The Education Challenge in Mexico

Please cite this paper as: Guichard, S. (2005), "The Education Challenge in Mexico: Delivering Good Quality Education to All", OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 447, OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/047122723082

OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 447

The Education Challenge in Mexico

DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION TO ALL

St?phanie Guichard

JEL Classification: I20, I21, I22, I28, J2

ECO/WKP(2005)34 Unclassified

Unclassified

ECO/WKP(2005)34

Organisation de Coop?ration et de D?veloppement Economiques

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

30-Sep-2005

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English - Or. English

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT

THE EDUCATION CHALLENGE IN MEXICO: DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION TO ALL ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPERS, No. 447

By St?phanie Guichard

English - Or. English

All Economics Department Working Papers are now available through OECD's Internet Web site at

JT00190671

Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d'origine Complete document available on OLIS in its original format

ECO/WKP(2005)34

ABSTRACT

The education challenge in Mexico: delivering good quality education to all

The growth of potential GDP in Mexico is not fast enough to narrow the income gap with other OECD countries at a sufficient pace. The persistent weakness in human capital development contributes to this situation. In particular, Mexicans spend comparatively few years in formal education, and the quality of the education they receive is lower than in other OECD countries. This paper discusses the performance of education services up to the upper secondary level. It assesses both the efficiency (outcome for money invested) and the equity of the system and shows that the education system has to be improved further to narrow the human capital gap with other OECD countries at a faster pace and to better prepare children for life and work in a modern economy. The key problem is not a lack of resources but rather inefficiencies and misallocation of spending together with weak incentives for education professionals to perform well. The paper makes specific recommendations to improve the system. The ongoing efforts undertaken by the authorities go in the right direction but are not sufficient.

This Paper relates to the 2005 OECD Economic Survey of Mexico (eco/surveys/mexico). JEL classification: I20, I21, I22, I28, J2 Keywords: Education, Human capital, Mexico.

R?SUM? Le challenge de l'?ducation au Mexique: donner une ?ducation de qualit? ? tous. La croissance du PIB potentiel au Mexique n'est pas assez soutenue pour permettre une r?duction de l'?cart de revenu avec les autres pays de l'OCDE ? un rythme suffisant. La faiblesse persistante du Mexique en termes de d?veloppement du capital humain contribue ? cette situation. En particulier, les Mexicains passent relativement peu d'ann?es sur les bancs de l'?cole, et la qualit? de l'enseignement qu'ils re?oivent est moins bonne que dans les autres pays de l'OCDE. Ce papier examine la performance des services d'enseignement au Mexique jusqu'au deuxi?me cycle du secondaire. Il ?value tant l'efficience (les r?sultats obtenus par rapport aux sommes investies) que l'?quit? du syst?me et montre que ce dernier doit ?tre encore am?liorer pour que le Mexique puisse combler plus vite son retard de capital humain par rapport aux autres pays de l'OCDE et mieux pr?parer ses enfants ? vivre et travailler dans une ?conomie moderne. Le coeur du probl?me n'est pas tant le manque de ressources, mais plut?t l'inefficacit? et la mauvaise allocation des d?penses, ainsi que le manque d'incitations motivant les professionnels de l'?ducation. Ce chapitre contient des recommandations sp?cifiques pour am?liorer le syst?me. Les efforts actuels des pouvoirs publics vont dans la bonne direction mais sont insuffisants.

Ce Document de travail se rapporte ? l'?tude ?conomique de l'OCDE du Mexique, 2005 (eco/etudes/mexique). Classification JEL: I20, I21, I22, I28, J2 Mots Cl? : ?ducation, Capital humain, Mexique. Copyright : OECD 2005 Application for permission to reproduce or translate all, or part of, this material should be made to: Head of Publication Service, OECD, 2, rue Andr? Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... 2 THE EDUCATION CHALLENGE IN MEXICO: DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION TO ALL................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Introduction: the human capital challenge .................................................................................................. 4 Delivering services to one of the largest school-age populations in the OECD.......................................... 7 Spending better.......................................................................................................................................... 10 Addressing inequalities in education......................................................................................................... 20 Overall assessment .................................................................................................................................... 25 ANNEX 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION .......................................................................................... 27 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................................... 29

Tables

Table A.1. Panorama of the education system (2003/2004) ..................................................................... 27 Table A.2. Enrolment rates 2003/2004 ..................................................................................................... 27 Table A.3. Spending per student (annual spending, 1 000 current pesos) ................................................ 28 Table A.4. Income distribution ................................................................................................................. 28

Figures

Figure 1. Educational attainment of the working-age population ............................................................... 5 Figure 2. Student performance and enrolment rate at age 15...................................................................... 6 Figure 3. Number of students enrolled in school in OECD countries and selected Latin America countries ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4. Total public expenditure on education......................................................................................... 9 Figure 5. Spending per student up to 15 years old and PISA results in 2003 ........................................... 11 Figure 6. Distribution of total and current expenditure on educational institutions1................................. 12 Figure 7. Level of decision making in public lower secondary education................................................ 17 Figure 8. PISA results and level of centralisation of decision making ..................................................... 18 Figure 9. Enrolment rates by poverty status and location ......................................................................... 20 Figure 10. Results of national tests by type of schools ............................................................................. 21 Figure 11. Education performance in selected Mexican States................................................................. 23

Boxes

Box 1. Quality school programme (Escuelas de calidad)......................................................................... 13 Box 2. Summing up of the main recommendations in education.............................................................. 26

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THE EDUCATION CHALLENGE IN MEXICO: DELIVERING GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION TO ALL

St?phanie Guichard1

Introduction: the human capital challenge

1.

Since the 1995 financial crisis, Mexico has made substantial progress in terms of macroeconomic

stabilisation, and important reforms have been undertaken to further open the economy, improve the

functioning of product markets and strengthen the financial sector. However, the improvement in economic

performance has remained insufficient to narrow noticeably the income gap with more advanced OECD

countries. With potential output growth currently estimated at around 4%, it would take several generations

for Mexico to catch up with the average OECD GDP per capita. The overriding challenge for policymakers

in Mexico is to raise potential growth, and thereby the convergence of living standards towards those in

more advanced OECD countries. The income gap in Mexico is to a large extent explained by low labour

productivity, and the persistence of the gap by low productivity growth gains over the past decades.

2.

One important factor behind low productivity is the low level of human capital. Human capital in

Mexico, as measured by average years of schooling amongst the working-age population, is the lowest in

the OECD and there has been only limited progress over recent decades (in contrast with Korea or even

Spain and Greece) (Figure 1). Moreover, while primary education has become nearly universal, Mexican enrolment rates are still lagging at lower and upper secondary education levels (Figure 2).2 About 20% of

the population aged 12-15 has already left school and a quarter of those still at school have already

repeated at least one class.

3.

The quality of education, defined as the impact of the education system on the academic,

economic and social capabilities of students, is also low. Most indicators, including repetition rates, drop-

out rates and students' achievements tested at both national and international levels show that the average

quality of education services is poor and although repetition and drop-out rates have decreased in recent

years there has not been any improvement in international literacy surveys such as PISA. This could be just

a short-term effect: Mexico's success in lowering the less than 15-years old drop-out rate might have

1.

St?phanie Guichard is an economist in the Country Studies Branch of the Economics Department of the

OECD. This paper was originally produced for the OECD Economic Survey of Mexico published in

September 2005 under the authority of the Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD.

The author is indebted to Jean-Philippe Cotis, Andrew Dean, Val Koromzay, B?n?dicte Larre,

Nicholas Vanston, Andreas Schleicher and Carla Belmont, for valuable comments on earlier drafts or for

sharing their knowledge. Special thanks go to Sylvie Toly for excellent research assistance. The paper has

also benefited from discussions with numerous Mexican experts on education including from the Ministry

of Education of the Mexican Federation and the States of Chiapas and Sonora.

2.

The situation is comparable in other Latin American countries (cf. Wolff and Castro, 2000).

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