According to the OECD’s “Education at a Glance 2026” report, Türkiye stood out with its positive indicators at a time when teacher shortages were increasing. Together with South Korea, Türkiye was one of 2 OECD countries that fully met its need for teachers in primary and secondary education. The share of teachers under 35 was recorded at 32% in Türkiye and 22% across the OECD. The share of school principals in Türkiye who said that teacher absenteeism negatively affected learning was 6%, compared with 27% across the OECD. In 2025, the gross salary of newly starting primary school teachers, based on purchasing power parity, exceeded the OECD average; between 2015 and 2025, the real salaries of lower secondary school teachers with 15 years of experience rose by 31%, while the increase across the OECD remained at around 6-7%.
Between 2015 and 2024, the number of students per teacher fell from 17 to 14 in lower secondary education and from 14 to 11 in upper secondary education. The average lower secondary class size declined from 25 to 23 students. Education accounted for 9.9% of public spending, while investment accounted for 14%. The share of students completing upper secondary education within 4 years reached 92%; the OECD figure remained at 75%.
Why it matters
The picture presented by the report shows that education policy in Türkiye should be assessed not only in terms of staff numbers, but also in conjunction with teachers’ age profile, working conditions, and pay. Findings indicating a high proportion of young teachers and low absenteeism provide a positive foundation for continuity in schools and uninterrupted lessons; however, these indicators alone do not explain learning outcomes. The decline in the student load in classrooms and the rise in the rate of completing secondary education on time are important not only in terms of access to education services, but also for the efficiency of the schooling process. The extent to which improvements in spending and pay indicators will make this positive picture lasting, and how they will translate into education outcomes, remains the key question left open by the data in the report.
Background
Türkiye is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 79 reports mentioning this name in the last 90 days; the most recent was dated September 28, 2026.