6. To improve the Health and
Education Costa Rica reduce
their expenditure in
Answers
Answer:
In 2015, the OECD opened discussions for the accession of
Costa Rica to the OECD Convention. As part of this process,
Costa Rica has undergone in-depth reviews in all the relevant
areas of the Organisation’s work including a comprehensive
review of the education system, from early childhood
education and care to tertiary education.
The report Reviews of National Policies for Education:
Education in Costa Rica evaluates national policies and
practices in Costa Rica in education and skills, compared to
OECD member countries and other reference countries in
the Latin American region. It does so according to five core
principles that are essential to effective education systems:
a strong focus on improving learning outcomes; equity in
educational opportunity; the ability to collect and use data
to inform policy; the effective use of funding to steer reform;
and the extent of multistakeholder engagement in policy
design and implementation.
Based on these tough benchmarks, the review both underlines
the many strengths of Costa Rica’s education system and
provides recommendations on how to improve policies and
practices so that the country can advance towards OECD
standards of education attainment and outcomes. These
highlights summarise the main findings of the Review:
l Early childhood education: Higher priority should be given
higher priority in public spending and policy, given the
vital role it can play in tackling disadvantage and poverty.
l Basic education: The quality and equity of learning
outcomes should become the centre point of policy and
practice.
l Upper secondary (diversified) education: It should be
made more inclusive to reflect its new role as the final
stage of schooling and career gateway for all Costa Ricans.
l The tertiary education system: This needs extensive
reform in quality assurance, funding and governance to
ensure that it supports Costa Rica’s development goals.