Commenting on the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance
report, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint
General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The findings of the OECD’s latest Education at a Glance provide
another worrying reminder that education in England is moving in
the wrong direction and is an outlier compared with other OECD
countries. We need a strong education system to build firm
foundations for our economic growth.
“The study shows that England has among the highest university
tuition fees across the OECD and that our students are graduating
with enormous debt burdens – approaching £50,000 on average per
student. This puts further and higher education out of the reach
of many young people and means the UK will struggle to fulfil its
commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to
which it has signed up alongside other world leaders. Goal 4
commits it to ensure ‘inclusive and equitable quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’
“The study also confirms that teachers’ pay in England has fallen
since 2005 by 10% on average and by 3% for teachers with 15 or
more years’ experience, contributing to our growing teacher
recruitment and retention crisis. The retention problem is
demonstrated by the OECD’s finding that over 30% of England’s
teachers are aged under 30 whereas they make up only a small
proportion of the teaching population, at all levels of education
across OECD countries.”
