EU faces severe teacher shortages as new school year begins

Teacher shortages, according to Euronews, are reaching critical levels across Europe as the new school year begins.

As the new school year begins across the European Union, many member states are grappling with a significant shortage of teachers, a situation exacerbated by low wages, high workloads, and an aging educator workforce, Caliber.Az reports, citing the article.

According to the European Commission's Education and Training Monitor 2023, 24 out of 27 EU countries are experiencing difficulties in filling teaching positions, affecting student learning and undermining efforts to provide quality education for all. Sweden is particularly hard-hit, with a projected need for 153,000 additional qualified teachers by 2035. The shortage is most pronounced in STEM subjects and early childhood education.

While Croatia and Cyprus have reported no significant shortfalls in education staff, Greece's data is insufficient to fully assess whether its educational needs are being met or if specific areas are experiencing shortages. Germany’s Education and Science Workers' Union (GEW) has expressed concerns about potential compromises in pedagogical standards due to the staffing crisis, emphasizing the need to maintain high qualification standards despite the shortage.

The root of the problem lies in several unattractive aspects of the teaching profession, including inadequate pay, job insecurity, and overwhelming workloads. Gauthier Catteau, a former Geography teacher from the French-speaking region of Belgium, began his career at 22 and highlights these systemic issues as key factors contributing to the crisis. 

When he turned 29, Gauthier Catteau decided to leave teaching for a career in engineering. Having once taught a class of 39 teenagers, he found the long commute—three hours daily from the countryside to Brussels—and the demanding workload increasingly incompatible with his desire to start a family. 

"The commute, heavy workload, and limited career growth were at odds with my personal goals," he said. By 2021, only 8 per cent of the teaching workforce across Europe was under the age of 30, according to Eurostat. The integration of Ukrainian children into EU schools due to the ongoing conflict has further intensified the teacher shortage crisis. In Poland, for instance, 43,800 displaced Ukrainian children were enrolled in early childhood education as of February 2023.

Adding to the crisis is the aging teaching workforce, with many countries anticipating a wave of retirements in the coming years. In Portugal, the teachers' union Fenprof predicts that between 4,700 and 4,800 teachers will retire—an unprecedented figure for the millennium. Portugal will need over 30,000 new educators by 2030 to fill the gap. 

Addressing the shortage, the European Commission has promoted initiatives such as teacher mobility and awards for innovative teaching practices. Some countries are attempting to lure retirees back into the profession or rely on temporary contracts as short-term solutions. Ireland’s ASTI General Secretary Kieran Christie has called for a "complete change in thinking" from the Department of Education, suggesting measures to encourage teachers who have left Ireland for jobs abroad to return. Yet, a unified EU-wide solution remains elusive. 

As education economist Giorgio Di Pietro notes in a technical report for the EU’s Joint Research Centre, the diversity in educational policies and institutional rules across countries complicates the creation of a comparable cross-country indicator for teacher shortages. "For example, the path to becoming a teacher varies significantly across countries. In some nations, completing a teacher preparation program is sufficient to qualify as a teacher, while in others, additional steps or certifications may be required."