Spain is one of the OECD countries that has taken the longest to reactivate its education system

Back to class, this Monday, in a Valencian school.Monica Torres

Spain has been one of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that has taken the longest to resume the educational system after the closure decreed during the first wave of the pandemic.

By the end of March, the decision to close schools and institutes had been made to some degree by the 46 countries analyzed by the organization.

By the end of May, however, two-thirds had reopened the centers, at least partially.

Not only was Spain not among them but, according to a report made public this Tuesday by the international organization, it was one of the five that decided to extend the closure until the end of June, "which is to say until the end of the school year" , with the precise exception of fourth year of ESO and second year of high school, in which attendance was very limited and voluntary.

• Back to class, according to students

The decision on the reopening of classrooms in Spain, which was adopted by the autonomies (competent in the matter) and fell far short of the recommendation of reactivation of the educational system raised by the Government, resulted in the vast majority of testimonial communities, and the report entitled

prepared by the OECD confirms this.

Among the countries analyzed that also favored extending the closure until the end of the academic year are Italy (which, along with Spain, was the country hardest hit by COVID at the beginning of the pandemic), Ireland, Portugal (with exceptions at some levels) and Lithuania , highlights the organization.

In some places, it was decided to advance or shorten holidays to reduce the impact of school closings (the report mentions Australia, Chile, Korea and Lithuania as examples).

In Spain it was decided not to touch the calendar or the summer holidays, despite being one of the longest in the OECD, but the country did benefit, from an educational point of view, from the fact that the Easter holidays fell in means of confinement.

The closure lasted in Spain for practically all students for 16 weeks, compared to 14 on average for the OECD.

Each week involved the loss of 23 hours of compulsory instruction in primary and 30 hours in the first stage of secondary education (ESO).

All countries tried to compensate through

and distance

learning models

.

Economic consequences

The OECD report warns of the serious educational consequences of the massive school closure, and of the greater impact it has had on disadvantaged social classes, and points out the enormous economic repercussions that it can have in the medium and long term.

The document cites a study by economists Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessman, according to which, as a consequence of the loss of the equivalent of one third of an academic year in a country (and the subsequent loss of learning and skills and with them productivity) , its "gross domestic product (GDP) could be 1.5% lower on average for the rest of the century."

Although in the short term various countries, including Spain, have launched stimulus packages that cover the educational field, the OECD expresses its concern that in the medium term the foreseeable weakness of the economy and the fall in tax collection states lead to cuts in education.

After the outbreak of the previous crisis, spending in this area still increased in 2009, but in the following years around a third of the organization's countries made adjustments in education, recalls the organization.

More students per classroom

For the safe reopening of the centers, one of the fundamental factors is the number of students per classroom, because it facilitates the maintenance of interpersonal distance and reduces the risk of infections, the report warns.

And in this field, Spain was at a disadvantage compared to its environment when the coronavirus appeared.

The average number of students per class was 22 in primary school in 2018, compared to 21 in the OECD and 20 in the EU-23;

and 25 in ESO, compared to 23 in the OECD and 21 in the EU-23.

While, on average, in the OECD the ratio fell slightly between 2005 and 2018, in Spain it increased by 7% in primary school and 5% in secondary school.

The communities are now hiring teachers to reduce the number of students per classroom (the regional governments have promised to reinforce their staff with 39,000).

The delay in planning the new course in some territories has made it difficult for them to enroll on time.

One in five young people neither studies nor works

The document on covid is a kind of annex to the large statistical report that the OECD publishes every year, called

, which analyzes the main educational variables, with whose data the Ministry of Education prepares its publication

Educación

, released also this Tuesday.

The data affect several of Spain's structural weaknesses.

Among them: in 2019, one in five young people (19.7%) between the ages of 18 and 24 neither studied nor worked, and of them 43% were not looking for a job either (the OECD average was 14.3% ).

If the focus is opened to cover the population between 18 and 29 years old, the index hardly improves for Spain: 18.3% neither studied nor worked, compared to an average of 13% in the OECD.

On a positive note: between 2000 and 2019, the percentage of young Spaniards between 20 and 24 who continue to study has increased by 15.5%, much more than the average for the organization (3.7%).

Fall in public investment

The consequences of the previous economic crisis continue to be detected by the statistics of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (part of which is compiled with some delay): between 2005 and 2017, public spending on education fell by eight points in Spain , while private spending increased in exactly the same proportion.

The same trend occurred in the OECD, but more attenuated: a fall of 3% and a growth of 2% respectively.

The autonomous communities contribute 82% of the public funds allocated to education, a reflection of a model that in this field is strongly decentralized.

High schooling of the little ones

The OECD report also reflects that the real salary (taking into account inflation) of an average teacher in Spain is lower than it was in 2005, something that also happens in other countries, such as France, although in the whole of the OECD have risen.

Spain stands out for its high enrollment rate in the first cycle of early childhood education (0 to 2 years), which reaches 38.2%, compared to 25.5% in the OECD and 23.6% in the EU-23 .

Among children under one year, it reaches 12%, compared to 7% in the OECD and 4% in the EU-23.

Only 60% complete the FP

82% of Spanish students starting high school complete it, a percentage lower than the average (87%) of the group of eight countries in which the OECD includes Spain in this section -and in which countries as different as Korea (97%), Japan (95%), Slovenia (86%) and Costa Rica (72%) -.

The proportion of Spanish students who complete Vocational Training falls to 60%, compared to an average of 77% in the same group of countries.

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