Strengthening Teachers: a Priority for 2030

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The deadline set for meeting 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which is committed to ensuring equitable and quality education, is becoming increasingly complex to achieve. These goals were established in 2015 by the United Nations as part of an agenda to address various global problems. The World Report on Teachers: Addressing the Teacher Shortage and Transforming the Profession, presented by UNESCO and translated and revised in Spanish by Fundación SM, describes the challenges posed to education in particular.

This first global report on teachers was a collaboration between UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 to discuss the urgent challenge of ensuring qualified and motivated staff in classrooms. Teacher shortages directly affect education and its sufficiency (meaning the ability to respond and adapt to students’ contextual needs). They produce overcrowded classrooms, deteriorated teaching processes, and fewer learning opportunities, especially in the most disadvantaged communities.

The report estimated that to achieve the 2030 SDG4 goals, 44 million additional teachers will be required in universal primary and secondary education. It examines the causes of the teacher shortage, highlighting a gap in education funding, the latent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the evolution of technological advances, including the rise of artificial intelligence.

This shortage also has consequences: it is costly for systems, increases teachers’ workload, and harms educational quality. Funding the positions that still need to be filled will require an estimated 120,000 million dollars per year. This is an imminent concern for all countries, regardless of their income level.

The Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action establishes proper preparation as “teachers and educators are empowered, properly recruited, well trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within systems that are adequately resourced, efficient and effectively managed.”

While more research has emerged on teaching and various aspects of the profession, there is no current report examining best practices or monitoring global progress towards SDG4. The approach has been to publish this document every two years with a thematic focus, to support societal progress toward this commitment worldwide.

The current report presents new data and research and provides recommendations as well as best practices for teacher recruitment, retention, and professional development. For example, it includes ways to reduce teacher attrition by increasing appreciation for their work, implementing inclusive policies, improving working conditions, and enhancing staff autonomy. All of this is based on the conviction that an empowered and supported teaching force is essential to guarantee quality education and, especially, to promote lifelong learning.

The multiple challenges of teacher shortages

Defining what is meant by teacher shortages and breaking down its different elements is complex and multifactorial. In basic terms, this shortage manifests as overcrowded classrooms, where many students receive limited attention, increasing the risk that some will not access education or will drop out of school prematurely. It can also be seen in the recruitment of teachers who lack adequate training or the necessary specializations to provide quality teaching. In view of this, the report states that measuring this problem is neither uniform nor straightforward across contexts, despite its global impact on society.

Therefore, the authors of the report designate three categories of causes of teaching profession exit:

Factors of Alienation: Working conditions and teacher well-being.
Poor Attraction Factors: Weak compensation and career growth opportunities.
Personal Reasons: Retirement, health problems, or family obligations.

It is worth noting that some systems also face challenges associated with the migration of qualified talent, such as those in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, and the United States, which host a significant proportion of immigrant teachers. Likewise, personnel who attend to emergencies or crises may leave their position more frequently.

Several factors contributing to shortages are linked to the profession’s status. Globally, the appeal of teaching has diminished as systems seek to attract and retain their staff. Likewise, the decrease in entry requirements to become a teacher negatively affects the profession’s prestige, and the unattractive salaries, precarious working conditions, and heavy workload discourage aspirants and professionals from entering or remaining in teaching. In addition, many teachers often have short-term contracts with limited access to healthcare, pensions, sick pay, or parental leave, leaving them vulnerable and without job security.

According to the report, younger male teachers tend to leave the profession more often. At the same time, women continue to be underrepresented in management positions or certain areas due to a lack of decent accommodation, as well as unsafe or unhealthy working conditions and discrimination. Therefore, these structural and contextual factors amplify the problem of teacher shortages.

In Mexico, this scenario is a reality. For example, the documentary “The Voice of Teachers,” produced by the Lexia agency, compiled the opinions and experiences of teachers at all levels of education, from both public and private institutions. The piece shows authentically and directly the challenges, motivations, and complexity of teaching.

It is stated that students belonging to minority groups benefit from the presence of teachers who share their ethnic, racial, linguistic, or cultural origin. However, teachers with these characteristics are at higher risk of dropping out than their colleagues and may face direct and indirect discrimination. Some systems have developed programs that recruit and offer additional support to immigrant or minority teachers.

Added to this, institutions’ ability to respond to the demands of a digitized world is also key. Teachers must be trained to assess potential risks, help students face challenges, leverage available opportunities, and disseminate understanding of climate change to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable society.

The report points out that: “Teachers play a fundamental role in ensuring the quality of education. All teaching staff must receive adequate, appropriate, and relevant pedagogical training to teach at the selected educational level and have the academic qualification in the subjects they are expected to teach.” However, the notion of the “qualified teacher” varies considerably in the educational systems, which hinders international comparisons and the establishment of common standards. Therefore, it is necessary to address this challenge considering the particularities of each region, to prevent it from becoming an impediment to quality education.

Mechanisms to address teacher shortages

There is a wide range of instrument options available for educational institutions to utilize in making teaching more encouraging, from comprehensive management strategies to political decisions, such as compliance with basic requirements regarding salary or adequate working conditions. Competitive wages and incentives, such as improved school culture, work schedules, or mental health support, contribute to job satisfaction.

Effective leadership is critical to motivating school environments and improving teachers’ working conditions. The results of UNESCO’s Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE) reveal that Latin American schools with governing authorities that regularly participate in classroom observation or promote collaboration among teachers achieve better results in Mathematics, Language, and Science.

The authors suggest that using personal teacher information and management system can help project staff needs. Senegal’s MIRADOR system integrates data modules that track elements such as teacher career management, recruitment, training, and staff headcount to project future teacher replacement needs. However, these resources differ quite a bit on a global scale. With this in mind, UNESCO designed a maturity assessment tool to facilitate countries in this process and assess the quality of data and its use.

On the other hand, long working hours and excessive administrative responsibilities may raise stress levels and reduce motivation. To improve this, schedules that provide flexibility to balance personal and professional life are vital. Also, the responsible and purposeful use of technology could help alleviate the burden of performing basic tasks.

The document states that 11 of 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean implemented national-level policy measures related to mental health and psychosocial support for primary and secondary educators in the 2021-2022 school year. Such policies are excellent support for relieving work stress and anxiety.

Another strategy, as simple as it may seem, that is highly relevant and effective is the recognition of achievements. Respecting and recognizing teachers’ work in their specific contexts increases their visibility.

According to Fundación SM, UNESCO, and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, teachers must be supported to transform themselves and become agents of change. For this reason, they jointly created a Decalogue outlining the conditions that should be met in the profession to ensure quality education.

For all the reasons stated above, the report establishes that there must be a new social contract for teachers. The International Commission on the Future of Education designates that the profession must be highly collaborative, with a focus on reflection, research, knowledge creation, and innovation. Thus, the report emphasizes the objective of recovering teachers as collaborative, autonomous, and competent professionals.

Its authors state that identifying the skills, competencies, and transformative potential of teachers must be core to the profession’s value. That is why it is essential to reposition this work so that teachers function as facilitators who creatively guide the teaching-learning process.

Finding applicants who are genuinely attracted to teaching as a vocation and protecting them through laws so that there is a balanced, diverse teaching body is transcendental to redefining education. Moreover, individual training models with courses and credits should be enriching, promoting communities of practice and exchange, incorporating pedagogies of cooperation and solidarity in teacher training, and prioritizing service-learning, action-research, and community engagement.

Finally, it is of utmost importance to develop comprehensive teacher policies that cover the dimensions that affect teachers. Listening to them and encouraging teachers and their organizations to participate in policy development significantly supports the democratization of policies.

In short, the report asserts that distinguishing teachers’ roles as producers of knowledge, together with promoting the systematization and exchange of pedagogical practices, must be considered central to educational transformation. Making teaching an intellectually stimulating profession will help to improve its attractiveness and retention. Only in this way will it be possible to address teacher shortages and ensure inclusive, equitable, and quality education, with lifelong learning opportunities for all students and teachers.

Translation by Daniel Wetta