A worldwide comparison of 18 countries suggests that teaching needs to be made more attractive to a wider pool of graduates to tackle shortages in the profession.
The study by our education experts shows that the level of pay relative to other graduate professions, lack of resources and poor student behaviour all play a part in recruitment and retention issues.
They also found that popular quick-fix strategies used across the world to attract and retain teachers, such as bursaries, scholarships and performance-related pay, do not work.
The global analysis recommends that much more emphasis must be put into targeting those with the potential to be teachers but who may currently not be interested, as opposed to merely offering current teachers more of what they want.
This should include raising the profile and prestige of the profession, increasing pay, and providing schools with better resources.
Research has shown a shortage of teachers is an issue in many European countries despite years of investment in recruiting and retaining teachers. In England, the situation is particularly serious for secondary schools because the pupil population has grown, and recruitment to initial teacher training has failed to meet its intake targets for several consecutive years.
The study found that only 25 per cent of teachers in England think that they are valued by society and only 10 per cent feel they are valued by policymakers. Countries, such as England, France and Japan, where teachers are less valued, are significantly more affected by teacher shortages.
In countries like Singapore, South Korea and Finland, teachers are more appreciated by the government and the public, and these countries do not generally report major issues with teacher supply.
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