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France lags behind the class in maths, reading

France is proving to be a poor student and is lagging behind the rest of the class when it comes to reading and mathematics, according to the findings of a new global study.

Published: 8 October 2013 15:58 CEST
France lags behind the class in maths, reading
France could do better when it comes to adult literacy and numeracy, according to the OECD report. Photo: Ed Brambley

When it comes to adult literacy and numeracy, France's end of term report does not make happy reading.

The results of a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show worrying grades for France in comparison to 23 other countries including Germany, the UK and the USA.

France ranked third from bottom in the literacy table, doing only marginally better than Spain and Italy, with only 7.7% of French adults achieving the two highest levels of literacy (levels 4 and 5), whilst the global average was 11.8 percent.

The proportion of French adults achieving low scores (21.6 percent) ( less than or equal to level 1 ) is "among the most significant" of the countries surveyed where the average was 15.5 percent. Japan was at the top of the literacy table, with the UK scoring around average and the USA and Germany coming in lower with the below average countries.

France's level of numeracy also represented another area of disappointment. Once again the country scored at the below average end of the table, coming in fourth from bottom, just above the USA. The OECD study found that France had 28 % low skilled adults, where the average is 19% in the OECD.

Japan again topped the table in numeracy, whilst the UK didn’t fare much better than France, ending up amongst the below average results. 

'A better educated race'

The OECD study comes after a CSA poll for RTL radio found that 58 percent of French people see the equality of the education they received in the country as unsatisfactory and some 57 percent of respondents felt that teachers in France are “poorly trained.”
 
According to the poll, one-tenth thought their ‘profs’ were “very-badly trained”, while just two percent judged them “very-well trained.”
 
British comedian Stephen Fry made headlines in August when he claimed that the French were a "better-educated race" than the British. Fry's statement even provoked disagreement from Sebastien Sihr the head of the French teacher's union, SNUIPPfsu.
 
“Too many pupils are failing at school. Around 20 percent of students aged 11 are failing and we need to progress to reduce that number," Sihr told The Local.
 
“We also need to look at the way are children are marked from such a young age as well as the training of teachers. Now is the time to reflect on these things and make sure our schools offer the best conditions for pupils to learn in."
 
Author Peter Gumbel who wrote  "On achève bien les écoliers" said: "Almost 20% of French kids actually drop out of school with no qualifications, and their standard of literacy is very low, according to both French and international studies. "
 
Social origins play a role

The OECD study highlighted France as one of the countries where the results differed greatly between generations.  The group 45-65-year-olds scored much lower in both literacy and numeracy than their younger counterparts, who on the whole achieved scores much closer to the OECD average.

Social origins also appear to play a large role in literacy levels in France with those born in France faring much better than French people born outside of the country.

The OECD surveyed 7000 French people between the ages of 16 and 65 for the numeracy and literacy study which covered 170,000 people across 24 countries.

by Naomi Firsht

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HEALTH

How unhealthy habits are putting pressure on Germany’s healthcare system

Healthcare in Germany has been praised in a global study – but Germans are still battling bad habits.

Published: 11 November 2019 16:03 CET
Updated: 11 November 2019 17:19 CET
How unhealthy habits are putting pressure on Germany's healthcare system
Revelllers raise a beer at Oktoberfest in Munich. Photo: DPA

According to the OECD Health at a Glance 2019 report, Germany is among the top five spenders on health care, both as a proportion of GDP (11.2 percent) and per person ($5,986). 

And health spending is projected to further increase to reach 12.3 percent of GDP by 2030.

The report said: “With such high level of spending, Germany guarantees good access to health care services, with a widely available health infrastructure, a high number of health professionals and relatively broad coverage for the costs of health care.”

However, Germany has mixed results when it comes to health outcomes.

Life expectancy for people in Germany is at 81.1, making it 10th in the list of developed countries and above the OECD average of 80.7, but behind Japan which snags the top sport, with a life expectancy rate of 84.2.

READ ALSO: The 20 key stats that help explain Germany today

Unhealthy habits in Germany also remain widespread. Germans on average consume more pure alcohol – 11 litres per year – than the OECD average of 8.9.

To compare with neighbouring countries, the amount of litres of alcohol consumed per year in France is 11.7,while in Austria it's 11.8, and in Switzerland it's 9.2. The countries that consume the lowest amount of alcohol are Turkey, Israel and Mexico (all under five litres).

In Germany, 60 percent of the adult population is more likely to be overweight or obese – that's higher than the OECD average of 55.6 and far greater than in France (49 percent), Austria (46.7 percent) and Switzerland (41.8 percent).

Meanwhile, the share of adults in Germany who smoke – 19 percent – is higher than on average across the OECD, although it's worse in other countries, such as France where the proportion is 25.4 percent.

READ ALSO: Opinion: Why Germany needs to take the smoking ban more seriously

Photo: DPA

Looking at the big picture, smoking rates range from over 25 percent in Greece, Turkey and Hungary, to below 10 percent in Mexico and Iceland.

Germany has a high rate of diabetes. A total of 8.3 percent of the population has diabetes, compared to the OECD average of 6.4 percent. In France, that figure is 4.8 percent, in Austria it's 6.4 and it's 5.6 in Switzerland.

Overall, the report found that 8.4 percent of the population are in poor health, slightly better than the OECD average of 8.5 percent.

Preventable deaths

The OECD researchers say that Germany's unhealthy habits, like drinking too much alcohol and smoking, are contributing to preventable deaths. 

Around 120,000 people died in Germany in 2016 from preventable causes such as lung cancer or alcohol-related causes.

The OECD said this “could be avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions”.

While the mortality rate for these causes in Germany is 10 percent below the OECD average, it is substantially higher than in many western European countries, such as Switzerland or the Netherlands.

“Although progress has been made in reducing risky health behaviours, Germans are still more likely to smoke and consume more alcohol than the OECD average,” the report said.

“In 2017, nearly 19 percent of German adults smoked daily. This is down from 23 percent a decade earlier but still much higher than in Sweden or Norway (10-12 percent).”

The report suggested Germany take further measures to combat drinking alcohol and smoking, such as a complete ban on tobacco advertisement.

READ ALSO: Germany should take drinking tips from Scotland, experts insist

High number of doctors and nurses

Things look good when it comes to access to healthcare.

Compared to other OECD countries, Germany has a high availability of doctors and nurses. There are 4.3 practising physicians (OECD average is 3.5) and 12.9 nurses (OECD average is 8.8) per 1,000 population. 

However, there are regional differences, with rural areas less well served. When it comes to doctors, Germany has a relatively low and decreasing proportion of GPs who “play a key role in addressing the needs of an ageing population,” the report said.

This comparably high supply of health workforce needs to be seen in context with the very high health care activity, particularly hospital activity. With 255 hospital discharges per 1,000 population, Germany has the highest rate of inpatient activity among all OECD countries – more than 60 percent above the OECD average. 

READ ALSO: Germans turn to 'medibus' as doctors desert villages

As a result, the workload of some health workers in Germany is high. For example, in hospitals there are fewer nurses per bed than in many neighbouring countries.

A number of policy measures to address this issue and improve working conditions of nurses have been implemented recently. These include the introduction of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in some areas in hospitals and making additional funding available for hospitals to increase nursing staff.

Germans visit doctors more often than other countries

Germany has the fourth highest share of the population over 65 in the OECD countries, with a growing number of people affected by chronic conditions.

The report said hospitalizations in the Bundesrepublik “are high for chronic conditions such as diabetes or congestive heart failure, that should effectively be dealt with in primary health care”.

Germans also consult doctors in the outpatient sector more frequently than people in most other countries. Demographics and the wide availability explain some but not all of the higher utilization rates, said the OECD.

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