According to the annual education report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Belgium has the third best education system amongst the 35 OECD countries. Thanks to outstanding teachers and a flexible education system, our country has scored considerably better than the world average.
© Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The OECD research “Education at a Glance” speaks very highly of the Belgian education system. Teachers and head teachers are relatively young in our country. In secondary education 16% of the teachers are younger than 30. That is twice the EU22 average (countries which are both members of the European Union and the OECD). The number of teachers older than 50 is considerably lower than the EU22 average.
The salaries of teachers in primary and secondary education are higher than the OECD and EU22 average. The salaries of teachers delivering post-16 education in Belgium are even higher than the average salary of others who have completed higher education. Whilst post-16 education teachers have a master’s degree, the majority of higher educated people only have a bachelor’s.
The youth of Belgium start higher education at a very young age. 95% of those younger than 25 following higher education enrol furthermore for the first time. The average age to start a bachelor’s degree is 19. For a master’s degree it is 23. In 2015 almost 37% of 25 to 64-year-olds obtained a higher education degree. 21% of them attained a bachelor’s degree and 15% graduated with a master’s.
The Belgian expenditure for education is 5.8% of Gross Domestic Product. This amount is considerably higher than the OECD average of 5.2%. The majority of the education budget (95%) originates from the public sector whilst only 5% comes from the private sector.
There is, however, a downside to the Belgian education system. Only 26% of women successfully completed a science, mathematics or computer science orientated degree. Belgium comes third from last of all OECD countries within this segment. In addition, female teachers are still underrepresented in Belgian education. Whilst 97% of the pre-school teachers are female, this proportion decreases strongly in primary, secondary (63%) and higher education (48%).
