Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights summarises the OECD’s flagship compendium of education statistics, Education at a Glance. It provides easily accessible data on key topics in education today, including:

• Education levels and student numbers: How far have adults studied, and how easily do young people enter the world of work?

• Economic and social benefits of education: How does education affect people’s job prospects, and what is its impact on incomes?

• Paying for education: What share of public spending goes on education, and what is the role of private spending? 

• The school environment: How many hours do teachers work, and how does class size vary? 

• Equity: A special section introduces issues relating to equity in education: how important is pre-primary education, how does socio-economic background affect educational performance, how easy is it for older people to access education, and how wide is the gender gap?

Each indicator is presented on a two-page spread. The left-hand page explains the significance of the indicator, discusses the main findings, examines key trends and provides readers with a roadmap for finding out more in the OECD education databases and in other OECD education publications. The right-hand page contains clearly presented charts and tables, accompanied by dynamic hyperlinks (StatLinks) that direct readers to the corresponding data in Excel™ format.