Brussels, 24/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has highlighted persistent inequalities in education. “The dream of 'quality education for all' is not yet a reality”, said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria at the launch of the report Education at a Glance 2015 in Paris on Tuesday 24 November.
The OECD report, which backs up the findings of a European Commission report on education on 12 November, provides a snapshot of the state of education in the 34 member countries of the OECD and its partners (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Latvia, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and, for the first time, Costa Rica and Lithuania).
It reveals that, despite undeniable progress over the last 25 years, inequalities still persist in education. In 2014, less than 60% of adults who had not completed upper secondary education were in work, compared with over 80% of tertiary-educated adults. Educational inequalities also affect earnings, with adults who have attained tertiary education 23 percentage points more likely to be among the 25% highest paid adults than adults with an upper secondary education. Inequalities in initial education continue to unfold throughout people's lives, notably in access to lifelong learning: about 60% of workers in the most skilled occupations participate in employer-sponsored education, while only 26% of workers in elementary occupations do.
The report also highlights the situation within the teaching profession. It notes that the teaching workforce is ageing, with 36% of secondary school teachers at least 50 years old in 2013, an increase of three percentage points in seven years. It also draws attention to a lack of competitiveness of salaries in the sector. On average across the OECD, pre-primary and primary teachers earn 78% of the salary of similarly-educated, full-time workers. The report can be found at: http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)