Israel is the second-most educated country after Canada, a recent report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said.
According to the “Education at a Glance 2012” report, Israel came in second place, in terms of the percentage of 25 to 64 year-olds that have reached higher education.
Some 46% of Israelis have a higher education compared with the OECD average of 30%.
The report, which was released on Tuesday, reviews the years 2009-2010 and shows comparative data between the 34 OECD member countries.
According to the report, the Ofek Hadash (New Horizon) education reform which was initially implemented in Israeli schools in 2008, has improved the wages of teachers and quality of students' education by changing employment conditions and the current structure of studies. The report showed that Israel is ranked in the second place among the OECD member states due to the improvement in elementary school teachers' salaries between the years 2005-2010. The wages of teachers increased by 32% during those years compared with the OECD average of 5%.
The salary of high school teachers also increased by 8% compared with the OECD average of 4%. However, despite the increase, the salary of teachers in Israel is still significantly lower than other OECD member countries.
The report further indicated that the percentage of students that graduate from high school has risen from 89% in 2003 to 92% in 2010. The Israeli percentage of high school graduates is one of the highest among OCED member countries.
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