OECD: Israel pays teachers half of Western average
The OECD's annual report on education shows Israel trailing other developed nations in spending per student and teacher salaries.
By Or KashtiIsrael spends less per student than other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to an annual OECD education report released on Tuesday.
According to the report, in 2007 Israel spent $3,631 per preschool student, $5,060 per primary school student and $5,741 per secondary school student.
The corresponding average expenditures in other OECD countries were $5,447, $6,741 and $8,267.
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A classroom in Givatayim. |
| Photo by: Dan Keinan |
Israeli classrooms were more crowded than the OECD average – 27.6 students compared to 21.6.
The Education Ministry said that the OECD's "Education at a Glance" report was based on data from before the implementation of the "New Horizon" educational reforms.
In 2008, an Israeli primary school teacher with 15 years experience earned $19,868, compared to the OECD average of $39,426.
"The data on the low teachers' salaries strengthens the righteousness of our struggle to improve pay for teachers," said Ron Erez, head of Israel's Secondary School Teachers Association. "It is unacceptable that a country belonging to the OECD would pay an important public sector like its teachers low salaries compared to their colleagues in western nations."
On a positive note, the OECD report found that Israel is one of the leading countries in high school graduation rate. 90 percent of Israeli teenagers graduate from high school, 10 percentage points higher than the OECD average.
Israel is also a leader in the percentage of people ages 25-64 with some form of higher education.
The rate of those 25-34 with a form of higher education, however, is lower than the 35-64 cohort, casting uncertainty on whether Israel will stay among the leaders in this category in the future.
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Israel fought tooth & nail to join the OECD, now it's going to be transparent to everyone that: 1) You're not ready to join the big boys. 2) You need to make peace with your neighbours to enable some of the defence budget to be diverted to some of lifes basics. I look forward to the next batch of statistics.
"pupils rights" - total freedom, no punishments, and let pupils decide what they want. Well they decided thay don't want to study, and they only want to have fun in class. No memorizing and only creativity, as if all pupils are Einsteins. All these ideas are very appealing, they are hype media slogan type, and give a sense of an advanced society. There is a sense of disdain for schools like in Asia in which pupils work hard. The same for the fight against crime. We look with disdain at societies which give harsh punishments, and are proud we feel advanced when we let rapists and murderers with minimal punishments. Such superiority feelings would be to the point if indeed education was high and crime low. However, the opposite occurs. We see that behind all these left ideas in education and fight against crime, there are only pr. slogans which sound good in shallow tv. discussions, and do not yield any good result. Unfortunately, our society is not so advanced. We should go back to the "Barbaric" methods, which are the only one known to work so far: work hard at school, discipline, self-moderation, and hard punishments for criminals. Less flamboyant indeed, but this is the real world.
Unfortunately a large percentage of teachers in Israeli schools are not worth paying more. The system here is very poor. Culture, such as art and music, are almost non-existant. Many teachers set a bad example to their students by the way they interact with the students and discipline leaves a lot to be desired. It is not all about money. There are too longer holiday breaks - summer should be six weeks maximum - and the educational level requirement of teachers should be set higher. Having seen my own children, and now grandchildren, go through the school system I do not hold up too much hope that things will get better. Perhaps less computer games, tv, mobile phones etc will help and then a little bit more seriuous reading will engage the minds and imagination of our future generation. In the meantime pay really good and experienced teachers more, and lesser trained and experienced teachers less.
Now that the stats will roll in, I trust Israel will not regret its inclusion. Graduation rates are an untrustworthy measurement, since there are no comparable standards. Just wait till the literacy and numeracy rates are calculated. Is Israel ready for the ultra-Orthodox kids to be added to the measure? The Arab children? Should be most instructive to the world. We already know the answers.
Get used to it guys---you are not westerners---not that there is anyting wrong with being an oriental. Cept maybe for those who emigrated from the west to the orient and find it hard to assimilate---or even behave themselves.
By Science I don't mean Gaelic ,mind you ,although I'm not sure there are specialists at it in Israel as good as those at the Trinity College
I bet the figures average in what you pay and spend on Arab students. Pull those out, and your numbers will improve considerably.
in any school in Israel . No wonder though, observing your insipidity and obtusiveness ,ya "American Teacher"
Typical of you to go over to a personal attack without provocation -- does all this viciousness have anything to do with the stance you take on Israel? However, in any case, I'm not a teacher.