Databases

UOE Database

The UOE data collection is an instrument through which UNESCO, OECD and Eurostat jointly collect internationally comparable data on key aspects of education systems on an annual basis using administrative sources. Data are collected according to the ISCED 97 classification and cover enrolments, new entrants, graduates, educational personnel and educational expenditure. The specific breakdowns include level of education, sex, age, type of curriculum (general, vocational), mode (full- time/part-time), type of institution (public/private), field of study and nationality.

The methodology and questionnaires used for the 2010 UOE collection, from which the data included in the present publication are taken, may be accessed by the public at the Eurostat Education, Training and Culture Statistics website (2).

Demography Database

Eurostat collects national demographic data from responses to an annual questionnaire sent to the national statistical institutes. The annual national population estimates are based either on the most recent census or on data extracted from the population register.

The Community Labour Force Survey (LFS)

The Community Labour Force Survey, which has been carried out annually since 1983, is the principal source of statistics on employment and unemployment in the European Union. This sample survey is directed at individuals and households. The questions mainly cover the characteristics of employment and job-seeking. The survey also includes questions on participation in education or training during the four weeks before it is carried out, and information on the level of education attained according to the ISCED 97 classification. The concepts and definitions used in the LFS are based on those contained in the Recommendations of the 13th Conference of Labour Statisticians convened by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1982.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1897/2000 offers a precise definition of unemployment in order to improve the comparability of statistical data within the European Union. This definition is consistent with the recommendations of the International Labour Organization. All the following definitions are applicable to individuals aged 15 and over who live in private households. The definitions are therefore common for all countries.

In order to achieve maximum uniformity of the reference period for the various countries and ensure that data within the Key Data series remain consistent, the present edition contains the data for the second quarter of the reference year (April to June). The results for the United Kingdom and Ireland are those of the spring of the reference year while those for France and Austria correspond to the first quarter. The reference period for the statistics taken from the LFS is 2010.

Like all surveys, the LFS is based on a population sample. Its findings may thus be affected by sampling conditions and errors associated with them. The national data contained in the present edition conform to the highest reliability thresholds as recommended by Eurostat. Data that did not conform to an adequate reliability threshold have been regarded as not available and indicated with the sign (:).

Key Data on Education in Europe 2012

National Accounts Database

The European System of National and Regional Accounts (abbreviated to ‘ESA 1995’, ‘ESA’, or sometimes also ‘the system’) is an internationally comparable accounting framework for systematic and detailed description of a ‘total economy’ (i.e. a region, a country or a group of countries), its components and its relationships with other ‘total economies’.

The reference year of data in this edition that involve national accounts is 2008.

OECD PISA 2009 Database

Besides measuring performance, the PISA survey include questionnaires to identify variables in the school and family context which may shed light on their findings. The questionnaires were sent to school heads and pupils during the PISA survey. The indicators contained in the present publication have been prepared using replies from these questionnaires.

x The sampling procedure involved selecting schools and then pupils. It sought to offer each pupil the same probability of being selected irrespective of the size or location of the school he or she attended. For this purpose, schools were weighted prior to sampling in such a way that the probability that they would be selected was inversely proportional to their size (3). The consequences of this procedure when interpreting the Figures are indicated in the explanatory notes.

x Where data is taken to apply to the entire population of countries, it is essential to comply with certain strict requirements such as standard error analysis (measurement of sampling-related errors), as a result of which a perceptible difference between two items of data may be considered insignificant in statistical terms.

x The survey response rate also has to be taken into account. If it is too low for the data to be regarded as representative, they are not included in the Figures but in an additional note underneath them. Where the response rate is too low in the case of a particular question and country, data for that country are said to be lacking.

G l o s s a r y , S t a t i s t i c a l D a t a b a s e s a n d B i b l i o g r a p h y