Israeli Teachers Rank High Globally Despite Lower Salaries, Report Finds

A new annual report on education by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals that while Israeli teachers earn less relative to other university-educated professionals than before, they are among the best in the world by other metrics. The report, published this week and cited by "Calcalist," indicates that the proportion of teachers leaving the profession in Israel is relatively low, and the growth rate of teachers is 7.5 times faster than the OECD average.

Historically, Israel's Ministry of Finance has focused on the ratio of teacher salaries to those of other university-educated workers. Until 2022, Israeli primary school teachers earned about 86% of what comparable professionals made, slightly above the OECD average of 83%. However, by 2023, this figure dropped to 73% in Israel, while the OECD average rose to 87%. This widening gap, increasing from 14% to 27%, placed Israel fifth from the bottom among 26 surveyed countries. High salaries in Israel's tech sector are cited as a contributing factor.

This salary disparity is expected to be a significant point in upcoming negotiations for a new collective agreement for teachers. The report also highlights that in the 2024/25 academic year, only 2.5% of qualified primary and secondary school teachers left the profession in Israel, compared to the OECD average of 6.4%. Israel ranks among the top five countries with the lowest teacher attrition rates, with Latvia at 12% and Denmark at 14.5% experiencing higher rates.

Earlier reporting noted that over 2.5 million children, including 180,600 first-graders and 149,000 twelfth-grade graduates, enrolled in Israeli schools and kindergartens for the current academic year.