Freedom of Education Index 2025:

Freedom of education must be understood as an effective plurality of educational offerings and a system of public funding that allows access to non-governmental schools (NGS)1 by families, regardless of their income level. It is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed in every country to respect human rights. This study outlines the trends in educational freedom across different countries, analyzes its potential drivers, and quantifies the relationship between educational freedom and various economic, social, and educational indicators. This report includes a total of 156 countries, which is 74 more than the first report prepared in 2023 by CEU-CEFAS and OIDEL (Sanz-Magallón & Zurga, 2023).

Typology of countries according to their degree of freedom of education
The second analysis of this report consisted of grouping the 156 countries of the OIDEL Freedom of Education Index (FEI) into four categories with homogeneous values of this metric and attempting to characterize each of the clusters. Although presenting different features, the degree of educational freedom within the group increases as the value of variables such as per capita income, human development, income distribution, economic freedom, life satisfaction, and social mobility increases. There is also a higher performance in characteristics of the educational system as educational freedom increases, both in terms of the indicators representing the overall learning level of students in the PISA tests, as well as the indicators representing equality of opportunities (equity) and social segregation in schools.

Evolution of educational freedom in the 21st century
The degree of educational freedom tended to increase since the beginning of the 21st century in all regions. Between 2002 and 2023, the overall FEI score has increased of 6.7%, with notably an important increase in Africa (21.2%). A process of convergence can be seen, as the countries that initially had a lower level are those that to a greater extent have increased their FEI score in the 21 years between 2002 and 2023. However, during the 2016-2023 period, the increase has been less strong, and some regions, such as Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia and the Pacific have seen a decrease in the FEI score.

Freedom of education and its relation to other basic freedoms
A high correlation can be observed when comparing educational freedom with other basic freedoms in all countries and regions. Generally, the states of most freedoms in the world are at an acceptable level. However, when it comes to freedom of education, no regions show desirable values. In those regions where educational freedom is most established (Europe and North America), the average levels are far from what would be optimal, considering as such the value of Group 4, made up of Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Chile. Consequently, in terms of freedom of education, there is a notorious potential for improvement in all regions of the world, and especially in Arab States and Africa, even though Africa presented a strong improvement in the last twenty years. Correlations can also be distinguished between basic freedoms and individual indicators of the FEI. For instance, FEI Indicator 1 (legal possibility to establish and manage NGS) and religious freedom and freedom to form political parties presented a strong correlation. Indicator 3 (primary school enrollment rate) is also strongly linked with economic freedom and the functioning of the rule of law. Indicator 2 (public funding of NGS) is equally closely related to all basic freedoms while Indicator 4 (share of NGS) shows no association with the other freedom variables.

Freedom of education, performance of the education system, and equity
Some FEI indicators, especially Indicator 2, show a positive association with the school performance of countries in the PISA-2022 tests, although this relationship is lost when including certain control variables, such as the average economic level of the country, or the geographic region to which it belongs. Previous studies showed a better performance of the educational system associated with private and charter schools, using techniques that allow establishing causal relationships, which is manifested not only in the PISA competencies (mathematics, reading, science) but also in various aspects, including better foreign language learning.

Similarly, an association between FEI’s Indicator 1, 2 and 4, and certain variables representative of social segregation in schools is initially apparent but disappears when the per capita income level or geographic region is added to the equation. We thus must reject the hypothesis that freedom of education, as defined by the FEI, leads to greater segregation. Finally, regarding equity, Indicator 2 shows relevant results when associated with income distribution and social mobility. This relationship remains, even after including control variables, such as per capita income and the geographic region to which the country belongs. In this sense, the idea that freedom of education increases inequalities must not only be rejected but the inverse association must be established. On immigration, we find that FEI is negatively associated with a performance gap between students with an immigrant background and those without, therefore meaning that a greater FEI does not create inequality between students from different backgrounds.

Conclusions
Based on this report and the extensive literature on the superior performance of non-state schools in most countries, we can conclude that there are advantages to moving towards greater educational freedom. Freedom of education respects the right of parents to choose the type of education for their children. Moreover, it achieves greater equity and reduces economic inequalities, boosting the performance of the education system and improving its efficiency.