Israel's education system still lags behind OECD

In 2005, the salaries of Israeli teachers with 15 years seniority were 88% of the average salary of their OECD peers.

A new report published this week again presents a dismal picture of Israel's education system compared with other countries, especially the members of the OECD. Although the report by the Macro Center for Political Economics and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation states little that is new from a comparative perspective, it collates data from a number of OECD reports about the education systems in member states, and shows how much Israel needs to improve in order to reach the OECD average.

For example, the report points to the fact that whereas most countries boosted spending per pupil by 20-30% in 1995-2003, Israel was one of the countries that boosted spending by less than 10%. The report also states that while Israel spends more on education, about 8% of the state budget, compared with the OECD average of less than 6%, in practice, pupils' grades are low. The Macro Center says, "Israel has a large number of pupils as a proportion of the total population, so the rate of spending on education does not necessarily reflect the allocation of more money for the education of each pupil."

The report also presents data about teachers' pay, but the figures do not take into account the pay hike awarded to teachers as part of the New Horizon reform. Teachers' salaries as a percentage of GDP per capita in Israel were significantly lower than in other countries. In 2006, the average teacher's salary in OECD member states was 128% of each country's GDP per capita; in Israel it was 68%.

The report also states that, in 2005, the salaries of Israeli teachers with 15 years seniority were 88% of the average salary of their peers in the OECD. The gap was narrower in 2006.

Macro Center director general Dr. Roby Nathanson said, "We must not conclude that he solution to the problems is only budgetary, because the challenges that Israel must deal with are also qualitative. Israel must pursue the education reforms that it has undertaken to implement."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 6, 2009

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009

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