Education is a crucial determinant of individual life chances and the main predictor of young people's labour market outcomes. The individual endowment of education resources is certainly shaped by the institutional structure of education and training systems. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the main contours of the education systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and to shed light on the options offered within countries’ education systems that might have an impact on labour market entry chances.

An education system has many dimensions and can be characterised by a great number of different indicators. This chapter deliberately focuses on those that are relevant to the job allocation process. It starts with the description of the vertical dimension of the education system and examines the distribution of various age cohorts among different levels of education attainment. Then, the structure of the basic level of education in CEE countries is discussed. At the secondary level of education stratification and track differentiation are the main focus. The present arrangements at the upper-secondary level are considered and compared with those existing before the transition period. Meaningful indicators on enrolment in general, and for technical and vocational tracks are presented. This is followed by an explanation of the organisation of vocational training. At the tertiary level the focus is on the field-of-study differentiation, standardisation, quality differentiation and openness of higher education. The chapter provides comparable indicators for all of the above-mentioned dimensions for the 10 CEE countries and, where possible, complements it with the temporary variation (e.g. the development of institutions over time).

Cohort succession and education attainment

The dramatic growth in education participation and changes in the education and training systems may be studied through the comparison of various birth cohorts. So we start with an analysis of education expansion in CEE countries by looking at the education attainment of successive age cohorts in 2002. Figure 1.1 shows the proportions of cohort members with only lowersecondary education or less, which corresponds to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 0-2 (for more on ISCED and its problems for comparative research see Schneider and Kogan, 2008). Figure 1.2 presents the proportion with upper-secondary and post-secondary nontertiary education (ISCED 3-4). Finally in Figure 1.3 one can find the proportion of individuals with tertiary education (ISCED 5-6) by age cohort. In each figure four age cohorts are shown.