Alarming study reveals Israeli teachers lag behind global peers substantially in all metrics

BySARAH BEN-NUNAUGUST 26, 2026 05:59Israeli teachers scored below their counterparts in the countries examined in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving, according to a new study that also found a substantial skills gap between academically educated teachers and other Israeli workers with academic degrees.The study, released on Wednesday and conducted by Yael Melzer of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research, analyzed data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2022-2023 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).Israeli teachers scored below the average for the 18 comparison countries across all three areas examined. Among teachers with academic education, Israeli teachers also scored below the comparison-country average in every age group.PIAAC does not directly measure classroom performance or teaching ability. Rather, it assesses adults’ literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving skills - their ability to process information and deal with everyday and work-related tasks.The findings came against the backdrop of the wider 2022-2023 PIAAC results, in which Israeli adults scored below the OECD average across all three areas.Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch visits a school in Rishon LeZion as children return to classes following a ceasefire in the war with Iran, April 9, 2026. (credit: Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)International gap tied to multiple factorsMelzer’s study focuses specifically on teachers.Part of the international gap may be connected to formal education. Some 37% of Israeli teachers in the study held master’s degrees, compared with 49% among teachers in the comparison countries.But the difference did not disappear when teachers with similar levels of education were compared. Instead, the gap was concentrated among those with academic degrees.Among Israelis with academic degrees, teachers scored lower than degree-holders working in other professions. The pattern was reversed among Israelis whose highest level of education was upper secondary: Teachers scored higher than similarly educated workers outside teaching.The divide was particularly pronounced among men.While teachers and other workers with academic degrees in the comparison countries recorded broadly similar results, academically educated male teachers in Israel lagged considerably behind Israeli men with degrees working in other professions.The study found a smaller, though still visible, gap among women.A similar pattern emerged among teachers with academic backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.In the comparison countries, people with academic backgrounds in STEM were generally among the highest-skilled workers.In Israel, teachers with STEM backgrounds recorded the lowest skill levels among academically educated teachers in literacy and problem-solving, while their numeracy skills were similar to those of other academically educated teachers. They also lagged markedly behind Israelis with similar academic backgrounds working outside education.Melzer interpreted the pattern as evidence that the education system has greater difficulty competing for highly skilled workers with academic degrees. The study argued that while teaching appears relatively successful in attracting skilled workers from among people without academic degrees, it has more difficulty recruiting and retaining highly skilled academics.The data showed an association rather than establishing why those workers choose other professions. Melzer pointed to greater rewards for skills in the private sector as one possible explanation, particularly for the pronounced gap among men.DR. YAEL MELZER (credit: Courtesy Shoresh Institution)Substantial differences within the systemSubstantial differences also appeared within Israel’s education system.Teachers in the Arab education stream recorded markedly lower scores than teachers in all other streams examined.Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) teachers also scored below teachers in the secular and religious non-haredi systems in literacy and numeracy.The study noted that those differences do not exist in isolation. Melzer pointed to lower investment and shortages of infrastructure and resources in Arab education and noted that the difference between spoken and written Arabic may also affect PIAAC performance in a way that cannot be fully separated from the skills being measured.The other particularly weak point was early-childhood education.DAN BEN-DAVID. (credit: Courtesy Shoresh Institution)Upper-secondary teachers recorded substantially stronger skills than teachers working with younger children across all three areas measured. Primary-school teachers also performed better than preschool teachers in literacy and problem-solving.The findings came as the Education Ministry moved to recruit additional teachers ahead of the coming school year. The ministry this month opened a temporary employment track allowing schools to recruit up to 8,000 teachers through personal contracts, including professionals without previous teaching experience, with full-time salaries that can reach roughly NIS 20,000 a month depending on their experience and professional background.Shoresh recommended changes aimed at attracting more highly skilled candidates into teaching.The study proposed raising admission requirements for teacher training, including a model in which future teachers first complete a degree in the subject they intend to teach and only afterward undergo shorter pedagogical training.It also recommended changing compensation structures to make teaching more competitive for highly skilled graduates, alongside targeted efforts in Arab and early-childhood education.“The findings show that Israel’s education system is struggling to attract and retain highly skilled academics,” Shoresh president Prof. Dan Ben-David said, arguing that the gaps both with other countries and within Israel require changes to how teachers are recruited, trained, and compensated.Ben-David said particular attention should be directed toward Arab and early-childhood education, warning that without broader reforms, “it will be difficult to narrow the gap with the leading countries and improve the quality of teaching in Israel.”The study’s broader concern was not only the number of teachers entering classrooms but also the education system’s ability to attract highly skilled people into the profession.Follow us on Google