1. Education indicators in the HDI: Expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling
Friedrich Huebler
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Workshop on Measuring Human Development
Eschborn, 14 June 2013

2. Indicator 1: School life expectancy
SLE is the UIS term for expected years of schooling
Definition: SLE = number of years a child of school entrance age can expect to spend in a given level of education
Example: SLE for primary to secondary education
4 grades of primary, 8 grades of secondary education
All children complete secondary education
All children repeat one grade
SLE for primary to secondary education = 13 years
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3. Calculation of SLE
SLE = sum of age specific enrolment rates for a given level of education
School life expectancy at age a for level l in year t
Enrolment of population at age i in level l in year t
Population of age i in year t
Enrolment of unknown age in level l in year t
School-age population for level l in year t
Theoretical duration of level l in year t
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4. SLE for primary to tertiary education, 2008-2012
SLE ISCED 1-6:
Min. 4.6 years
Mean 13.2 years
Max years
Source: UIS database, June Latest available data for 139 countries.
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5. Interpretation of SLE: Factors to consider
Treatment of pre-primary education
UIS excludes enrolment in ISCED 0
Starting age for calculation of SLE
UIS considers enrolment of all ages (0 years and older)
Small effect: small enrolment divided by large population
Repetition
High number of repeaters means more years spent in school
Alternative: SLE net of repetition
Adult education
Included in calculation of SLE for some countries until 2003
Full-time equivalent
No distinction between part-time and full-time education
Enrolment and population from different sources of data
Changes in education systems over time
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6. Calculation of SLE net of repetition
School life expectancy at age a for level l in year t
Enrolment of population at age i in level l in year t
Population of age i in year t
Enrolment of unknown age in level l in year t
School-age population for level l in year t
Theoretical duration of level l in year t
Repeaters in level l in year t
Note: SLEN can only be calculated for ISCED levels 1 to 3. No data on repeaters for higher levels.
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7. SLE and SLE net of repetition, ISCED 1-3, 2008-2012
Difference SLE – SLEN:
Min. 0 years
Mean 0.49 years
Max years
Source: UIS database, June Latest available data for 124 countries.
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8. Indicator 2: Mean years of schooling
Definition: average number of completed years of education of a population (HDI: 25 years and older)
Indicator not yet produced by UIS
Goal: first UIS MYS database by October 2013, in collaboration with HDRO
UIS has data on educational attainment for years since 1946
Annual UIS survey on educational attainment: Highest level of education completed for population 10 years and older
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9. Calculation of MYS Similar approach as Barro and Lee (1993, 2010)
Example:
4 grades of primary, 8 grades of secondary education
50% completed primary education
50% completed secondary education
MYS = 0.5× ×(4+8) = = 8 years
Mean years of schooling
Number of years of schooling for level l
Share of population for which level l is highest level attained
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10. Challenges Limited data coverage Combination of levels of attainment
Example: Sub-Saharan Africa: no data for 28 of 45 countries
Combination of levels of attainment
Example: Austria: 25% completed lower secondary (includes no schooling, incomplete primary, completed primary)
Limited data on incomplete levels of education
No data on percentage of population that started but did not complete ISCED levels 2 to 6
No data on years completed of incomplete levels of education
Limited data on years spent in tertiary education
Changes in education systems over time
Foreign qualifications not always captured
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11. MYS: Next steps for UIS
Collection and analysis of educational attainment data
Review existing database
Collect and analyse data from additional sources, including household surveys
Revise UIS questionnaire on educational attainment to reflect changes in ISCED 2011, ask for data on MYS
Methodology
Test UIS model for MYS calculation, interpolation, projection
Document UIS methodology
Convene expert group to review and validate methodology
Dissemination
Disseminate first set of UIS MYS estimates by October 2013
Expand UIS database
Establish country review of MYS data
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12. Contact information
Friedrich Huebler
Programme Specialist
Education Indicators and Data Analysis
UNESCO Institute for Statistics