Press Release: Ageing teachers a challenge for EU education sector

The European Commission has welcomed the launch of Education at a Glance 2012, an annual report providing data from 34 countries including 21 EU Member States (list below) on performance in education. The report, compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), identifies several areas in European education that are likely to create challenges in the near future.

An ageing teaching force is one of them: more than 40% of secondary school teachers in five EU countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden) are aged 50 or older – in Germany and Italy the share is even higher at more than 50%. Gender inequality is also a problem: the report shows that nearly a third more women than men are enrolling in higher education in the EU.