Australia’s primary teaching workforce increased by 17 per cent between 2015 and 2024, compared with a 6 per cent rise in student numbers, new OECD data shows.
Australia’s teaching workforce has grown faster than student enrolments over the past decade, while teachers report substantially more annual teaching hours than the OECD average, according to new data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The findings are contained in OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026 report, released on 29 September.
The number of primary teachers in Australia increased by 17 per cent between 2015 and 2024, compared with a 6 per cent increase in primary student numbers. Across the OECD, teacher numbers increased by 13 per cent while student numbers rose by 2 per cent.
The OECD notes that teacher workforce requirements are influenced by factors beyond student numbers, including class sizes, teachers’ working hours, instruction time and policy choices.
Australian teachers also report higher annual teaching hours than the OECD average. In 2025, primary teachers reported 857 hours of annual teaching, compared with an OECD average of 770 hours. Lower secondary teachers reported 841 hours, compared with 710 hours across the OECD.
The data also shows a higher proportion of second-career teachers in Australia. In the 2024 OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), 16.9 per cent of lower secondary teachers reported entering teaching after working in another occupation, compared with an OECD average of 8.4 per cent.
Teacher satisfaction with employment conditions excluding salaries was broadly in line with the OECD average, at 68.5 per cent in Australia compared with 68.4 per cent across the OECD.
Satisfaction with salaries was higher in Australia, at 54.5 per cent, compared with 38.7 per cent across the OECD.
The report also compares teacher pay with other tertiary-educated workers. Public lower secondary teachers in Australia earn 8 per cent less than other tertiary-educated workers, while public pre-primary teachers earn roughly the same as other workers with tertiary qualifications.
Beyond the teaching workforce, the report provides comparative data on participation, attainment and education funding.
In 2025, 54 per cent of Australians aged 25 to 64 had attained a tertiary qualification, compared with 43 per cent across the OECD. The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds without an upper secondary qualification fell from 12 per cent in 2015 to 7 per cent in 2025.
Australia’s rate of 18 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training was 10 per cent in 2025, compared with 13 per cent across the OECD.
Education spending also remains significant. Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education represented 4.1 per cent of Australia’s GDP in 2023, compared with 4 per cent across the OECD. Private expenditure represented a further 1.4 per cent of GDP, compared with an OECD average of 0.6 per cent.
Government expenditure per student from primary to tertiary education was US$13,063 in Australia in 2023, compared with US$13,601 across the OECD, using purchasing power parity adjustments.
At primary level, Australian government expenditure was US$12,968 per student, compared with an OECD average of US$12,893. At lower secondary level, expenditure was US$15,844, compared with US$14,291 across the OECD.
The report also records Australia’s position as a major destination for international tertiary students. International students accounted for 32 per cent of students enrolled in Australian tertiary institutions in 2024, compared with an OECD average of 12 per cent.