This document summarizes Josu Sierra's presentation on the Basque education system given in Trento, Italy in April 2008. The summary includes: 1) The Basque education system is politically divided across three administrations in Spain and France, with full responsibility over education. It serves over 330,000 students from infant to university levels. 2) The system is multilingual, with Basque and Spanish as official languages, and over 90% of infant students enrolled in Basque immersion programs. PISA results show Basque students achieving average OECD scores in science, math, and reading. 3) The system aims to promote Basque language and culture through education while maintaining equity across socioeconomic backgrounds

1. PAPER PRESENTED BY JOSU
SIERRA IN TRENTO (ITALY), APRIL
2008
PISA 2006 CONFERENCE HOSTED BY
OECD AND TRENTINO PROVINCE

2. Josu Sierra
Director of the ISEI-IVEI

3. The Basque Education System
Overview

4. Basque Ministry of Education:
http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-2722/en
Basque Institute for Reasearch and Evaluation in Education:
http://www.isei-ivei.net

5. Basque Country
Politically divided into three
different Administrations (Two
in Spain, one in France):
•Autonomous Community
of the Basque Country
•Navarre
•French Basque Country

6. The Autonomous Community of
the Basque Country
Euskadi-Basque Country
7.234 Km2
Surface
Inhabitants 2.124.846 hab.
293,7 inhabit/km2
Density
Official Languages Basque and Spanish
Capital Vitoria-Gasteiz

7. THE BASQUE LANGUAGE
• Two families of languages, the Uralic and the Indo-
European, are to be found in Europe, but Basque is
not genetically linked to either, lacking ties to family
or origin.
• It is likely that an early form of the Basque language
was present in Western Europe before the arrival of
the Indo-European languages to the area, including
what became the Germanic languages, Celtic
languages, and Western Romance languages.
• Today, Basque is a lesser-used language in the
Basque territories.

8. The Basque Language
• But the Basque Education
System can be a powerful
tool to spread the Linguistic Models in Education
knowledge of the
language. 9,4
Spanish
• The Basque language in
Basque Middle
the Education System 30,1
Immersion
60,5
today (Infant Education): Basque
Immersion
more than the 90% of the
students (Infant
Education) enrolled in
Basque Immersion
Programmes

9. Education: Main features
• Full responsibility in Education.
• 330.000 students (2005) (except university levels)
• Multilingual:
– Official languages: Basque and Spanish (mainly Basque immersion)
– Main foreign language: English (starting at the age of 4)
– Three Linguistic Models to choose.
• Preschool: %100 of the students at school at the age of 3, 90%
at 2.
• 45% of the curriculum decided in the Basque Country
• Compulsory Education: 6 to 16 years old.

10. •The Basque education System guarantees
the provision of compulsory education free of
charge from ages 6 to 16.
High School
•Education is structured on four levels:
Secondary Compulsory
•Infant (0-5)
c
Education (13-16)
•Primary (up to age 12),
o
•Secondary (up to 16) and
m
•Further Education/ Vocational Training,
p
extending subsequently to university,
u polytechnic and higher vocational training
l college studies.
s •In December 2002 a decree was passed
o regulating early-learning canters for
Primary Education (6-12)
r children up to the age of 3.
y
•There are four universities in the Basque
Country, with a total of 28 faculties or colleges,
3 higher technical colleges and 11 university
colleges.
•The publicly-run University of the Basque
Country (EHU-UPV) provides higher education
Infant Education (0-5) in a range of areas, including Medicine,
Science, Fine Arts, Journalism, Economics and
Industrial Engineering.

11. THE BASQUE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH
AND EVALUATION IN EDUCATION
•Established in 2001 www.isei-ivei.net
•Mission:
•Assess and evaluate the whole Education System
•Carry out Educational Research
•Manage the Educational Documentation centre.

12. PISA 2006 RESULTS
THE BASQUE COUNTRY IS ON THE
OECD MEAN IN SCIENCE, MATHS
AND READING

13. THE PISA PICTURE 2003-2006
• PISA shows a similar picture of the Basque Education
in 2003 and 2006:
– OECD-average achievement in the 3 Key Competences.
– Equity, very similar results for all students.
– Less low scores than in the OECD but less excellence.

14. THE SAMPLE: TO OBTAIN RESULTS BY
LINGUISTIC MODELS AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE
LINGUISTIC MODELS
STUDENTS 2006 TOTAL
A B D
PUBLIC 226 215 1141 1582
PRIVATE P.F.* 849 636 862 2347
TOTAL 1075 851 2003 3929
*WITH PUBLIC FUNDS

15. STRATA

16. PUNTUACIÓN
100
200
300
400
500
600
0
Finlandia
Hong Kong-China
Canadá
China-Taipei
Estonia
Nueva Zelanda
Japón
Australia
Holanda
Liechtenstein
Corea
Eslovenia
Alemania
Reino Unido
República Checa
Suiza
Macao-China
Austria
Bélgica
Irlanda
Hungría
Suecia
Media de la OCDE
500
Polonia
Dinamarca
Francia
Euskadi
495
Croacia
Islandia
Letonia
Estados Unidos
Lituania
España
488
República Eslovaca
Noruega
Luxemburgo
Federación Rusa
Italia
Portugal
Grecia
Israel
Chile
Serbia
Bulgaria
Uruguay
Turquía
Jordaniaia
Tailandia
SCIENCE: 495, BETTER THAN IN 2003
Rumania
Montenegro
Mexico
Indonesia
Argentina
Brasil
Colombia
Túnez
Azerbaiyan
Qatar
Kirgizistán

17. OCDE 500
Poland 498
Denmark 496
France 495
COUNTRIES
BASQUE 495
AT THE
Croatia 493
SAME LAVEL
Iceland 491
THAN
Latvia 489
BASQUE IN
USA 489
Lituania 489 SCIENCE
SPAIN 488
Slovak Rep. 488
Norway 486

18. SCIENCE LEVELS: LESS “LOW SCORES” THAN
OECD BUT LESS EXCELLENCE TOO

19. WE HAVE IMPROVED RESULTS IN
2006 COMPARING WITH 2003

20. THE PICTURE OF THE BASQUE
EDUCATION SYSTEM
PISA 2006

21. ESCS AND SCIENCE: SLIGHTLY LOWER
THAN EXPECTED

22. MORE EFFICIENT SCHOOLS WITH
LOW ESCS STUDENTS THAN OECD
SCIENCE AND ESCS OF SCHOOLS WORSE THAN OECD
IN HIGH LEVELS OF
600
ESCS
BASQUE
gradient
A Pública
500 B Pública
D Pública
SCORE
A Concertada
B Concertada
D Concertada
400 OCDE Centro
EUSKADI centro
BETTER THAN
OECD IN THE Lineal (OCDE Centro)
LOW LEVELS OF
OECD Lineal (EUSKADI centro)
ESCS
gradient
300
-2 -1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5
ESCS OF SCHOOLS

23. EQUITY
• Gerard F.M. (2001):”Le concept d’équité est lie a la
justice sociale: un système éducatif est d’autant plus
équitable qu’il réduit les disparités entre les plus forts
et les plus faibles, entre les groupes favorises et
défavorises.”
• « The concept of Equity is linked with the social
justice: an education system is more equitable if it
reduces disparities between the strongest and the
wekest, between advantaged and disadvantaged
groups. »

24. ABSOLUTE
EQUITY: % OF
STUDENTS AT >1
AND 1 LEVELS
(15,7%), BETTER
THAN THE OECD
AVERAGE

25. DIFFERENCE quot;BEST AND WORSE SCORES“ PISA 2006 SOURCE: IE
EQUITY:
UK 348
USA 344
ARGENTINA 337
LOW
FRANCE 333
JAPAN 328
DIFFERENCE
GERMANY 328
NORWAY 313
NEHERLANDS 313
BETWEEN
ITALY 312
OECD 311
THE BEST
URUGUAY 310
SWEDEN 308
AND THE
GREECE 303
CHILE 300
KOREA 296
WORSE
SPAIN 295
RUSSIA 295
SCORES
POLAND 293
PORTUGAL 288
FINLAND 281
(PERC. 5
COLOMBIA 280
BASQUE 273
AND 95)
MEXICO 263
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

26. EQUITY: PUBLIC-PRIVATE SCHOOLS’ ESCS:
THE LOWEST DIFFERENCE AMONG SPANISH
COMMUNITIES
ESCS PUBLIC-PRIVATE SCHOOLS
0,4
0,257
0,229 0,223
0,211
0,207
0,178
0,158
0,2
0,122 0,105
0,095
0
-0,2
-0,211
-0,247
1 Público
-0,315
-0,4 -0,361
-0,364 -0,367 2 Privado
-0,4
-0,415
-0,465
-0,6 -0,568 -0,57
-0,8
-0,778
-1
Andalucía Galicia España Castilla y Cantabria Asturias Cataluña Navarra Aragón La Rioja País Vasco
León

27. MATHEMATICS AN READING
RESULTS
2006

28. MATHEMATICS RESULTS 2006
MATHEMATICS:
Czec Rep. 510
Iceland 506
Austria 505
Slovenia 504
Germany 504
Sweden 502
Ireland 501
BASQUE 501
OECD 498
France 496
UK 495
Poland 495
THE SAME RESULT IN 2003

29. EVOLUTION 2003-2006: SAME
RESULT

30. READING RESULTS 2006
READING:
Japan 498
China Taipei 496
UK 495
Germany 495
Denmark 494
Slovenia 494
Macao China 492
OECD 492
Austria 490
France 488
BASQUE 487
Iceland 484
Czec Rep. 483
Norway 484
Hungary 482
Latvia 479
Luxemburg 479

31. EVOLUTION 2003-2006: LOWER
SCORE IN 2006

32. PISA 2006
SCIENCE RESULTS AND REGIONS,
COMMUNITIES AND TERRITORIES
ISEI-IVEI
BASQUE COUNTRY

33. ESCS LEVELS
ESCS “SUBNATIONAL” PISA 2006
0,4
0,26
0,3
0,21
0,17 0,17
0,2
0,09 0,08
0,1
0
0
ESCS
-0,04 -0,04
-0,1
-0,08
-0,12 -0,12 -0,13 -0,14 -0,14
-0,15 -0,15 -0,16 -0,17
-0,2
-0,18
-0,21
-0,3 -0,26
-0,32 -0,34
-0,4
-0,5
-0,6
-0,64
-0,7
SUBNAT

34. VARIANCE EXPLAINED BY ESCS: SMALL
INFLUENCE OF THIS VARIABLE
PERCENTAGE OF THE BETWEEN SCHOOLS VARIANCE EXPLAINED
BY ESCS-SCIENCE
45,0
38,6
40,0
35,0
31,2
28,3 28,7 29,3
30,0
25,4 26,5
24,2 24,8
23,0
25,0
18,9 19,3
20,0 17,8
15,0
10,7 10,8 11,7
9,0
10,0
6,4
5,7
5,1
4,6
4,5
3,9
5,0 2,3
1,3
0,0

35. SCIENCE RESULT AND ESCS:
SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN EXPECTED
SCIENCE AND ESCS
560
Friuli VG
540
Flemish C.
Bolzano
Veneto
520
Scotland
500
Basque Liguria
SCORE
Andalusia
480
460
Campania
440
Sicilia
420
400
-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
ESCS

36. MATHEMATICS RESULT AND ESCS:
SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN EXPECTED
MATH AND ESCS
600
Flemish C.
550
La Rioja
C.-León
Trento
Véneto
Galicia Scotland
500
Basque
Andalusia
Liguria
SCORE
450
Sicilia
400
350
300
-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
ESCS

37. READING SCORE AND ESCS:
EXPECTED RESULT
READING AND ESCS
550
Friuli VG Flemish C.
Veneto
Trento
Bolzano
500 Scotland
Basque
Galicia
Liguria
Andalusia
450
SCORE
Sicilia
400
350
300
-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4
ESCS

38. CHANGES THAT WE ARE
IMPLEMENTING NOW
• New Curriculum Decree, introducing Basic
Competences.
• Our amount of hours in science is the lowest
comparing with the Spanish Communities: we
will increase teaching hours in Science.

39. DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT
• We will start in 2009 with census external assessments (all
students every year)
• The aim is to know the acquisition of the Basic Competences
in Primary 4th and L. Secondary 2nd, 2 years before the end of
the Primary and Secondary, to solve problems and improve
results.
• The 8 Competences: Competences in Science and Technology,
Learning to learn, Mathematical Competence, Linguistic
Communication, Information and Communication
Technologies, Social and civic Competences, Personal
autonomy and entrepreneurship.

40. A COMBINATION OF INTERNAL
AND EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS
• We will provide, the next year, tests for
schools for internal voluntary assessment.
• At the same time we will apply external tests
to provide reliable and comparable measures
to the school, professors and parents.
• It is a very challenging project for the ISEI-IVEI:
35.000 students every year with short periods
for data analysis an reporting.

41. EUROPE 2010 INDICATORS AND
THE BASQUE COUNTRY
THE LISBON OBJECTIVES

42. PERCENTAGE OF
STUDENTS FINISHING
POST-COMPULSORY
SECONDARY
EDUCATION 2005
BASQUE COUNTRY: 80.4
EU: 77.3

43. PARTICIPATION IN
LIFELONG LEARNING 2005
BASQUE COUNTRY: 15.1
EU: 10.8

44. EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS
RATE 2005
BASQUE COUNTRY: 13.9
EU: 14.9

45. MATEMATICS, SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
GRADUATES 2005
BASQUE COUNTRY: 25.3
EU: 12.3

46. THANK YOU
www.isei-ivei.net