Economic sectors at risk due to COVID-19 disruptions: will men and women in the EU be affected similarly?

In this note we assess the economic risk male and female workers face due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. We apply two different approaches: one developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and one by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP). Both approaches show that an alarmingly large number of workers are potentially negatively affected by COVID-related employment problems across the EU. The extent of the problem, as well as the relations between the situation of males and females are however rather different across the two calculations. With Manufacturing listed among the high-risk sectors, the ILO-based estimates indicate that altogether almost 89 million jobs in the EU are in high-risk sectors, with a woman working in 43 per cent of these. CEDEFOP, on the other hand, is not considering Manufacturing as being particularly exposed to the crisis in Europe, and therefore calculations based on the CEDEFOP classification suggest that altogether, “only” 44 million jobs are in high-risk sectors, 51 per cent of which are however filled by female workers. Considering the share of employees working in badly hit sectors, the relative risk of female employees is much higher than that of men. Altogether 25 per cent of employed women while only 20 per cent of employed men work in these sectors in the whole EU. Similar or even stronger disparities are found within the majority of the Member States.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

Civic attitudes and behavioural intentions in the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS): New evidence for education and training policies in Europe

In the current context of rising populism, racism, intolerance and scepticism among European Union (EU) citizens, coupled with a decreasing level of electoral participation rates in several Member States, the European Commission has the clear mandate to reinforce EU citizens’ commitment to Europe’s common democratic values. Educational institutions are essential agents in promoting a learning environment that can support a Europe that is fair, inclusive and more democratic. To serve this goal, schools are expected to contribute to civic and citizenship knowledge creation as well as to the shaping of students’ beliefs and attitudes. Both from a research and a policy perspective, it is important to improve our understanding of current civic and citizenship attitudes in the EU, as well as of the educational processes shaping them. In 2016, 14 EU Member States participated in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), including Belgium (Flemish region), Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia region), Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden. The study offers substantial new data on the civic knowledge as well as the civic attitudes and behavioural intentions of the 14-year-old student population in these countries and regions. Besides assessing these civic and citizenship education (CCE) outcomes in great detail, ICCS also offers data on students’ background characteristics and the school and community context where the learning process takes place. The present policy brief is based on a detailed analysis of the ICCS 2016 data from the EU Member States, focusing on adolescents’ civic attitudes and behavioural intentions (non-cognitive outcomes), and their drivers, with a particular emphasis on the broader role of education.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Beyond averages - Fairness in an economy that works for people

Growing disparities on multiple socio-economic dimensions have contributed to a sense of unfairness and discontent in Europe. Fairness is a subjective phenomenon, but the far-reaching consequences of perceptions of unfairness warrant a closer look at its drivers and underlying dynamics. The report, written before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyses some of the most pertinent dimensions of fairness in relation to the agenda for a fair, inclusive and social European Union. Income inequality, educational inequality and the challenges facing existing welfare state arrangements are discussed from a pre-crisis perspective. Thus, the report gives a snapshot of the state of fairness in Europe before the COVID-19 outbreak and provides a benchmark against which some of the consequences of the current situation can be evaluated.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

A note on early childhood education and care participation by socio-economic background

This report investigates alternatives to the current targets related to early childhood education and care (ECEC), in particular by looking at socio-economic differences in the level of ECEC attendance in EU Member States. Using data from the EU Survey on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), it assesses different categorisations of socio-economic disadvantage, based on household income, maternal education and whether or not the child lives in a household which is at risk of poverty (AROP) or at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE). Irrespective of which categorisation is used, the report shows considerably lower ECEC attendance rates for children from a lower socio-economic background when compared to those from a higher one. This suggests that the attempt to focus on particular subgroups of children is well justified. Based on a range of methodological and conceptual considerations, AROPE emerges as the most appropriate measure to build a possible ECEC indicator.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Diákok pályaválasztási tervei: ki szeretne tudományos-műszaki pályára lépni?

Az elemzésben 15 éves diákok pályaválasztási terveit vizsgáljuk PISA adatok alapján, hogy jobban megértsük, milyen tényezők irányíthatják az ilyen korú fiúkat és lányokat műszaki-tudományos pályák felé-, vagy éppen el azoktól. A tizenéves diákok foglalkozási elképzelései már jellemzően igen jól tükrözik valódi képességeiket, iskolai teljesítményeiket, és mivel hatással vannak tanulmányi döntéseikre, későbbi teljesítményükre majd munkaerőpiaci választásukra is, mintegy önbeteljesítő próféciaként is működnek. Eredményeink azt mutatják, hogy a pályatervek erőteljes nemi elkülönülése már 15 éves korra erősen kialakult – olyannyira, hogy addigra a lányok jelentős része már olyan iskolába jár, amely csökkenti a természettudományos irányú továbblépés valószínűségét. Azt is látjuk viszont, hogy adott szülői háttér és iskolai jellemzők mellett a diákok leginkább természettudományos ismereteik bővítésével, a számítástechnikában való jártasságuk megtapasztalásával és a természettudományok munkapiaci értékének felismerésével motiválhatók műszaki-tudományos pályák választására. Míg azonban a fiúk érdeklődése az ilyen munkák iránt egyértelműen növelhető ezekkel az eszközökkel, a lányok esetében csak valamivel mérsékeltebb növekedésre (természettudományos ismeretek és instrumentális motiváció) számíthatunk, vagy nem várhatunk változást (számítástechnikában való jártasság). Következésképpen a nemek közötti különbség nagysága a műszaki-tudományos pályaválasztásban az általunk itt vizsgált tényezőkkel érdemben nem befolyásolható. Ez összhangban van azzal a korábbi felismeréssel, hogy a gyerekekben már nagyon korai életkorban nyomot hagynak a nemükkel kapcsolatos társadalmi elvárások, amelyek aztán érdeklődésükre és pályaválasztással kapcsolatos elképzeléseikre is kihatnak. Mivel a tudományos-műszaki pályákhoz változatlanul inkább férfias-, semmint nőies képzetek tapadnak, az ezen a területen tapasztalható nemi szegregáció igen mélyen gyökerezik a kulturálisan rögzült szerepelvárásokban, amelyek a természettudományok iránt érdeklődő lányokat inkább az orvosi- egészségügyi szakmák, semmint a tudományos-műszaki területeik felé orientálják (Charles, 2003; Charles & Bradley, 2002; Sikora & Pokropek, 2012). Nemzetközi összehasonlító vizsgálatok ráadásul azt is megmutatják, hogy a szegregációnak ilyen formája különösen erős a gazdaságilag fejlett, individualista és önkifejezési értékek alapján szerveződő társadalmakban (Sikora & Pokropek, 2012). Mindezek az eredmények arra utalnak, hogy a kialakult helyzetben érdemi változás nem könnyen, legfeljebb csak kora gyermekkori beavatkozással érhető el.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Science career plans of adolescents: patterns, trends and gender divides

As STEM workers work in the technologically most advanced and potentially most productive sectors of the labour market, meeting the future demand for STEM skills is considered high priority in the European Union. Knowing that a strong pathway dependency exists between STEM education and employment, in this report we examine STEM-related occupational expectations of adolescents to understand their ability and willingness to undertake STEM training and work. We systematically explore a range of potential influences on young people’s career plans starting from the individual characteristics of adolescents and their families, accounting for various features of school environments as well as country characteristics and policy interventions at a national level. For the analyses, we use PISA data from 2006 and 2015 surveys for each of the European Member States which allow for identifying the changes as well as continuity in adolescent preferences during this 10-year period. The past ten years have not brought about major changes in European students’ career orientations towards the STEM. In 2015 on average 20 out of 100 of 15-years old students in Europe declared to pursuit a science-related career in STEM occupations. However considerable differences across countries exist. In Finland for instance, only 12 out of 100 students are interested in STEM careers while in Slovenia 27 out of 100 students expect such careers. Expectations of STEM career plan are strongly divided by gender. On average in Europe, only 10 out of 100 females are interested in STEM careers while the number of boys expecting a similar career is almost triple. Between-country differences are remarkable. In Finland only 4 out of 100 female students want to engage into STEM while in Latvia the number of females that see their future in a STEM occupation is 4 times higher. Students develop their career plans differently across the different educational systems in Europe. In most countries, students who are on a vocational track at the age of 15 are increasingly interested in choosing a STEM job. Our findings suggest also a positive association between compulsory national examination in math and students’ plans to enter a STEM occupation. In terms of policy measures designed to mitigate the gender gap in the supply of young people available to train for employment in the STEM sector, the patterns presented in this report indicate an urgent need to develop more effective methods to encourage girls to consider STEM employment as a viable option for their own future.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Non-cognitive civic outcomes: How can education contribute? European evidence from the ICCS 2016 study

This article explores the diverse associations between different educational approaches in civic and citizenship education and a number of civic attitudes and behaviours, including citizenship, expected participation and attitudes towards equal rights, among teenage students in 13 European countries. The results obtained using the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Survey (ICCS) show that all three educational approaches identified (formal civic learning, school democracy and active community involvement) are related to what students think and how they feel about civic and citizenship issues, although the role of each approach varies considerably across the different civic attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, students’ civic and citizenship knowledge shows somewhat controversial associations with the various attitudes and behaviours discussed here, while civic self-efficacy is consistently positively related to them.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

Social Inclusion Policies in Higher Education: Evidence from the EU

This report provides a review of different policies that promote access to higher education, participation and completion by students from under-represented groups, such as low socio-economic or educational backgrounds, ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees. This study formulates a typology of main policy levers used by Member States, regions and/or higher education institutions to stimulate widening participation and social inclusion in higher education.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen