Education at a Glance 2026: Australia
Table of contents
This country note for Education at a Glance 2026 provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Australia. In line with this year’s thematic focus, it emphasises teacher shortages while also covering other parts of the education system. The data in this note are provided for the latest available year. Readers are referred to the corresponding tables in Education at a Glance 2026 for notes and reference years.
Recruiting second-career teachers is a common strategy for addressing teacher shortages and helps to diversify the profile of the teaching workforce. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, on average across the OECD, 8.4% of lower secondary teachers are second-career teachers; in Australia, they make up 16.9% of all teachers (Table 5).
According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, a large majority of lower secondary teachers (68.4%) are satisfied with their terms of employment (barring salaries) on average across the OECD. In contrast, the share of lower secondary teachers who are satisfied with their salaries is much lower at 38.7% on average. In Australia, 68.5% of lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their terms of employment and 54.5% are satisfied with their salaries (Table 5).
The number of teachers a system needs is not determined by student numbers alone. On average across the OECD, measured in full-time equivalents, the number of teachers in public and private primary schools rose by 13% between 2015 and 2024, even though the number of primary students rose by only 2% over the same period, a divergence driven by policy choices around class sizes, teachers’ working hours and instruction time. In Australia, the number of primary teachers increased by 17% over this period, while the number of students increased by 6% (Table 7).
Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults (25-64 year-olds) have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%. In Australia, the share of adults with tertiary attainment is above the OECD average at 54%, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is below the OECD average at 34% (Table A1.1).
The share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. This trend is also apparent in Australia, where the share of 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary attainment decreased from 12% to 7% between 2015 and 2025 (Table A1.2).
While more young adults obtain a tertiary qualification, the share of individuals whose highest qualification is upper secondary with a vocational orientation is decreasing in almost all OECD countries. This is also the case in Australia, where 15% of all 55-64 year-olds have upper secondary vocational attainment in 2025, compared to 12% of all 25-34 year-olds (Table A1.3).
Youth and young adults who are neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) are a key policy concern, as prolonged periods of inactivity at a young age can have lasting negative effects on socio-economic outcomes later in life. In Australia, 10% of all 18-24 year-olds were NEET in 2025, down from 11% in 2015. For comparison, the average share of NEETs across OECD countries with available data for both years was 13% in 2025 and 16% in 2015 (Table A2.2).
The labour-market significance of advanced qualifications is also reflected in earnings. In almost every OECD country, workers without a tertiary qualification have earnings below the national average. In Australia, full-time, full-year workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment earn 13% less than the national average and those with below upper secondary attainment earn 19% less (Figure A4.1).
Workers with higher educational attainment are much more likely to be in jobs where they can work from home in most countries. In Australia, 52% of tertiary-educated workers sometimes or usually work from home compared to 29% of workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment (Figure A6.3).
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is common among children from the age of 3 in all OECD countries. In Australia, 92% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age of compulsory primary education (age 6 in Australia) were enrolled in ECEC in 2024, higher than the OECD average of 90% (Figure B1.1). However, enrolment rates for younger children vary widely across OECD countries. Among 2 year old children in Australia, 65% are enrolled in early childhood educational development programmes that meet the criteria of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) by combining education and care. This places Australia in the middle of OECD countries with available data. In addition, 2% of younger children in Australia are enrolled in ECEC services outside the scope of ISCED, such as programmes that primarily provide care (Table B1.1).
At tertiary level (ISCED 5-8), most OECD countries host a larger number of international students than they send abroad. On average across the OECD, outbound internationally mobile students account for 6% of all national students (whether enrolled domestically or abroad), while inbound students account for 12% of all students enrolled domestically in 2024. In Australia the share of outbound international students is 1%, while inbound international students average 32%. The top three destination countries for outbound students in Australia are the United States (32%), New Zealand (17%) and the United Kingdom (17%), while the top three origin countries of inbound students are China (23%), India (20%) and Nepal (10%) (Table B4.3. and Table B4.4).
In many countries, inbound mobility has increased faster than outbound mobility among tertiary students. On average across the OECD, the share of inbound mobile students increased by 4 percentage points between 2015 and 2024, and the share of outbound mobile students increased by 1 percentage point. In Australia, the share of inbound students increased by 16 percentage points, while the share of outbound students remained the same (Table B4.3).
Most investment in education comes from public sources. On average across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (based on initial funds, on educational institutions) corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. In Australia, government expenditure equalled 4.1% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure equalled 1.4% (Table C1.8).
Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education as share of GDP (based on final funds, on educational institutions, including R&D) varies by a factor of approximately two across OECD countries (ranging from 2.4% to 5.2%), while government expenditure per student varies by a factor of ten (from USD 3 398 to USD 32 832 adjusted for purchasing power parity) as differences in income levels mean nominal expenditure tends to vary more than relative expenditure. On average across the OECD, expenditure per student from primary to tertiary education was USD 13 601 in 2023, while in Australia it was USD 13 063 (Table C1.4. and Table C1.1).
Government expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 12 968 in 2023 in Australia and USD 12 893 on average across the OECD. In lower secondary education, it was USD 15 844 in Australia and USD 14 291 on average across the OECD. Thus, Australia is among the majority of OECD countries where expenditure is higher at lower secondary level than at primary level (Table C3.1).
Expenditure can be divided into capital and current expenditure: the former finances investment in assets such as infrastructure, while the latter covers regular operating costs. Current expenditure can be further broken down into staff compensation and other current expenditure, such as purchases of goods and services and routine maintenance. In Australia, 81% of current expenditure in primary educational institutions is dedicated to staff compensation compared to 79% on average across the OECD, while the remainder is dedicated to other current expenditure (Figure C3.3).
At upper secondary level, government expenditure per student can differ substantially between general and vocational programmes. Vocational programmes are often more expensive than general programmes due to the need for specialised technical equipment, while at the same time, private contributions, for example from firms, cover a larger share of overall costs in some countries. In Australia, expenditure per student is USD 15 823 in general upper secondary programmes and USD 11 317 in vocational upper secondary programmes, compared to the OECD average of USD 12 421 in general programmes and USD 13 901 in vocational ones (Table C4.1).
On average across the OECD, government expenditure per student is the highest at bachelor’s and above levels despite being the levels where government expenditure accounts for the smallest share of total expenditure. Australia is among the countries where government expenditure constitutes a smaller share of total expenditure compared to the OECD average. Government expenditure per student was USD 10 111 in 2023, corresponding to 31% of total expenditure at bachelor’s and above levels. In comparison, average government expenditure per student across the OECD was USD 16 405, amounting to 68% of total expenditure (Table C5.1).
In most countries, salaries of teachers in public institutions are lower than the salaries of other tertiary-educated workers, especially for teachers at lower levels of education. However, this is not the case in Australia, where pre-primary teachers earned roughly the same as other tertiary-educated workers, while lower secondary teachers earned on average 8% less than other tertiary-educated workers (Table D3.2).
Teachers spend only a fraction of their working time teaching; the remainder is devoted to other tasks, including lesson preparation and marking. On average across the OECD, primary teachers taught 770 hours per year compared to 710 hours per year in lower secondary education. In Australia, annual typical teaching hours were 857 in primary education and 841 in lower secondary education. Thus, Australia was among the large majority of countries where teachers in lower secondary education had to teach fewer hours than those in primary education (Figure 1).
Net statutory teaching time in hours per year, in public institutions
Note: Please refer to the source table for information on whether the data refer to typical, minimum or maximum hours.
1. Actual teaching time (in Latvia except for pre-primary level).
2. Reference year differs from 2023. Refer to the source table for details.
3. Average planned teaching time in each school at the beginning of the school year.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure D4.1 and Table D4.1.
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For more information on Education at a Glance 2026 and to access the full set of indicators, see: https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en.
For more information on the methodology used during the data collection for each indicator, the references to the sources and the specific notes for each country, see Education at a Glance 2026: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/dcf64a14-en.
For general information on the methodology, please refer to the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
Updated data can be found online at http://data-explorer.oecd.org/ and by following the StatLinks in the publication.
Explore, compare and visualise more data and analysis using the Education GPS: https://gpseducation.oecd.org/.
Questions can be directed to the Education at a Glance team at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: EDU.EAG@oecd.org.
This work is issued under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD, and does not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD Member countries.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
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The full book is available in English: OECD (2026), Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en.
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