How much does school failure cost in economic terms in Spain? What is the cost of repeating a year in school? To what extent is the state budget invested in education effective and meeting its objective? How much does the State fail to collect by not being able to reduce the number of students who leave ESO without a degree? Are there mechanisms that can contribute to reducing school failure and grade repetition rates?
School failure is a highly complex phenomenon. Understood in broad terms, that is, going beyond the Spanish definition based on obtaining or not the corresponding degree to basic education and including, therefore, other problems such as grade repetition, absenteeism, school dropout (early), etc., the importance of addressing it is measured by its consequences. This report, focused on the Spanish context, addresses precisely some of its economic consequences, answering these questions and focusing on two specific problems: grade repetition and leaving Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) without a graduate degree.
This Spanish report on the economic costs of school failure and the contribution of the DFE DETEK-TA Platform (the current “díde“) to minimize them is fundamentally based on data provided by the INE and the MECD on education and the transition to the labor market, focuses especially on the 2011-12 academic year and in public schools –in which Infant, Primary and ESO Education is taught– and consists of the following blocks:
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The first block is aimed at giving an account of spending on education in Spain, as well as the average expenditure per student.
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The second block offers estimates regarding the economic cost of impacting school failure in terms of cost overruns –when talking about grade repetition–, of lack of use of the economic resources invested –when it comes to students who leave ESO without the degree– and lack of collection in respect of taxes, once left behind school life.
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The third block is oriented to calculate the economic costs and benefits that would result from implementing DFE DETEK-TA (“díde“) in schools, an online platform created and promoted by the team of professionals of Grupo VS Educación to facilitate and streamline the work of management, early detection and prevention of learning difficulties, difficulties that may explain part of the existing school failure in our country.
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Finally, the fourth block offers a recapitulation of the results obtained, as well as the main conclusions reached, without forgetting some propositional elements for the improvement of the educational system and a better use of the existing economic resources and directed to this area.
ACCESS THE 2015 SPANISH REPORT ON THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF SCHOOL FAILURE
