OECD Education at a glance Report Confirms Need to Invest and Stand up for Quality Education

Created on: 09 Sep 2025


The EIS has called for greater investment in quality education, following today’s publication of the annual Education at a Glance report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The report, which compares education across countries within the OECD, offers some stark warnings to government over the level of support for education. While the report does not contain a great deal of Scottish-specific data, there are some clear areas of concern, including:

  • Average class sizes across the OECD are 21 for primary education, and 23 in lower secondary. Class sizes can be up to 33 pupils, at all stages, in Scotland.
  • The report states that ‘Most countries, except Chile, Israel, Japan and the UK have fewer than 25 students per class on average,’ which again confirms high class sizes in Scotland.
  • The report identifies that pupil-to-teacher ratios are higher than average across the UK.
  • Scotland compares particularly badly in pupil-teacher ratios in Early Years settings. The average ratio across the OECD is 13 pupils per teacher. Across the whole of the UK, the figure is 32 pupils per teacher.
  • While specific Scottish figures on early years are not included in the report, the known average pupil-teacher ratio in Scottish Early Years establishments is shockingly high, at 133 pupils per teacher (source: Summary statistics for schools in Scotland 2024).
  • Across all OECD countries, an average of 6.5% of qualified teachers left the profession over the year studied, with almost one-third of these leaving within the first 5 years of their career.

Commenting on the publication of the report, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “The OECD Education at a Glance report is a major piece of work, which presents a range of interesting comparisons in education systems across the globe.

"While the amount of Scottish-specific data in the report is limited, the overall trends identified in the report do offer up some significant questions for the Scottish Government and local authorities to answer on their support for Scottish education.”

Ms Bradley continued, “High workload in Scotland’s schools continues to be a major issue, with teachers consistently facing excessive workload burdens. Scotland’s large class sizes and the long time that teachers spend in the classroom, compared to peers in other countries, are significant factors in the workload strains that our teachers face.

"This is an issue that the Scottish Government and local authorities must tackle, if the working conditions of teachers and the learning conditions of pupils are to be improved.”

Ms Bradley added, “Particularly glaring from a Scottish perspective are the figures for pupil to teacher ratios in Early Years settings. Across the OECD, there are an average of 13 pupils per teacher, and 32 pupils per teacher across the UK.

"Staggeringly, in Scotland, the average figure is 133 pupils per teacher in Early Years. Given the importance of quality Early Years education to young people’s future life chances, and bearing in mind the Scottish Government’s stated focus on combating child poverty and closing its associated achievement and attainment gap, this is an area where significant additional investment in teachers is desperately needed."

Ms Bradley concluded by saying, “The OECD report identifies a downward trend in investment in education globally, something that has been felt particularly acutely in Scotland’s schools in recent years.

"The reality is that both the Scottish Government and Scotland’s local authorities must step up their support for our schools, and their commitment to investing in quality education for all our young people.

"This will require more teachers and more support staff employed in our schools, and a renewed focus on investing in young people to ensure a better future, both for those young people themselves and, also, for the future of Scottish society as a whole.”

Further Information: 

More information on the current EIS campaign Stand up for Quality Education, can be found at: www.eis.org.uk/campaigns/SU4QE

The OECD report Education at a Glance can be found at: www.oecd.org/en/publications.html