The OECD-blogposts are always worth reading, for sure this new one by Dirk Van Damme on the new Education Indicators in Focus based on the available evidence on public expenditure in education for the first three years of the crisis (2008, 2009 and 2010) to shed light on spending trends and the first clear signs of widespread cuts..

What are the main insightst?

• The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has meant a significant number of countries have cut public spending on education. Despite GDP rising in most OECD countries between 2009 and 2010, public expenditure on educational institutions fell in one-third of them.
• Teachers’ salaries were either frozen or cut between 2009 and 2011 in 12 out of the 25 OECD countries with data available. This may discourage the highest-performing students from joining the teaching profession.
• Demand for education and training is increasing even as austerity continues to put pressure on the resources allocated to education. Educational institutions will have to do more with less in the coming years.

So the bottom line is clear:

While public spending on education did not initially seem to suffer from the crisis, the picture since 2010 has been less positive. fiscal consolidation has led half of OECD countries to cut or freeze teachers’ salaries. oEcD countries will not be able to mobilize additional public resources in the coming years, so investment in education will need to become
more efficient and be motivated by considerations to improve the quality of teaching.

Check the graphic to check your own country: