OECD has published Education at a Glance, OECD Indicators 2006. The publication includes information on education in the 30 member countries. Additional information can be found on Brazil, Chile, Israel and the Russian Federation, which are not OECD member countries. The data are mainly from the school year 2003-2004.

The publication comprises four chapters that discuss the output of educational institutions and the impact of learning; financial and human resources invested in education; access to education, participation and progression, and the learning environment and the organization of schools. The publication includes a summary, numerous tables and charts. Additional material can be found on the OECD website (http://www.oecd.org).

Education and human capital
OECD emphasizes the value of education in the development of economies and societies. Human capital is a key factor in driving economic growth and in improving economic outcomes for individuals. In most OECD countries the educational attainment of the population is rising since more people are completing upper secondary and tertiary education. Expenditure on education is increasing in the OECD countries, but the increase is not everywhere large enough to keep up with the increase in student numbers. The publication discusses the impact of demographic trends on expenditure on education. Many countries have seen a declining birth rate and it is expected that fewer children will be attending compulsory education in 23 out of 30 OECD countries in the next decade. Iceland is one of these countries.

The OECD points out that member countries make different choices when allocating resources to education. While education at the primary and lower secondary levels is compulsory everywhere, countries place different emphasis on factors such as class size, the ratio of pupils to teaching staff, the salary and working time of teachers and the use of ICT in schools.

Enrolment
A five year old child in Iceland could in 2004 expect to attend school for 19.7 years, which is an increase of half a year since 2003. The average of the OECD countries is 17.4 years. The school expectancy in Iceland is the 5th longest when compared to the OECD countries. Icelandic boys can expect to attend school for 18.5 years on average and girls for 20.9 years. The difference in expected school attendance between boys and girls is among the largest in the OECD countries. It should be mentioned that education expectancy at the upper secondary level in Iceland is 5.3 years, even though most programmes at that level are four year programmes. The education expectancy at the tertiary level is 3.5 years. Many Icelandic students who attend school are older than the traditional school age. More than one–third (37.3%) of the 20-29 year old age group attends school and one-ninth (11.1%) of 30-39 year olds.

The number of students at the tertiary level has increased rapidly in Iceland in the previous years, as in most other OECD countries. The number of students at the tertiary level has doubled in Iceland from 1995 to 2004. Iceland has one of the highest entry rates into tertiary type A education of all OECD countries. In Iceland 79% of young people will attend tertiary type A education if the current entry rates continue. In addition, 8% will attend vocational programmes at the tertiary level. Entry rates are computed by dividing the number of new entrants in each age group by the population of that age group, then adding up the rates for the total. The high entry rate in Iceland is partly explained by the large number of older students at the tertiary level. The high entry rate will not continue since there are a limited number of older people in Iceland who have never attended tertiary type A level education. The entry rate was 83% in 2003 and has therefore dropped by 4 percentage points in one year.

Iceland has a relatively large number of older students at the tertiary level, compared to most other OECD countries. One-half of new entrants into tertiary type A education in Iceland are 23.5 year old or older while one-fifth of new entrants are older than thirty years old.

Expenditure on education
Iceland’s expenditure on educational institutions relative to gross domestic product was 8.0% in 2003 which puts Iceland in first place among the OECD countries. The average of the OECD countries in 2003 was 5.9%. Of those 8.0 percent 7.5 percentage points come from public sources and 0.5 percentage points from private sources. In 2002 Iceland’s expenditure on educational institutions was 7.4% of GDP. Expenditure on the pre-primary level of education is included for the first time in the figures for 2003. In general it can be stated that the countries’ age distribution has considerable influence when comparing expenditure on education. Iceland is in 15th place among the OECD countries with $7,438 spent on educational institutions for every full-time student from the primary to the tertiary level. The average of the OECD countries is $6,827. Iceland spends more than the OECD average on the pre-primary level (3rd place) and compulsory education (6th place at the primary level and 12th place at the lower secondary level) while spending below average per student at the upper secondary level (19th place) and at the tertiary level (21st place). The expenditure per student in US dollars has increased at the compulsory level while it has decreased at the upper secondary and tertiary levels since 2002, even though the total expenditure for upper secondary and tertiary level schools has increased since 2002. When taking into account the length of education at the compulsory and upper secondary levels Iceland spends $102,527 per student during the 14 years that this education lasts. The average of the OECD countries is $77,204 during an average duration of 12.4 years.

The financing of education
Much debate has been taking place in the OECD countries on the financing of education. On average 93% of the cost of education is paid by public funds at the compulsory and upper secondary level in the OECD countries. The share of private funding at these levels increased in the same number of countries as it decreased from 1995-2003. During the same period the share of private funding at the tertiary level has increased in all countries with comparable data. On average 76.4% of the expenditure for the tertiary level of education came from public funds in 2003. Most private funding of tertiary education in the OECD countries comes from households, mainly in the form of tuition fees.

The OECD says that education is a good investment for the individual. Data indicate that the private rate of return of completing a university degree as a part of first education is at least 8% in the 11 countries where data are available, and up to 22.6% among males in Hungary.

Class size in compulsory education
Data on class size in compulsory education show that classes in Icelandic compulsory schools are smaller than in compulsory schools in most other OECD countries. At the primary level there are 17.1 pupils in a class in Iceland and 18.5 pupils at the lower secondary level. Classes at the lower secondary level in Iceland are the smallest in the OECD countries. At the primary level classes in Luxembourg and Portugal are smaller than in Iceland. On average there are 21.4 pupils per class at the primary level in the OECD countries and 24.1 pupils at the lower secondary level. The OECD points out that smaller classes do not necessarily result in better student performance but that other factors need to be taken into account, such as the subject being taught, grouping of pupils into classes, team teaching, and the division of teachers’ working time between teaching and other duties.

Teachers’ working time
According to Education at a Glance teachers at the compulsory and upper secondary levels in Iceland taught for 36 weeks, or 175 days, during the school year 2003-2004. The total teachers’ working time was 1,800 hours. The average of the OECD countries is 37-38 weeks and almost 1,700 hours of total working time. The OECD points out that teachers in Iceland work more hours during the 36 week school year than teachers in Denmark where the school year is 42 weeks. It should be noted that wage contracts with teachers have been signed since the reference time of these figures.

OECD’s press release on Education at a Glance and a summary of the publication in Icelandic can be found on the OECD website http://www.oecd.org.