History
The ISCED was designed in the early 1970s to serve as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education both within individual countries and internationally. The first version, known as ISCED 1976, was approved by the International Conference on Education (Geneva, 1975), and was subsequently endorsed by UNESCO's 19th General Conference in 1976. The second version, known as ISCED 1997, was approved by the UNESCO General Conference at its 29th session in November 1997 as part of efforts to increase the international comparability of education statistics. It covered primarily two cross-classification variables: ''levels'' (7) and ''fields'' of education (25). The UNESCO Institute for Statistics led the development of a third version, which was adopted by UNESCO's 36th General Conference in November 2011 and which will replace ISCED 1997 in international data collections in the coming years. ISCED 2011 has nine rather than seven levels, created by dividing the tertiary pre-doctorate level into three levels. It also extended the lowest level (ISCED 0) to cover a new sub-category of early childhood educational development programmes, which target children below the age of three years. During the review and revision, which led to the adoption of ISCED 2011, UNESCO Member States agreed that the fields of education should be examined in a separate process. This review is now underway with the view to establishing an independent but related classification called the ISCED Fields of Education and Training. Related materials from the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training and also2011 version
ISCED 2011 levels, categories, and sub-categories
Source:International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). * 0 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ** 01 Early childhood educational development ** 02 Pre-primary education * 1 PRIMARY EDUCATION ** 10 Primary education * 2 LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION ** 24 General ** 25 Professional * 3 UPPER SECONDARY EDUCATION ** 34 General ** 35 Professional * 4 POST-SECONDARY NON-TERTIARY EDUCATION ** 44 General ** 45 Professional * 5 SHORT-CYCLE TERTIARY EDUCATION ** 54 General ** 55 Professional * 6 BACHELOR'S OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL ** 64 Academic ** 65 Professional ** 66 Orientation unspecified * 7 MASTER'S OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL ** 74 Academic ** 75 Professional ** 76 Orientation unspecified * 8 DOCTORAL OR EQUIVALENT LEVEL ** 84 Academic ** 85 Professional ** 86 Orientation unspecified1997 version
ISCED 1997 fields of education
* 0 General programmes ** 01 Basic programmes ** 08 Literacy and numeracy ** 09 Personal development * 1 Education **14 Teacher training and education science * 2 Humanities and arts ** 21 Arts ** 22 Humanities * 3 Social sciences, business and law ** 31 Social and behavioural science ** 32 Journalism and information ** 34 Business and administration ** 38 Law * 4 Science ** 42 Life sciences ** 44 Physical sciences ** 46 Mathematics and statistics ** 48 Computing * 5 Engineering, manufacturing and construction ** 52 Engineering and engineering trades ** 54 Manufacturing and processing ** 58 Architecture and building * 6 Agriculture ** 62 Agriculture, forestry and fishery ** 64 Veterinary * 7 Health and welfare ** 72 Health ** 76 Social services * 8 Services ** 81 Personal services ** 84 Transport services ** 85 Environmental protection ** 86 Security services * Not known or unspecifiedComparison between versions
See also
* European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for a similar European-based level system * UNESCO nomenclature for fields of science and technology * International Standard Classification of OccupationsReferences
External links
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