSO’s website, from academic
year 2000/2001 up to academic year 2007/2008.
Every year, a quality report,
together with the ISCED integrated mapping of national programmes and
qualifications, is transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) by 31 January in
year t+3. This report documents
compliance with the dimensions of relevance, accuracy, timeliness and
punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability, and coherence. A metadata report is also produced at a national
level and disseminated on the NSO’s metadata website.
Coherence and
comparability/consistency of data
Data related to education statistics
is fully comparable with all other European Union Member States as all countries
are bound by Regulation (EC) No. 452/2008 and Regulation
(EU) No. 912/2013.
Data prior to academic year 2010/2011
has not been revised to include the reclassification of upper secondary
education and is therefore not comparable to other data. Conversely, all data collected further to
this academic year are fully consistent and hence comparable.
ISCED 11 was used, as requested, for the first
time for academic year 2012/2013. Previous
data is classified in ISCED 97.
Metadata