Mexico Education Profile 2012

Although education and R&D have been formally set as priorities by most Mexican governments, both are in a precarious situation. The country spends a significant amount of its resources on education (5.5% of GDP, counting both private and public spending), but the qualitative results are meager: Mexico has consistently lagged behind all other OECD countries, including Turkey, in the results of international tests such as PISA. The problem seems to be neither resources nor salaries, if one considers that teacher’s salaries in Mexico are not very different from that of other countries with similar level of development. The problem rather seems to be the poor organization and quality of the education, which is closely linked with the monopoly that the teacher’s union holds on education in Mexico. It is the largest union in Mexico, a remnant of the old regime’s tactic of giving unions privileges (including turning a blind eye to corruption) in exchange for political fidelity. This situation has fostered attitudes on the part of public sector teachers that deeply hurt the quality of education. It has been impossible to push through reforms due to the resistance of this very strong political actor.

Expenditure on R&D lags well behind what is recommended by international education institutions; it is a mere 0.5% of GDP, the lowest such level among OECD countries, again below Turkey, Portugal, Poland and Slovakia, as well as of other countries of similar or even lower levels of development.