Australian primary schools have larger class sizes than the OECD average and the country has lower than average public spending on education as a percentage of GDP, according to a new report.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released its 2017 Education At a Glance report on Tuesday evening, comparing education metrics across 35 countries.

It found that Australian primary schools had an average of 24 students, compared with the average of 21.

Secondary schools had average class sizes (23 students), while public high schools had slightly smaller than average class sizes, with 22 students compared with the average 23.

The report found that across all levels of education, from primary to tertiary, Australia spends a total of 5.8% of its GDP on education, the ninth highest and above the OECD average of 5.2%.

But total public spending on education was just 3.9% of GDP, below the OECD average of 4.4%.

Public spending was 0.2% below the average for primary schools, average for lower secondary schools, 0.4% below for upper secondary and further non-tertiary education and 0.4% below for tertiary education.

The data in the report is drawn from the 2014 financial year, at the cusp of the 2014 budget cuts taking effect. That budget removed $29bn from schools’ projected funding growth over 10 years.

In June 2017 the Turnbull government restored $23.5bn over 10 years to the primary and secondary education budget, when the Senate passed its Gonski 2.0 package.

The 2017 budget also proposed $2.8bn in university funding cuts and fee rises, which the government hopes to legislate this week but still lacks crucial Senate crossbench support.

Australia’s level of private investment in tertiary education was 1.1% of GDP, more than twice the OECD average of 0.5%.

In a statement the National Tertiary Education Union said this reflected the high level of tuition fees paid by Australian students, making further fee rises “patently unfair”.

The education minister, Simon Birmingham, said: “While it can be difficult to compare with countries where much higher taxes help fuel government spending at the expense of personal contributions, these figures show Australia performs extraordinarily well on the world stage.”

Birmingham noted that overall education spending was above the OECD average, and said the government was boosting its spending per student by an average of about $2,300.

The Australian Education Union federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said the below-average public spending showed that “there is no doubt that our schools are under-resourced”.

Haythorpe said that trend was “set to continue” because the Gonski 2.0 package cut $3bn in funding over two years, compared with previous needs-based funding agreements.

“Australian teachers are teaching larger classes than the OECD average, which is a clear indication of resource shortages,” she said.

“When schools are able to provide extra staff then they can address larger classes for students and provide extra support for those students that need it.”

Birmingham said the report showed that “despite many in the community liking the idea of smaller classes, they don’t necessarily correlate to better outcomes for students”.

“Of course we want to see students get quality time and attention from teachers, but these new statistics highlight there are some countries with larger class sizes than Australia and better student results and there are others with smaller classes and worse results.”

The Turnbull government has asked David Gonski to conduct a review of the education system to report by the end of the year.

Birmingham said the review would improve how school funding was spent after “Australia’s education performance has plateaued compared with other OECD nations”.

In 2016 Programme for International Student Assessment results showed a long-term decline in Australian year 9 students’ results in maths, science and reading literacy.



The shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, said: “Given the fact this report shows Australia’s public expenditure on education is below the OECD average, and going backwards, it’s extraordinary the Liberals are cutting billions from schools and universities.”

“It’s also concerning that Australia has a comparatively low share of graduates in science related fields,” she said.

The OECD report found that just over 21% of Australian university students were in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields compared with the OECD average of 25%.