By Amar Toor
Communications and Digital Officer, Directorate for Education and Skills
Today is World Teachers’ Day! Established by UNESCO in 1994, World Teachers’ Day is an annual initiative dedicated to “appreciating, assessing, and improving the educators of the world”. This year’s celebration also marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognises education as a key fundamental right, and seeks to guarantee equal access to education for all children. And as this year’s theme reminds us, “the right to education means the right to a qualified teacher”.
In honor of today’s commemoration, we’ve put together a list of ten teacher-related stats, based on a wide range of our research and reports on education. Check out the full list below, and be sure to take some time today to thank the teachers in your life for their critically important work.
Did you know…?
- The average class in OECD countries has 21 pupils at the primary level.
- On average across OECD countries, there are 15 students per teacher at the tertiary level.
- The number of teaching hours required in public upper secondary schools ranges from 405 in Denmark to over 1050 in Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica.
- On average across OECD countries, 12% of primary teachers are under the age of 30.
- On average across OECD countries, women represent 97% of the teaching staff in pre-primary education.
- In all OECD and partner countries, the share of male teachers in primary education is the highest in India (49%), Saudi Arabia (47%), and Turkey (41%).
- On average, 91% of teachers across countries report overall satisfaction with their job.
- Less than a quarter of all teachers across OECD countries believe that teaching is a valued profession in society.
- Teachers report spending 79% of their lesson time on actual teaching and learning.
- 26% of teachers say there is a lot of disruptive noise in their classrooms.
