Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

54 NARRATIVE Cyprus’s education system has been undergoing major reforms during the past few years, aimed at modernising pedagogical policies, upgrading structures and improving infrastructure. The main focus is placed on improving the quality of education, and making better connections between school and the labour market. The modernisation of the curricula for both primary and secondary education, the digitalisation of education, the establishment of a new system for teacher and school evaluation, the addressing of skills mismatch between education and the labour market, and, also, the extension of free compulsory preschool education are basic educational reforms which promote the improvement of students’ outcomes. At the same time there are new challenges brought to the foreground by the pandemic, namely the need to speed up the digital transformation of schools, while making sure that no child is left behind. Distance learning highlighted several gaps and challenges that need to be tackled to unlock the potential of digital education. Several initiatives in Vocational Education and Training (VET) over the past years have aimed at improving its relevance on labour market needs and enhancing its attractiveness; yet there is need to further improve the capacity and relevance of VET. An overall improvement of the educational system is required in order for it to become more flexible and responsive to labour market needs, with an emphasis on upskilling and reskilling, and encouraging of lifelong learning. ANALYSIS Cyprus is just above the EU average in regards to early leavers from education and training. In particular, the percentage of early leavers in the population aged between 18 and 24 years old is 9.2 in Cyprus, and 10.2 in the EU, placing Cyprus 17th among EU members. Cyprus also ranks close to the middle among EU countries in regards to male and female early leavers. What is positive about this particular indicator is the fact that it shows a negative trend from 2010 to 2019 (from 12.7% to 9.2%). 95.3% of children between the age of 4 and the starting age of compulsory education participate in early childhood education, ranking Cyprus 13 th among EU countries. Cyprus holds a similar position pertaining to females, but ranks much higher (7 th ) in regards to males. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA test) is a well-known tool evaluating the efficiency of secondary education. According to the 2018 PISA results, the percentages of Cypriot students underachieving in reading, mathematics, and science are 43.7%, 36.9%, and 39% respectively (see Figure 14). These percentages are way above European average, placing Cyprus among the three countries with the worst results. These results have raised concerns within the Cyprus Government, which has started making efforts towards improving in this field. Nevertheless, the performance of Cypriot students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2019) improved significantly, compared to the results of previous years. In particular, the overall data of TIMSS 2019 for primary and lower secondary education indicate a statistically significant improvement (for grade 4, performance increased by 9 units in Mathematics and 30 units in Science). Underachievement in reading Underachievement in maths Underachievement in science % of 15 year-old students 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Cyprus EU Figure 14.: Programme for international student assessment % of the population aged 30 -34 Cyprus EU 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Tertiary Educational Attainment Employment Rates of Recent Graduates 58.8 81.7 40.3 80.9 Figure 15.: Tertiary education