At least 24 EU countries struggle with teacher shortages — here's why
Most EU member states see a large proportion of their teaching vacancies unfilled at the start of each school year, often thanks to low wages, high workload, and an ageing teacher population.
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00:00Most EU member states are struggling with teacher shortages.
00:05Out of 27 EU countries, only two, Croatia and Cyprus, did not report a scarcity of education staff.
00:14Sweden, Germany and Italy have been reported as three of the worst affected EU countries.
00:21Most countries face teacher shortages specifically in STEM subjects and qualified personnel in early childhood education and care.
00:30But why has this job become so unattractive?
00:34Low pay, job insecurity, commuting distances and high workload are some of the answers.
00:41I started when I was 22 and I ended my career when I was 29.
00:47I was commuting three hours back and forth to go to the school every day because I'm living in the countryside.
00:57An aging teacher population adds further pressure to the education system, with a wave of retirement expected in the next few years.
01:07In Portugal, a study shows that between 4,700 and 4,800 teachers are going to retire.
01:16The highest number in the millennium.
01:20While the European Commission has promoted teacher mobility and rewarded innovative teaching practices with a prize,
01:27an EU-level solution might be difficult to implement due to different educational institutional rules.
01:35So, many EU countries have tried to attract retirees back into the profession and filled the gaps with teachers on temporary contracts as a band-aid fix.