Salary gap with the market remains large
The salary gap between primary and secondary education rises to 38 percent at the end of the career, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) points out in the report Education at a Glance 2018, published today. The report also shows that the importance of parental contributions is increasing, relative to government investment.
Picture: Oecd
The OECD, the organization that compares rich industrial countries, warns in this year Education at a Glance for the moderate attention to inadequate investment in pre-school and nursery education. The first period in education is particularly important for disadvantaged groups to develop their talents, the report emphasizes.
Career prospects
In the country report of the Netherlands, the OECD points out that secondary education teachers have much better career prospects, without giving any further judgment. At the start, a secondary school teacher earns 6 percent more than his colleague in primary education, a small difference. But the maximum salary that can be reached in secondary education is 38 percent higher. It shows well the salary gap in career opportunities between both sectors.
Furthermore, the OECD sees worldwide that teacher salaries generally show an upward trend and are back at the level before the economic crisis. In absolute terms, Dutch teachers are paid well compared to their colleagues in other countries.
That advantage disappears when teachers' salaries are compared with those of other highly educated people. The OECD then sees that the salary of a primary education teacher lags considerably behind in 2016, namely 27 percent. In upper secondary education this is 8 percent.
Salary arrears compared to other higher educated people
| Primary education teacher | |
| The Netherlands | - 27 percent |
| OECD mean | - 14 percent |
| EU average | - 12 percent |
| Secondary education teacher | |
| The Netherlands | - 8 percent |
| OECD mean | - 4 percent |
| EU average | 0 percent |
Source: EAG 2018
Parent contributions
In total, the Netherlands spends 5,4 percent of its economic prosperity (gross domestic product) on education. That is above the average of 5,1 percent in the OECD countries. That difference is mainly in the contributions from parents and student loans.
The government pays on average almost as much in the OECD countries as in the Netherlands, but in the Netherlands parents and students pay more. A trend that was also visible in Germany, France, Sweden and Canada between 2010 and 2015. In those years, private contributions from parents in primary, secondary and vocational education in the Netherlands rose by about 6 percent and government contributions fell by 4 percent.
Government and parental contributions in primary, secondary and secondary vocational education
| Government | Parents | |
| The Netherlands | 87 percent | 13 percent |
| OECD average | 90 percent | 9 percent |
| EU average | 92 percent | 8 percent |
Source: EAG 2018
