Ireland spends less on education per student than the average across all OECD countries, new data shows.
The data was contained in the Education at a Glance report, released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday.
It uses internationally comparable data on the structure, financing and performance of education systems across the 38 OECD member countries and other key partner countries.
When looking at Government expenditure on education as a share of gross domestic product, the report found the average expenditure per student across the OECD countries was US$13,601 in 2023, while in Ireland it was US$13,113.
RM Block
In primary education, expenditure per student was US$12,943 in 2023 in Ireland and US$12,893 on average across the OECD.
In secondary education, it was US$12,699 in Ireland and US$14,291 on average across the OECD.
The data comes as Ministers negotiate what share of Budget 2027 their departments will get in the annual announcement, which takes place next Tuesday.
The Department of Education came under scrutiny this year for a €600 million “overrun” in its budget, a spend that the department argued was required to cover teachers’ wages and ordinary running costs.
The department said in June this extra funding would be secured on an annual basis in a resetting of the base.
[ School closures loom on separate days next month as teacher pay dispute escalatesOpens in new window ]
This year’s Education at a Glance report has a special focus on teacher shortages, examining their impact across countries and how education systems can respond.
The report says teacher shortages often manifest in a higher share of non-fully qualified staff, or unfilled teaching posts.
However, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of unqualified teachers across the entire OECD – second only to Korea, Japan and Hungary.
In Ireland, 0.3 per cent of all primary and secondary teachers were not fully qualified in 2024/25, well below the OECD average of 9.1 per cent.
The report also found the number of primary teachers in Ireland increased by 27 per cent over the last seven years, while the number of students decreased by 1 per cent.
This is much higher than the OECD average, where the number of teachers in primary schools rose by 13 per cent while the number of primary students rose by 2 per cent.
This represents a significant change in policy here toward smaller class sizes as the State caters for an increase in the diagnoses of children with additional needs.
There are now almost 4,000 special classes across primary and post-primary schools in the Republic, almost double what there was six years ago.
These are designed for children with special educational needs, including autism, and have a lower student-to-teacher ratio than mainstream classes.
The report shows Ireland has also made headway in keeping young people either in education or employment.
Some 9 per cent of all 18- to 24-year-olds were neither employed nor in education or training (what the OECD calls NEET) in 2025, down from 18 per cent in 2015.
For comparison, the average share of NEETs across OECD countries with available data for both years was 13 per cent in 2025 and 16 per cent in 2015.
