4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, 2006

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Contents >> International Comparisons >> Education

Education

DISTRIBUTION OF PERSONS AGED 25–64 YEARS BY LEVEL OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

	Reference year	Below upper secondary education(a)	Upper secondary education and post-secondary non-tertiary education(b)	Tertiary type B education(c)	Tertiary type A and advanced research programs(d)	Total(e)
Country		%	%	%	%	%

Australia	2003	38	31	11	20	100
Canada	2003	17	40	22	22	100
China	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
France	2003	36	41	9	15	100
Greece	2003	47	36	6	12	100
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Indonesia	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Italy	2003	53	36	(f)	10	100
Japan	2003	16	47	17	21	100
Korea (Republic of)	2003	27	44	8	22	100
Malaysia	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
New Zealand	2003	22	46	15	17	100
Papua New Guinea	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	100
Singapore	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	100
Sweden	2003	17	49	15	18	100
United Kingdom	2003	16	56	9	19	100
United States of America	2003	13	49	9	29	100
Viet Nam	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

(a) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 0, 1 and 2. For Australia this includes Preschool, Primary School and lower Secondary School levels as well as the Basic Vocational level. (b) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 3 and 4. For Australia this includes Year 12 completion as well as the Skilled Vocational level. (c) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 5B. For Australia this includes Associate Diplomas and Undergraduate Diplomas. (d) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 5A and 6. For Australia this includes Bachelor degree level or higher. (e) Component totals when added may not equal 100% due to rounding. (f) Data included in Tertiary Type A and advanced research programs. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2005, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, 2005, OECD, Paris, last viewed 23 May 2006, <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/35/35282639.xls>.

EDUCATIONAL PARTICIPATION(a) AND EXPENDITURE

		Enrolment rates by age group (years)

	Reference year(b)	15–19	20–29	30–39	40 and over	Reference year(b)	Total public expenditure as a proportion of GDP(c)	Total public and private expenditure as a proportion of GDP(d)
Country		%	%	%	%		%	%

Australia	2003	82.1	33.4	15.1	6.8	2002	4.4	6.0
Canada	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.
China	2003	13.7	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.
France	2003	87.2	20.4	2.4	n.a.	2002	5.7	6.1
Greece	2003	82.6	25.8	0.5	—	2002	3.9	4.1
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.
Indonesia	2003	51.5	3.9	—	—	2002	1.2	1.9
Italy	2003	77.8	19.3	2.7	—	2002	4.6	4.9
Japan	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	2002	3.5	4.7
Korea (Republic of)	2003	81.7	27.3	1.9	0.4	2002	4.2	7.1
Malaysia	2003	56.0	8.4	1.2	0.2	2002	8.1	n.a.
New Zealand	2003	67	28.7	11.3	4.5	2002	5.6	6.8
Papua New Guinea	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.
Singapore	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.
Sweden	2003	86.8	34.5	13.6	3.4	2002	6.7	6.9
United Kingdom	2003	75.9	26.3	15.7	7.8	2002	5.0	5.9
United States of America	2003	75.4	22.2	5.9	1.7	2002	5.3	7.2
Viet Nam	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.

(a) Participation rates are based on full-time and part-time enrolments. (b) 1 January of the reference year is considered a good proxy for the midpoint of the school year except for New Zealand, Australia and Korea where 1 July is used as the midpoint of the reference period. (c) Includes both purchases by the government agency itself on educational resources and also appropriations by the government agency to educational institutions which have been given responsibility to purchase educational resources themselves. Also includes public subsidies to households attributable for educational institutions, and direct expenditure on educational institutions from international sources. (d) Public expenditure refers to the spending of public authorities at all levels. Private expenditure refers to expenditure funded by private sources i.e. households, private business firms and nonprofit organisations of religious, charitable or business and labour associations. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2005, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, 2005, OECD, Paris, last viewed 23 May 2006, <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/29/35286589.xls>, <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/11/35286380.xls>.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE ON COMBINED READING, MATHEMATICAL AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY SCALES(a)

		Combined reading literacy		Mathematical literacy		Scientific literacy

	Reference year	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females
Country		Mean score	Mean score	Mean score	Mean score	Mean score	Mean score

Australia	2003	506	545	527	522	525	525
Canada	2003	514	546	541	530	527	516
China	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
France	2003	476	514	515	507	511	511
Greece	2003	453	490	455	436	487	475
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	2003	494	525	552	548	538	541
Indonesia	2003	369	394	362	358	396	394
Italy	2003	455	495	475	457	490	484
Japan	2003	487	509	539	530	550	546
Korea (Republic of)	2003	525	547	552	528	546	527
Malaysia	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
New Zealand	2003	508	535	531	516	529	513
Papua New Guinea	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Singapore	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Sweden	2003	496	533	512	506	509	504
United Kingdom	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
United States of America	2003	479	511	486	480	494	489
Viet Nam	. .	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

(a) A scaling method assigns scores so that 500 is the OECD average in each domain. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2004, Learning for tomorrow's world : First results from PISA 2003, last viewed 23 May 2006, <http://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html>.