This week, IEN scans the headlines reporting on this year’s OECD Education at a Glance for 2024. Published on September 10th 2024, this year’s report focuses particularly on equity and disparities in opportunities at every level of education. Every year, the report also summarizes recent developments in access, participation, and progress in education across countries. Overall, secondary attainment improved as have educational and labour-market outcomes for youth most at risk of falling behind. The earnings gap between females and males shrank, but girls and women continue to earn less than boys and men, despite outperforming them on most measures. The headlines about the report compiled in this scan, highlight issues such as decreases in education funding and increases in teacher-student ratios in some countries. For some historical context, see IEN’s coverage of previous reports: Education at a Glance 2023 Scan, Education at a Glance 2022 Scan, Education at a Glance 2021 Scan, Education at a Glance 2019 Scan.
Global
Financial incentives not enough to fix teacher shortages across the OECD, EducationHQ
“Teacher recruitment woes are not unique to Australia, with a major new OECD report finding many countries are grappling with critical staff shortages, along with an ageing workforce that carries a marked gender imbalance.“
Albania
OECD report: Albania far from the EU and last in the region for digital skills, CNA.al
Australia
New report highlights inequity in Australia’s schools, The Educator
“Australia significantly underperforms against most OECD countries when it comes to investing in public
schools, new data shows.“
Australia spending more on private schools than other developed nations, Nine News
“The gap in Australia’s education system has been revealed in new research examining
global schooling trends.”
Brazil
Brazil’s compulsory schooling surpasses OECD average, Agência Brasil
Finland
Education at a Glance: Major gender differences in education paths found among OECD countries – international comparison shows Finland’s situation remains largely unchanged, Finnish Government
“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published its Education at a Glance, an annual publication of indicators describing education systems.”
Hungary
Ministry: OECD acknowledges achievements of Hungarian public education, The Budapest Times
“A high proportion of children in Hungary receive pre-school education, while the
ratio of children to teachers and the number of students who drop out or repeat a grade is below average…”
Ireland
Ireland ranks last in investment in education in OECD, RTE
“The organisation’s latest Education at a Glance report places Ireland last out of 34 countries when it comes to the proportion of its GDP that it invests in education.”
Irish principals condemn ‘vacuous’ OECD review which missed ‘severe deprivation’ in some schools, The Irish Times
Italy
Italian female college graduates earn half the income of men, Agenzia ANSA
“Young women with a university degree in Italy on average earn roughly half the income of their male counterparts, or 58%, the widest gender gap recorded in the 38-country area of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), according to a report out on Tuesday.”
Korea
Young Korean women are more educated, less employed than men, OECD finds, The Hankyoreh
Korean teachers handling larger classes, but starting pay lags behind OECD average, The Korea Herald
Portugal
Immigrant students up by 160%, The Portugal News
“The number of immigrant students in Portuguese schools has increased by 160% over the last five years, and the Ministry of Education is preparing a set of mechanisms for schools to integrate these children and young people.”
Portuguese families lead in preschool spending, The Portugal News
Spain
School enrolment for 0 to 3-year-olds in Spain rises ten points in a decade, exceeding OECD and EU averages, La Moncloa
Türkiye
Türkiye’s school enrollment hits 98.8% for ages 6-14 in 2023, Daily Sabah
“In Türkiye, as of 2023, the school enrollment rate for the 6-14 age group was 98.8%, while the education participation rate for the 15-19 age group was 73%.”
United Kingdom
UK among nations with lowest spending per child on pre-primary education – OECD, Guardian-Series
“In early childhood education, expenditure per child in the UK is around 6,893 dollars (£5,272), according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest Education at a Glance study. This is compared with around 11,735 dollars (£8,976) per child on average across OECD countries with data available.”
UK primary class sizes among biggest in industrialised world, report finds, The Guardian
“Only Chile exceeds UK’s 27 pupils a class in OECD study, with UK pupil-teacher ratio also among highest.”
International Education News 