Comparison of Selected Educational Systems Within the EU

Bc. Michala Volná

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to compare the educational systems of selected member countries in the EU and to describe the current problems faced by individual countries with reference to education.In the theoretical part are described individual elements that are directly or indirectly related to education. Indicators such as GDP, unemployment, the theory of economic growth and the role of education in economic growth are described in this part. Here is also a section devoted to the European Union. Data as history, enlargement and European Union education programs. The last part is devoted to the Programme for International Student Assessment – PISA.Another part of the diploma thesis is devoted to a description of individual school systems of selected countries. States were elected in such a way that half of them were from the founding member states of the European Union or the states accepted soon after their establishment. The second half is the new member states, accepted after 2004. The practical part then describes the country’s government spending on education by using secondary data and contains a trend analysis showing the expenditure on education expressed as a percentage of the country’s GDP. Individual countries are more closely analysed in view of the current problems faced by the education system. Countries with the most complex education systems showed also best results in PISA. UK, Netherlands, and Poland spend the highest share of their GDP on education, in general, old member countries have better educational outcomes than the new members. Moreover, the dependency of unemployment on expenditure on education was found only for Germany.

Keywords

European Union, GDP, PISA, school systems, analysis, comparison, economic growth, education, expenditure

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 28. 3. 2018

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Irena Benešová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Master programme / field:
Economics and Management / European Agrarian Diplomacy