Pupils and teachers in Finland get 10 weeks off at the end of the academic year, which compares favourably with the six-week summer break enjoyed by staff and students in Scotland. But while the Fins have four other holidays during the course of the school year, none is longer than a week.

The prospect of those short breaks might be a little less palatable in Scotland, so let’s focus on the Irish. In the Republic of Ireland, teachers and pupils get more than 12 weeks off during the summer, as well as four other breaks: two that last a week and two that are for two weeks. There is a caveat, though: the end-of-year break includes exam periods, so it might be less generous than it first appears. But in Russia, they get more than 13 weeks off at the end of the school year, as well as three other breaks longer than a week.

All this emerges from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publication Education at a Glance, which is designed to provide an authoritative compilation of key international comparisons of education statistics.

Published in September, the latest version of the report analyses the education systems of the 38 OECD member countries, as well as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. It was the publication of this report that led to headlines about England having the highest university tuition fees in the developed world; the report found that over the past decade, fees in England had tripled. Of course, this is in stark contrast to Scotland, where tuition is free.

The report also led to Tes Scotland being able to report that - even with the 1.5-hour reduction in class contact time per week promised in the SNP manifesto for May’s Scottish Parliament elections - Scottish teachers would still be teaching more, on average, than their OECD counterparts.

Comparing teachers’ holidays and workload around the world

With the promised cut, Scottish teachers’ class contact time will be reduced to 798 hours per year in primary and secondary, down from the current 855 hours.

The average time that primary teachers spend in class among OECD countries is 791 hours; in lower secondary, teachers spend an average of 723 hours teaching and in upper secondary, it’s 685 hours.

Finland is often held up as an inspirational example for Scotland to emulate. There, the report reveals, primary teachers spend 673 hours per year teaching; lower secondary teachers spend 589 hours; and for upper secondary teachers, it’s 548 hours.

Ultimately, the OECD finds that only teachers in the US, Chile and Costa Rica spend more time in front of classes every year than Scottish teachers’ 855 hours.

The report states: “A larger proportion of statutory working time spent teaching may indicate that a lower proportion of working time is devoted to tasks such as assessing students and preparing lessons, as stated in regulations. It could also indicate that teachers have to perform these tasks in their own time and hence work more hours than required by their statutory working hours.”

Drilling down deeper

Other indicators in the report include public and private spending on education; the earnings advantage of education; entry to, and graduation from, tertiary education; statutory and actual salaries of school headteachers; class sizes; and teacher salaries.

It shows that, in European terms, it is unusual to start primary school at the age of 5 - in Finland, they start primary at age 7, with the OECD average being 6.

In Scotland, we also spend a bit more time in school than the other OECD countries, with 190 days of instruction per year in primary and secondary, against an OECD average of 186 days in primary and 184 days in lower secondary.

On the issue of pay, Scottish teachers earn about 15 per cent more than the OECD average at the start of their careers but the maximum salary earned by Scottish teachers is 27 per cent lower than the OECD average. The report also finds that “very few countries and economies have teachers’ actual salaries that reach or exceed those of similarly educated workers”.

Many countries - including Scotland - did not have the necessary data available to make this comparison but, on average, pre-primary teachers’ salaries amount to 81 per cent of the full-time, full-year earnings of tertiary educated 25- to 64-year-olds. Primary teachers earn 86 per cent of this benchmark salary, lower secondary teachers 90 per cent and upper secondary teachers 96 per cent.

For headteachers, the picture is rather different: at the bottom of the pay scale, Scottish headteachers earn roughly 18 per cent more than the OECD average and, at the top, 39 per cent more.

Headteachers also tend to earn more than similarly educated workers. But the report has some bad news that Scottish heads will be hoping the government does not cotton on to: “In about two-thirds of OECD countries, school heads are required to work during students’ school holidays.”

Of course, making comparisons like this can be powerful and persuasive - the OECD figures on the high number of hours that Scottish teachers spend teaching have been used by the teaching unions to put pressure on the Scottish government. And now it has committed to making progress - although by what date we can expect to see that reduction of 1.5 hours per week in class contact time remains unclear.

The figures on teachers’ pay, showing that it tends to be considerably below that of similarly educated workers, could also prove handy to help win the argument for a substantial rise. In Scotland, the teaching unions have been trying, since the start of the year, to improve the “completely inadequate” pay offer from councils, which would amount to a rise of 1 per cent for the majority of teachers.

Better equality starts early

More than that, though, the comparisons show “that improved social mobility and better equality of opportunity are indeed possible”. The report says that lessons from the most equitable education systems highlight “the importance of starting early, so that children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, acquire solid foundations, including cognitive, social and emotional skills, and a sustained habit of learning which will carry them through life”.

It adds that “towards this, investment in teachers is needed to develop capacity in understanding individual students’ needs and tailor their learning strategies accordingly”.

While it’s nice to daydream about the higher salary your teaching qualification could command in another country, or how many holidays you could benefit from if you made the trip across the Irish Sea, comparing the way different countries do things can also be the catalyst for changes that ultimately make society fairer. In Scotland, as of August, three- and four-year-olds saw their entitlement to free preschool hours almost double, from 600 to 1,140 hours per year, so could we be on the right track in this sector? Perhaps, but the report also says that when it comes to early childhood education and care, “research demonstrates that enriched, stimulating environments and high-quality pedagogy are fostered by better-qualified practitioners”.

Teacher numbers in preschool education in Scotland have been falling steadily for years. The latest figures, published in December 2020, show that there were 729 teachers working in preschool education and 78,898 three- and four-year-olds - so roughly one teacher for every 108 children.

In Finland, they have at least one teacher for every 10 children. It’s a comparison that makes for uncomfortable reading - and perhaps it, too, will spark change.

Emma Seith is a reporter for Tes Scotland. She tweets @Emma_Seith

This article originally appeared in the 1 October 2021 issue under the headline “Dreaming of a 10-week break?”