This sixth edition (2005) of Key Data on Education in Europe provides an exceptionally wide-ranging overview of the functioning of education systems and the participation of young people at all levels of education in 30 European countries (the 25 Member States of the European Union, the 3 EFTA/EEA countries, and Bulgaria and Romania).

The 2005 edition of Key Data offers a very full report on the position of education in Europe. For the first time, Eurydice and Eurostat sources have been supplemented by data taken from the PISA 2000 and 2003 and PIRLS 2001 international surveys which provide further insight into the subjects covered. The 153 indicators in the report contain information on the following: the demographic and employment context in which education systems are evolving, and the way those systems are organised and function; the training, role and membership of the teaching profession; the educational processes enabling people to acquire the skills essential for the knowledge society; enrolment in different types and levels of education, and student mobility; developments in the teaching of mathematics, science and technology; and the scale and use of resources earmarked for education.
Significant findings:

• increasing numbers of children are receiving pre-primary education;
• increasing numbers of students are enrolled in tertiary education;
• the number of graduates in scientific and technological fields of study is gradually rising;
• the quality of school education is being increasingly evaluated;
• the organisation and management of education systems in the new EU Member States and the EU-15 are very similar;
• inequalities in access to computer facilities and the Internet in schools are becoming more marked.

The publication