It represents a drop of 17% compared to the previous year, 2020, and it is men who mostly give up studies
Spain is the second country in the European Union with the worst figures for early school leaving. According to the latest Eurostat annual report on this matter, in 2020, 16% of young Spaniards between the ages of 18 and 24 had not completed secondary school -the minimum compulsory level- a rate only surpassed by that of Malta, which leads the ranking with 16.7%.
But there is good news, the Active Population Survey published yesterday reveals that early educational abandonment in 2021 reached its lowest figure since records exist with 13.3% of people aged 18 to 24 who had not completed the second stage of Secondary Education (Intermediate Grade FP, Basic or Baccalaureate) and did not follow any type of training. This is a decrease of 2.7 points (17%) in this rate compared to the previous year, equaling the largest drop since 2000 in percentage points and the largest as a percentage of variation.
In 2004 almost a third of young people left school prematurely (32.2%), a historical record, almost 20 points more than now
In 2004 almost a third of young people left school prematurely (32.2%), a historical record. Since then, the figure has been falling progressively. In the last ten years, the early dropout rate in Spain has decreased by 13 points, from 26.3% in 2011 to 13.3%, practically halving. Despite the fact that the decrease was greater among men (14.3 points) than among women (11.8 points), the difference between both groups is still very significant, with 16.7% and 9.7 % abandonment, respectively. In other words, male early leaving is 72% higher than that of women.
The 2.7 point drop in early school leaving and training in 2021 compared to 2020 is associated with a 3.5 point increase in the percentage of the population of these ages that has reached ISCED level 3 ( equivalent to the second stage of Secondary). The significant increase in the level of training of the young population in the last decade, key in reducing school dropout, is also reflected through the evolution of the percentage of the population aged 20-24 who have reached at least the level of second Secondary stage. In 2021 this indicator stands at 78.8%, 16.8 percentage points more than in 2011 (62%) but still somewhat far from the European average (84.3% in 2020).
Higher education
Regarding Higher Education, the EPA indicates that 48.7% of the population aged 25 to 34 have reached this level, 1.3 points more than the previous year and clearly above the European average of 2020 (40 ,5%). Women stand out in this category, with a rate of 54.4%, well above that of men, at 43.1%. It should be noted that in the last year this rate has grown by 1.8 points for men.
Lastly, the indicator of the permanent training of the adult population shows a very significant growth. In 2021, 14.4% of people aged 25 to 64 had followed some type of training in the last four weeks, a 31% percentage change compared to the figure for the previous year, 11%.
120 million to ‘encourage’ to continue studying
One of the Government’s objectives is to reduce early school leaving rates. To this end, the #PROA+ Educational Orientation, Advancement and Enrichment Program has been reinforced, which in 2022 will have an investment of 120 million euros for its implementation in 2,500 centers, and at least a thousand support units will be created and personal and family orientation of educationally vulnerable students, thanks to an investment of 39 million. In 2021, 125 million were invested in the PROA+ Program and 30 million in the creation of 618 support units. These indicators are used to monitor the European cooperation framework in the field of education and training 2021-2030.