EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective (2024)

EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Indicator 24: Time in Formal Instruction

Time spent on instruction is a major influence on student achievement, butequally if not more important is how that time is spent, an influence notmeasured here. Time spent on mathematics and science instruction is anindicator of a student's access to learning opportunities in these subject areas. Within countries, differences in the time spent on mathematics and science instruction provides an indication of the priority given those subjects in relation to each other.

Sidebar: Organized instruction outside of formal schooling

Compared with other countries, schools in the United States provideda relatively low number of instructional days during the 1990-91 school year(178), but had a relatively high number of hours of instruction per day (5.6).In the United States, the average number of hours of instruction per year (997)was either similar to or higher than the average in all but two of thecountries reported, France and Taiwan.
Japan provided relatively few hours of instruction per day (4.0), buthad a long school year (220 days). Taiwan had both a relatively long school dayand school year and, at 1,177 hours, had the highest number of average hours ofinstruction per year of all of the countries reported.
The United States devoted a relatively large number of hours to bothmathematics and science instruction each week (3.8 and 3.7 hours,respectively). These values were among the highest of the countries reported.
In most of the countries for which data were available, 13-year-oldsreceived more hours of mathematics instruction per week than scienceinstruction. Students typically received between 3 and 4 hours of mathematicsinstruction each week, but, in half of the countries reporting data, theyreceived 3 hours or less of science instruction.

Table 24: Time in formal instruction for 13-year-olds,1,2 by country:1991

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall InstructionMathematicsScience---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Average AverageAverage hoursAverage hoursAverage hoursCountryhours per daydays per yearper yearper week per week----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------G-73Canada5.1 (0.01)188 (0.2)959 (-)3.8 (0.03)2.6 (0.03)France 6.2 (0.06) 174 (1.7) 1,079 (-) 3.8 (0.03) 2.9 (0.14)West Germany (former) 4 4.6 (-) 2195 (-) 1,007 (-) (-) (-) - -Japan4.0 (-) 220 (-)875 (-)(-) (-)(-) - -United States5.6 (0.08)178 (0.4)997 (-)3.8 (0.09)3.7 (0.13)OtherHungary3.7 (0.02)177 (1.5)655 (-)3.1 (0.04)3.5(X)Ireland5.4 (0.07)173 (0.9)934 (-)3.2 (0.04)2.7 (0.07)Israel4.6 (0.11)215 (2.2)989 (-)3.4 (0.06)3.0(X)Korea4.4 (0.04)222 (0.4)977 (-)3.0 (0.03)2.4 (0.05)Soviet Union (former)4.1 (0.04)198 (2.1)812 (-)4.3 (0.03)6.5 (0.01)Taiwan 5.3 (0.12) 222 (2.5) 1,177 (-) 3.4 (0.04) 4.1 (X)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Not available.
X Jackknifed standard error is greater than .165. In Educational TestingService, International Assessment of Educational Progress Learning Science,1992, data and the accompanying standard errors were reported in minutes. ForHungary, Israel, and Taiwan, these standard errors were reported as "greaterthan 9.9." When the values were transformed into hours, standard errors forthese three countries became "greater than .165" (9.9 minutes isequivalent to .165 hours).
1/ The average hours of instruction per day includes only the time studentsspend exposed to educational instruction and does not include time spent inlunch, extracurricular activities, homeroom, breaks between classes, and othernoninstructional activities. Thus the actual length of the school day may beconsiderably longer.
2/ Jackknifed standard errors are in parentheses.
3/ No data available for Italy and the United Kingdom.
4/ Reflects 1990-91 school year.
5/ Includes both full- and half-days.

NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 24 for information on indicatorcalculation for Canada, the former West Germany, Israel, Japan, the former Soviet Union, and the United States.

SOURCE: All countries from Educational Testing Service, InternationalAssessment of Educational Progress, Learning Mathematics, 1992; LearningScience, 1992; except the former West Germany: unpublished tabulations,International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)Study of Reading Literacy, 1992; and Japan: National Institute of EducationalResearch, Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Government of Japan,Monbusho, 1992.

Figure 24a: Average hours of formal instruction per year for13-year-olds, by selected country: 1991