El fracaso escolar en España y sus regiones: Disparidades territoriales/School failure in Spain and its regions: Territorial disparities and proposals for improvement

Headnote

PALABRAS CLAVE: Fracaso escolar, Abandono escolar temprano, Crecimiento a largo plazo, Sector de la construcción, Leyes de educación.

KEY WORDS: School failure, Early school leaving, Long-term growth, Construction, Education law.

Clasificación JEL: I21, I28

RESUMEN

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar uno de los grandes problemas educativos al que se enfrenta España: el fracaso escolar. Siendo un país bien posicionado en renta per cápita, dentro de la UE ostenta la mayor tasa de abandono escolar temprano. La corrección del fracaso educativo lograda desde finales de los setenta se paralizó durante la última fase expansiva (1995-2007) como consecuencia del dinamismo de la construcción. Dada la dispar estructura productiva de las regiones españolas, el perfil geográfico del fracaso escolar muestra contrastes, comportándose mejor las áreas del norte. En este resultado inciden también las diferencias territoriales en gasto público educativo, nivel económico, cultural y laboral.

SUMMARY

This essay describes and analyzes one of the main problems that exist in Spain nowadays, the problem of early school leaving. The human capital endowment is seen as a key to promote growth and competitiveness of a country. Although Spain has made significant progress in the educational level of its population in the last fifty years, even today remain two major problems: a high deficit of training in the international context and large educational disparities between regions. Territorial differences are linked, among other factors, to the gradual decentralization of the education system in our country in recent decades.

The Spanish educational neglect is a structural problem that can hinder both accesses to the labor market of young people as their own job stability, with the risk of economic and social exclusion.

This scenario makes the acquisition of compulsory education levels is a necessary but not sufficient condition, as required also continue post-compulsory education for better opportunities. In addition, the education system must not only transmit knowledge, but also other skills that foster innovation and creativity, preparing students for a complex and changing future.

Among the indicators related to school failure, we will focus on early school leaving, which is measured by the percentage of people aged 18 to 24 who are outside the education system or have not completed compulsory education. It is considered that this indicator is best...