26 November 2024
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published its Education Policy Outlook for 2024, highlighting critical challenges and opportunities for education systems worldwide. A focal point of the report is the worsening teacher shortages across OECD countries, an issue with significant implications for the quality and equity of education.
A growing crisis in teacher shortages
Teacher shortages have escalated sharply in recent years. Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of students whose school principals reported staff shortages jumped from 29% to a staggering 46.7% on average across OECD countries. By 2022, nearly half of lower secondary school principals stated that these shortages hindered effective instruction.
This trend has prompted an urgent call for action, with the OECD’s report serving as a wake-up call for policymakers and education leaders to prioritise solutions. Attracting and retaining teachers remains a key focus, yet most education ministries concentrate more on recruitment than retention.
The state of the teaching profession
The report paints a comprehensive picture of the teaching profession’s challenges. Many education systems struggle to balance teacher supply and demand while grappling with declining student performance and persistent inequities. In a 2022 Ministerial Declaration, OECD education ministers reaffirmed their commitment to policies promoting quality and equity in student learning, recognising that systemic change requires collaboration among policymakers, teachers, and institutional leaders.
Policy responses to teacher shortages
The OECD outlines several strategies for addressing shortages, including:
- Reducing barriers to entering the teaching profession.
- Allocating teachers more effectively to areas of need.
- Enhancing career structures to make teaching more attractive and support professional growth.
These approaches are designed to not only boost teacher numbers but also ensure they are well-equipped to meet evolving educational demands.
Supporting teachers in changing contexts
In addition to teacher shortages, the report emphasises the need to prepare educators for rapid technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, and broader socio-economic shifts. However, harnessing digital technologies for professional learning remains an emerging priority.
The OECD’s roadmap identifies key factors to support teaching quality in these dynamic contexts, such as:
- Encouraging evidence-informed teaching practices.
- Strengthening professional collaboration within and beyond schools.
- Managing teacher workload while enhancing skills to adapt to changing needs.
Strengthening evaluation and monitoring
Effective planning to address these challenges requires robust evaluation and monitoring mechanisms. Yet, the report reveals that only two-thirds of OECD countries have projections of potential teacher shortages for 2025-2030 at the primary and secondary levels.
To strengthen capacity in this area, the OECD recommends:
- Building data infrastructure for informed decision-making.
- Empowering teachers and school leaders as contributors to evidence-based practices.
- Adopting adaptive evaluation models to assess what works, for whom, and in which contexts.
A call for collaborative action
The 2024 report underscores the necessity for collaboration among stakeholders—governments, educators, and institutions—to enhance and, where necessary, rethink existing practices. By addressing the dual challenge of teacher shortages and professional preparedness, the OECD aims to support education systems in delivering quality, equitable education for all students.
Read the full report here.
