The student-teacher ratio in the first and second years of secondary school has not decreased in a decade throughout the country.

BarcelonaA decade without improvements in student-teacher ratios in the first stage of secondary school across Spain. Between 2013 and 2023, there were no changes in the average number of students per class in the first and second years of compulsory secondary education, which remained at 25. This means that the number of adolescents per class in Spain exceeds the European Union (EU) average of 21 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

This is one of the main conclusions of the annual report. Education at a Glance, which was published by the OECD on Tuesday and which compares various aspects of education systems around the world. In this sense, despite collecting data from the year 2023, the international study shows that the ratio of students per group in the first years of state secondary schools is above that of many EU countries.

The OECD report shows that Brazil and Mexico share with Spain a ratio of 25 students per group in the first stage of secondary school. A ratio that slightly exceeds France (26), followed by Colombia (28), Chile and Japan, which occupy the podium of overcrowding in classrooms with up to 32 students per group.

It should be noted that, in this case, the OECD study does not break down the data by autonomous community, but last week the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, detailed that the forecast for this 2025-2026 academic year in Catalonia was that in 1st year of ESO, 82% of students or 85% of public groups 97% will be 30 or younger. These averages are clearly higher than the Spanish, European and OECD averages.

The study Education at Glance It warns that smaller class sizes are associated with more individualized attention to students and allow teachers to spend less time managing the classroom and better adapt to their students' learning needs. In this regard, it is worth remembering that, according to the latest Education Department report, in the Catalan education system, one-third of students between the 13th and 4th year of compulsory secondary education are identified as NESE students, that is, children and adolescents who need additional educational support, either due to learning disabilities or socioeconomic vulnerability. This situation is particularly experienced by recently arrived students or children of migrant families.

Unlike what the data on the first stage of secondary school in Spain reveal, between 2013 and 2023 the average number of students per classroom in primary school did decrease by one student, going from 22 to 21. In this case, the Spanish ratio is identical to the average and the EU average, which is 19.

Available students and teachers

Another way to measure classroom ratios is the proportion of students and teachers available in the country. By these measures, Spain matches the European average for lower secondary education (1st and 2nd year of compulsory secondary education), with a ratio of 11 students per teacher, which is below the OECD average (13), according to the report released Tuesday.

For upper secondary education (3rd and 4th year of compulsory secondary education), Spain's ratios are lower than the average for its surrounding areas: there are also 11 students per teacher, three fewer than the OECD average of 14 and one fewer than the EU average of 12. These are also lower than the figures for primary education, with a national average of 12 students per teacher, compared to 14 for the OECD and 13 for the EU.