Eastern Europe

Experts situated in Eastern Europe

None

Regional overview

Eastern Europe is defined for VISCED purposes as the countries of the former Commonwealth of Independent States that are mainly or partially in Europe, as judged by cultural as well as geographic frontiers. Thus in particular the countries of Transcaucasia are all included but Kazakhstan is not.

The complete list (including partially recognised countries) is:

1. Abkhazia
2. Armenia
3. Azerbaijan
4. Belarus
5. Georgia
6. Moldova
7. Nagorno-Karabakh
8. Russia
9. South Ossetia
10. Ukraine

For other groupings of some or all of these countries see Transcaucasia and CIS.

See also the Re.ViCa categories Category:Transcaucasian countries and Category:European former CIS

Education in Region

In Eastern Europe, many countries have achieved universal primary education, literacy rates are high, gender gaps in primary and secondary education are small, and enrollment rates in pre-primary education have increased significantly over the past two decades. In 2008, participation in pre-primary education increased 9% since 1999. However, the regional gross enrollment ratio of 66% indicates that many children are still excluded from pre-primary education in 2008.

Over the past decade, progress towards universal primary education has been uneven across Eastern Europe. While many countries have relatively high primary enrollment rates, in some the numbers of children not enrolled are increasing. Despite demographic changes due to declining fertility rates, the regional primary adjusted net enrolment ratios remained about the same over the decade to stand at an average of 94% in 2008. Almost all countries in the region demonstrate improvements in the numbers of children out of school (at an average 32% compared to 1999).

Despite a significant decline in the size of the secondary school age population in Eastern Europe, the region’s secondary gross enrollment ratio has increased by only 1% since 1999, to reach 88% in 2008. Participation levels remained relatively low in some countries in the region, with gross enrollment ratio at 85% in the Russian Federation, for instance. Secondary school attendance and completion are strongly influenced by poverty, location and gender. Among 23 to 27-year-olds in Armenia, those from the wealthiest 20% of households have a secondary completion rate of 34%, compared with 8% for the poorest 20%. In Ukraine, the urban poor are 1.7 times as likely to complete secondary school as the rural poor.

In Eastern Europe, the growth of students who were enrolled in tertiary education in 2008 was up by more than two-thirds since 1999, and the region’s general enrollment ration rose from 38% in 1999 to 64% in 2008.

Armed conflicts and education

Conflicts in countries of the former Soviet Union have been marked by episodes of intense violence over competing claims to territory and government. Many of the conflicts have caused large-scale displacement, social upheaval and physical damage, along with losses in opportunities for education for some vulnerable populations. Tensions between Georgia and the autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia led to fighting in the early 1990s and large-scale displacement. Some 300,000 Georgians fled, mostly from Abkhazia. Renewed fighting between the Russian Federation and Georgia over South Ossetia led to another wave of displacement in 2008. Today, ethnic Georgians who have returned to their homes in Abkhazia report difficulties in many aspects of their lives, including education. The quality of education is often poor. Problems include a lack of qualified teachers, dilapidated buildings, and textbook and transport costs. Around 4,000 internally displaced children within Georgia attend separate schools. Georgian parents in Abkhazia face problems in getting children educated in their mother tongue.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have yet to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, almost fifteen years after signing a ceasefire agreement. Some 570,000 people remain displaced, and many children face acute difficulties in access to good quality education. In Azerbaijan, the government has made extensive efforts to address the problems of displaced children from Nagorno-Karabakh. Internally displaced students are supposed to receive free uniforms, books and access to higher education. Nevertheless, many displaced parents report having to pay for these items, and a survey in 2005 found that 58% reported being unable to send their children to school. The quality of education is also a problem, linked in some cases to the limited training available to teachers.

Administration and finance

Several countries in the region backed up stronger economic growth between 1999 and 2008 with increased commitments to education, but the recent financial crisis had an impact on government spending in education in some countries. Plans to reduce fiscal deficits among donor and national governments in coming years also threaten future increases in education spending. Eastern Europe reported a notable increase in the commitment to education, with education spending as a share of regional GNP rising from 4.6% in 1999 to 5.1% in 2008. Almost all countries increased their education financing effort over the period, and in the Republic of Moldova it grew by nearly three percentage points to 7.5%.

The period from 1999 to 2008 was marked by high economic growth. The rate at which growth is converted into increased education spending depends on wider public spending decisions. In more than half of the countries in the region, real growth in education spending was higher than economic growth rates. However, the remaining countries converted a smaller share of their growth premium into education financing. In Azerbaijan, for example, the economy grew at 16.3% a year on average, yet real spending on education rose by 7.8% a year.

Quality assurance

Levels of learning achievement vary widely across countries in the region. Progress in education quality depends on having sufficient teachers and ensuring that they are properly trained and supported. In 2008, Eastern Europe had a 17% decline of primary school teachers since 1999. Declining primary school populations lowered the pupil/teacher ratios to 18:1. Teacher recruitment at secondary level showed an 11% decrease. The average pupil/teacher ratio in secondary education was 11:1 in 2008.

International learning assessments have highlighted large differences in learning achievements between some countries and deep inequalities within countries. The 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessed reading skills of grade 4 students in forty countries across the world against four international benchmarks. In middle income countries such as Georgia, a majority of students had not acquired basic reading skills even after four years of primary school. In contrast, the Russian Federation was among the top performers among the forty countries, with a majority of students scoring at the two highest benchmarks.

School selection processes often influence variations in performance. High-performing schools often draw students from more advantaged catchment areas. In many cases, they also apply selection criteria that have the effect of excluding children from disadvantaged homes.

References

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/tools/documents/issue_4_eastern_europe.pdf http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001917/191765e.pdf

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