OECD Education at a Glance 2006

12th September 2006

Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the NUT, Europe’s largest teaching union said;

“The OECD figures show just how much the Labour Government had to do to repair the education cuts of the early 90’s and just how much further it still has to go to match the education spending of the top industrial countries. Beneath the headlines the UK is still
barely hitting the average spent by the OECD countries on education.

“There is still a massive and shocking disparity between the average class sizes in the public and private sectors compared to other countries. It highlights the importance of the Chancellor’s pledge to raise the average public investment per pupil to today’s private school levels.

“I urge the Government to put in train plans to increase education spending by £17 billion to achieve this target. It is vital that the benefits enjoyed by youngsters in private schools are shared by all youngsters”.