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Digest of Education Statistics
1997 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 393.Pupils per teacher in public and private elementary and secondary schools, by level of education: Selected countries, 1985 to 1994

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________    
                       |          Elementary                         |   Lower secondary               |    Upper secondary
        Country        |_____________________________________________|_________________________________|_________________________________
                       |    1985 |    1990 |    1991 |    1992 |1994 |1985 |1990 |1991 |    1992 |1994 |1985 |1990 |1991 |    1992 |1994
_______________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____
           1           |      2  |     3   |     4   |     5   |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |     10  | 11  | 12  | 13  | 14  |     15  | 16
_______________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____
Australia .............|\1\ 13.8 |      ---|    18.0 |\2\ 18.4 |18.5 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|  ---| 3.2 |  ---|  ---|      ---|  ---
Austria ...............|    11.3 |    11.6 |    11.6 |    12.2 |11.9 | 9.2 | 7.7 | 7.6 |     7.7 | 8.3 |15.2 |12.4 |11.9 |    11.6 | 7.8
Belgium ...............|      ---|      ---|     9.3 |    13.7 |13.3 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|  ---|  ---|  ---| 4.6 |      ---|  ---
Canada ................|    18.1 |    17.1 |      ---|    ---  |16.5 |16.0 |15.5 |  ---|      ---|19.1 |16.0 |15.3 |  ---|      ---|19.1
Denmark ...............|    12.7 |    11.2 |    11.1 |\3\ 10.9 |11.0 |10.2 | 9.3 | 9.2 |\3\  9.1 | 9.0 |14.8 |13.3 |12.6 |\3\ 10.4 | 9.1
                       |         |         |         |         |     |     |     |     |         |     |     |     |     |         |
France ................|      ---|      ---|    22.7 |\4\ 20.4 |19.6 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|  ---|  ---|  ---| 5.6 |      ---|  ---
Germany\5\ ............|    20.7 |    20.3 |    21.4 |\6\ 19.6 |20.5 |16.9 |14.6 |14.8 |\6\ 14.6 |15.7 |23.7 |21.0 |20.4 |\6\ 19.0 |12.0
Ireland ...............|      ---|      ---|      ---|    25.6 |24.3 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|  ---| 7.2 | 8.3 | 8.6 |      ---|  ---
Italy .................|    12.8 |    10.7 |    10.9 |    10.9 |10.2 | 9.6 | 8.5 | 8.3 |     9.0 | 8.0 |10.8 |10.7 |10.5 |     8.8 | 8.9
Japan .................|      ---|\1\ 20.8 |\1\ 20.3 |\7\ 19.8 |19.2 |  ---|18.6 |17.7 |\7\ 16.8 |16.2 |  ---|16.2 |16.2 |\7\ 16.4 |15.8
                       |         |         |         |         |     |     |     |     |         |     |     |     |     |         |
Netherlands ...........|    20.2 |    19.2 |    19.0 |\8\ 23.6 |22.4 |12.7 |12.4 |10.2 |      ---|16.9 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|16.5
New Zealand ...........|    20.1 |    19.1 |    18.4 |    18.5 |20.2 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|16.7 |  ---|  ---|  ---|      ---|13.2
Norway ................|      ---|      ---|    10.7 |      ---|  ---|  ---|  ---| 8.7 |      ---|  ---|  ---|  ---| 8.1 |      ---|  ---
Portugal ..............|      ---|      ---|    13.3 |      ---|12.2 |  ---|  ---| 0.1 |      ---|  ---|  ---|  ---| 5.2 |      ---|  ---
Spain .................|    26.8 |    21.2 |    19.7 |    21.2 |19.2 |21.4 |18.8 |17.8 |    17.6 |18.2 |15.3 |14.8 |14.7 |    15.9 |14.8
                       |         |         |         |         |     |     |     |     |         |     |     |     |     |         |
Sweden ................|    11.6 |    10.6 |    10.4 |    11.9 |12.5 |10.8 |10.2 | 9.7 |    10.6 |10.9 |13.1 |11.9 |11.9 |    16.0 |14.6
Turkey ................|    31.1 |    30.6 |    30.5 |    29.3 |27.4 |41.3 |48.4 |49.7 |    47.5 |45.6 |11.0 |12.1 |13.1 |    13.2 |14.1
United Kingdom ........|    19.7 |    22.0 |    22.2 |    20.8 |20.7 |  ---|18.5 |18.6 |    15.9 |16.9 |11.1 |13.9 |13.7 |\9\ 14.8 |15.1
United States .........|    17.0 |    15.6 |    15.5 |      ---|  ---|16.5 |15.9 |16.1 |    16.8 |  ---|16.2 |15.8 |15.6 |    15.0 |  ---
_______________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_________|_____

\1\Public schools only.

\2\Teachers include principals, deputy principals and senior teachers mainly involved in administrative tasks.

\3\Full-time and part-time teachers are estimates. Distribution by school level (primary and lower secondary levels) is also an estimate. Kindergartens are classified as public institutions.

\4\The number of full-time equivalent teachers does not take into account the additional hours given by teachers. In public secondary education institutions, an increase of 6.6 per cent of total full-time equivalents would be observed if the additional hours were taken into account. The number of teachers in independent private secondary education institutions are entirely estimates. About 18 per cent of all the pedagogical and support staff, and about 7 per cent of all the staff employed in education have been estimated.

\5\Data for 1985 are for the former West Germany.

\6\Most components are estimates.

\7\Principals and vice-principals are included in "Teachers" while other staff is included in "Support staff." Full-time equivalents of part-time teachers are not calculated, since there are no valid and reliable data available on the basis of which such calculations can be made.

\8\Teaching staff do not include direction staff.

\9\Figures on teachers at lower secondary education are included in upper secondary education.

---Data not available.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Education at a Glance, various years; and unpublished data. (This table was prepared April 1997.)



1997 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest