Education at a glance 2012: highlights

This publication summarises the OECD compendium of education statistics, ‘Education at a glance’. It provides data on current key topics in education including: education levels and student numbers - how far have adults studied, and how easily do young people enter the world of work; the economic and social benefits of education - how does education affect people’s job prospects, and what is its impact on incomes; paying for education - what share of public spending goes on education, and what is the role of private spending; the school environment - how many hours do teachers work, and how does class size vary; and equity - this special section introduces issues relating to equity in education, such as how important is pre-primary education, how does socioeconomic background affect educational performance, how easy is it for older people to access education, and how wide is the gender gap? Each indicator is presented on a two-page spread. The left-hand page explains the significance of the indicator, discusses the main findings, examines key trends and provides information about how to find more in the OECD education databases and in other OECD education publications. The right-hand page contains charts and tables, accompanied by dynamic hyperlinks (StatLinks) that direct readers to the corresponding data in Excel™ format. Show less