The OECD published Education at a Glance 2026 on 29 September. The annual report compares education systems across its member countries and partners, and this year's special focus is the shortage of teachers and the declining appeal of the profession.

A shortage across systems

According to summaries released by national ministries, the report finds that teacher shortages affect most OECD education systems to some degree, and that they are most acute in mathematics and the natural sciences. Governments are responding by widening the ways people can qualify: Germany's education ministers point to dual study programmes and master's routes for career changers.

Some of the comparisons

The German federal education ministry highlighted several figures from the report:

  • 47 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds across the OECD hold a tertiary qualification on average. In Germany the figure is 41 per cent, up 11 points since 2015.
  • Germany has the highest share of domestic graduates completing STEM degrees in the OECD, at 34 per cent.
  • Across the OECD, 12 per cent of young adults lack an upper secondary qualification, five points fewer than a decade ago.
  • 13 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds across the OECD are not in employment, education or training.
  • Average spending per student from primary to tertiary level is 14,861 US dollars across the OECD.

Turkey's education ministry noted that the share of women aged 25 to 34 with a tertiary degree in Turkey rose from 27 per cent in 2015 to 50 per cent in 2025, against an OECD average of 54 per cent.

Why it matters

A system can build schools and raise budgets, but without enough qualified teachers in front of classes, especially in maths and science, results stall. The report arrives a week before UNESCO's World Teachers' Day figures, which put the global shortfall in the tens of millions.

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