Understanding the gender dynamics in educational transitions can help target policies to support equitable access to education as well as its quality and labour-market outcomes. In almost all OECD countries, the gender gap in favour of women is wider in tertiary education than at upper secondary...

School heads in public institutions are required to work on average 7-8 hours a day, as is the case for most office-based jobs. The hours worked and the list of tasks and responsibilities vary widely across countries. On average across OECD countries, they earn more than teachers and other...

A tertiary degree yields better earnings, especially in countries with a small share of tertiary-educated adults in the population. However, this earnings advantage varies significantly by field of study. In some countries, workers with a tertiary degree in arts and humanities earn less than...

Women are strongly over-represented among primary and secondary teachers. This can be explained at least partly by gender stereotypes, but also by the attractiveness of the profession to working mothers and by differences in the relative wage levels in teaching for men and women. Recognising...

The labour market outcomes for native- and foreign-born adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic vary considerably across countries – with inequalities in employment even falling in some cases compared to 2017. In contrast with the 2008 financial crisis, greater educational...

Between 2000 and 2012, the proportion of young adults (25-34 year-olds) with a tertiary qualification has grown by more than 3% per year on average in OECD countries. On average across 24 national and sub-national entities participating in the OECD Survey of Adult Skills, 39% of adults have...

The annual number of teaching hours of teachers differs greatly from one country to another and tends to decrease as the level of education increases. On average across countries, teachers spend half of their working time in non-teaching activities including planning lessons, marking and...

Rising levels of tertiary attainment seem not to have led to an “inflation” eroding the labour-market value of qualifications. However, tertiary graduates have the highest relative earnings advantage when they live in a country with low tertiary attainment rates. On average, compared to...

First-time entrants to tertiary education are required to make interconnected decisions about their field of study, the fees they will pay and the application requirements they are prepared to face. Their choice of programme and institution will be influenced by the costs and entry criteria. The...

Both the admission process and criteria for admission affect tertiary enrolment. Centralised admission systems can make the admission process more efficient, but can limit the number of applications and offers made to applicants; minimum performance requirements or tuition fees are barriers to...