Education sector employs 20,000 people, a vast majority women

The education sector employed almost 20,000 during the academic year 2021-2022, an increase of 5% when compared to the previous year, figures out today show.

The National Statistics Office said that from the 19,561 teaching and non-teaching staff in formal education, 10,229 were in teaching and academic roles. Another 9,332 were employed in non-teaching and administrative roles.

The figures cover all levels of education from pre-primary to tertiary.

The NSO said that 70% of all teaching and non-teaching staff are women.

Classroom teachers and academic staff

Classroom teachers and academic staff in pre-primary to tertiary education institutions during academic year 2021-2022 increased by 5% over the preceding academic year.

Of these, 25% were teachers at the upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels, while 24% were teachers at the tertiary level.

The largest share of teaching personnel were females, at 66%. Full-time teachers accounted for 82% of the total. When comparing with academic year 2020-2021, part-time classroom teachers and academic staff increased by 32%.

Total tertiary level male academic staff stood at 1,506 or 61%. Slightly more than half of full-time classroom teachers and academic staff were engaged in lower secondary, upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. The majority of part-time classroom teachers and academic staff were engaged in tertiary education.

During the academic year under review, 17% of all teaching staff were aged between 30 and 34 years, followed by the 35 to 39 years age-bracket, at 15%.

The largest proportion of foreign classroom teachers and academic staff were engaged in private institutions – with 38% of classroom teachers and academic staff working in private institutions being foreign.

The overall pupil-teacher ratio stood at 8.8 pupils per teacher during academic year 2021-2022. The highest ratio was recorded in private schools, at 11.5 pupils per teacher, whereas the lowest ratio was in state schools at 7.9 pupils per teacher.

Non-teaching staff

During academic year 2021-2022, non-teaching staff in education amounted to 9,332, an increase of 5% when compared to the previous academic year. Females represented 74% of the total non-teaching staff.

More than half of the non-teaching personnel were ‘Teacher Aides’, totalling 4,717, or 51%. A total of 1,479 persons were engaged as school or higher level administration staff,  a further 1,277 and 1,224 were engaged in school or higher level management and as maintenance and  operations staff respectively.

More than a third of teacher aides were aged between 30 and 39 years – 37%. The majority (67%) were engaged in state-run institutions. About 2 in every 5 teacher aides were engaged in primary education (43% of teacher aides).

The total number of persons engaged in school level management and higher-level management roles stood at 1,277, registering an increase of 8% when compared to academic year 2020-2021.