Lifelong learning is increasingly recognized as important for individual well-being, but causal evidence on this relationship remains scarce. This paper evaluates the effects of non-formal adult education on life satisfaction by exploiting the substantial expansion of courses at East German...

Lifelong learning is increasingly recognized as important for individual well-being, but causal evidence on this relationship remains scarce. This paper evaluates the effects of non-formal adult education on life satisfaction by exploiting the substantial expansion of courses at East German...

After the German Reunification in 1990, East Germany transitioned from a centrally planned economic system to a market economy. At the time, upskilling through adult education was deemed essential for the successful integration of the workforce into the labor market. Besides substantial...

After the German Reunification in 1990, East Germany transitioned from a centrally planned economic system to a market economy. To tackle surging unemployment, upskilling through adult education was deemed essential at the time. Besides substantial mandatory training programs provided by active...

Aktuelle Transformationsprozesse erzeugen erhebliche Anpassungserfordernisse an den Arbeitsmärkten: Qualifizierung und Weiterbildung sollen dazu beitragen, neu entstehende Qualifikationsanforderungen zu decken, (Fach-)Kräfteengpässe zu entschärfen, Arbeitslosen und Geringqualifizierten Wege...

This paper studies a large-scale educational expansion to evaluate whether shocks to school inputs have an impact on the academic achievement of adult education students. I analyze the spillover effects of a Swedish policy that temporarily doubled enrollment in adult education, thus putting...

The Education and Training Monitor is the European Commission's annual report on EU education and training systems, tracking their progress towards reaching the seven EU-level targets adopted as part of the 2021 Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education...

Malta has made steady progress in increasing participation across all education levels and reducing early school leaving. However, it continues to face structural challenges that limit the equity, quality and labour market alignment of education and training. Learning outcomes remain among the...

Spain has one of the highest participation rates in early childhood education and care in the EU. Current efforts focus on supporting disadvantaged children through fee reductions and priority admission. The share of early leavers from education and training is falling and the decline in basic...

While Austrian students outperform most of their European peers, basic skills have decreased over the past decade. Education outcomes remain strongly linked to socio-economic and migrant background. Despite efforts to increase the number of places in ECEC, especially for under-3-year-olds, there...

The Netherlands has launched several measures to address the most persistent challenges to its education system: (i) staff shortages in early childhood education and care and school education; (ii) declining basic skills of its students; and (iii) an insufficient number of graduates in STEM...

Denmark faces considerable skills shortages. Although participation in STEM courses continues to increase, it remains below the EU average. Basic skills keep declining with every fifth student showing low skills, and less than 10% showing top performance. Socio-economic and migrant background...

Portugal is strengthening the ability of its education system to respond to labour market needs. Portugal has also made progress in increasing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) enrolment and modernising vocational education and training (VET). However, challenges remain in...

Polish students perform better than their European peers, but basic skills have sharply declined since 2018. Poland is progressing at pace with preparing a curriculum reform that focuses more on key competences. Measures were adopted to improve teachers' working conditions. However, shortages...

An underperforming education and training system weighs on Slovakia's labour market, innovation potential and competitiveness. Currently, one out of three students in Slovakia have insufficient basic skills, and educational performance has been declining. Absenteeism and early school leaving are...

Cyprus has rolled out a comprehensive education and training reform package in the last decade, but its impact is yet to be seen. Cypriot students recorded among the sharpest deterioration in basic skills in the EU, leading to an underachievement rate of above 50%. They also show lower level of...

Greece has met the 2030 EU-level targets on early leaving from education and training and is close to the target on tertiary educational attainment. However, major challenges persist in terms of acquisition of basic skills, in particular mathematics with almost every other student failing to...

Belgium maintains high levels of participation in early childhood education and care, but staff shortages and capacity problems exist. In school education, the Communities are implementing major reforms to improve educational quality and school accountability. Nonetheless, educational...

The provision of ECEC services has been largely improved both in terms of access and quality. A new system for early detection of special educational needs, adapted to Luxembourg's multilingual context, was introduced in 2025. Luxembourg addresses the high diversity of its school population by...

Estonia ranks first in the EU for basic skills, and is the only country which has reached the EU target for basic skills in all three domains (reading, science and maths). Its education system is also one of the most equitable in the EU. Investment in AI tools and training aims to ensure...

Latvia's education system produces good results in terms of basic skills but struggles with geographical inequalities in access to quality education. The proportion of top-performing students is below the EU average. Despite government efforts, renewing the teaching workforce is a challenge. The...

Czech pupils perform above the EU average in mathematics, science and digital skills, and the share of top performers is relatively high. At the same time, the education system is characterised by large inequalities. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds have access to fewer resources...

Students in Germany show deteriorating levels of basic skills in reading, maths, and science. The share of top-performers is also declining, but remains above the EU average. Early school leaving is on the rise, in contrast to the EU trend, and educational outcomes are strongly influenced by...

Educational outcomes in Ireland are above the EU average, and Ireland is one of the top-performing countries in basic skills in the EU. Ireland is improving access to education for disadvantaged children, including by more affordable childcare. These sustained efforts have increased enrolment in...

Sweden excels in participation in adult education and has a high participation in early childhood education and care. And its tertiary educational attainment rate is above the EU-level targets. Swedish students stand out in civic skills and perform better in basic skills than their European...

A traditionally top-performing education system is facing growing challenges in terms of declining basic skills and rising early school leaving rates, although Finnish students still outperform their European peers. To reverse these negative trends, Finland has increased instruction hours and is...

Croatia has engaged in major reforms at all levels of education in the past years to improve the performance of its education system, underpinned by substantial support from EU funds. As a result, participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and tertiary educational attainment are...

Italy is making steady progress towards the EU average on most education indicators. A sustained reduction in early school leaving over the past decade has brought the rate close to the EU average and also the EU 2030 target. On average, basic skills proficiency is in line with the EU average in...

The Slovenian education system performs relatively well in EU comparison at all educational levels. Participation of children below 3 in formal childcare is among the highest in the EU, accompanied by measures aimed at enhancing the inclusiveness of early childhood education and care. Vocational...

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) participation of children over three years old has already reached the EU-level target but remains well below the EU average for younger children. Hungarian students perform in line with the EU average in basic skills, but the disparity among students...

France has already met the 2030 EU-level targets on participation in early childhood education, early leaving from education and training, work-based learning in vocational education and training (VET) as well as tertiary educational attainment. Major challenges remain in improving proficiency...

Lithuania has made progress in expanding early childhood education and increasing tertiary educational attainment. However, achievement gaps in basic skills, especially by socio-economic background and school location, remain significant, jeopardising future competitiveness (Council of the EU,...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...

The Education and Training Monitor's country reports present and assess the main recent and ongoing policy development at all education levels in the 27 EU Member States. They give the reader more in-depth insight into the performance of a country as regards the EU-level targets agreed within...