Conference Agenda

The shortage of teachers is considerable in many European countries (Federičov, 2020; García, & Weiss, 2019). It concerns different school types from primary schools to vocational schools. Moreover, a wide range of school subjects is affected. The lack of teaching personnel that European countries face today has obviously led to severe challenges in society. Hence, there is an urgent need of recruiting, mobilizing and retaining educated teachers in many parts of the world.

Against this background, the aim of the symposium is to describe, explain and compare teachers’ shortage from the perspective of three European countries: Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The purpose of this session is to discuss the phenomenon and how to handle it depending on different situations in each country. Having a clear understanding of background factors and main explanations will lead to a better insight and preparedness to prevent and correct the shortage in a short and long term.

Researchers from three countries, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, are going to share their findings from their research activity for two years. The overall ambition of the session is to comprise new knowledge and gaining a deeper understanding of the problem of teacher shortage, including how reasons, solutions and implications behind teacher shortage are mutually intertwined, which will be of importance for stakeholders in the three countries and internationally. We are also going to discuss possibilities and problems with international comparisons concerning methodology and theoretical aspects focusing on research and literature in the field. Due to variations between the studied countries, we suggest a multiple case design as methodological approach which allows an individual analysis as well as a comparison of the countries. The methodological model comprising 8 parameters and 23 indicators summarizes the interacting factors influencing teacher shortages (Ana et al., 2022).

The discussion session is going to be a focussed conversation centred around the following questions:

(a) How may the current situation be described regarding the teacher shortage in each of the three countries? What are the background factors and main explanations for teacher shortage?

(b) What similarities and differences can be seen, regionally, nationally, and internationally? How can these similarities and differences be explained? What can be learnt from each other and from the three countries?

c) How could each country understand, prevent, and correct the shortage of teachers in the short and long term?

d) How may the lack of a specific teacher category, vocational teachers, in this context, be explained and understood?

The university partners have been working together for two years in a research-based net-work-project (What About Teachers’ Shortage, WATS’ up) and are keen to advocate for others of similar interests to become involved. Participants are encouraged to join this discussion and to help expand the international network of researchers interested in teachers´ shortage worldwide.

Expected outcomes related to research will be the research contribution of scientific novelty of new knowledge in teacher shortage in a transnational perspective. These insights are going to lead to a knowledge contribution of the phenomena of teacher shortage, which may be difficult to attain solely on a national level. The research project may also shed light on which strategy leads to teachers staying in their profession in the long term.

The supply of teachers in Sweden is seen today as a challenge of historic proportions (Ber-tilsson, 2018). However, the lack of teachers is not only a Swedish problem, but exists largely in all European countries (Federičová, 2020) and in the USA (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). The proportion of fully trained teachers in Sweden needs to increase by just over 50% until 2035. The shortage of certified teachers varies greatly between school forms, be-tween 25 and 85%, where the largest shortage is within special schools. The imbalance will thus continue for many years to come. The variation between schools is great. Findings in-dicate that one of the problems for schools is not a shortage of teachers coming into the sys-tem, but that many of the newly graduated teachers do not choose to go into teaching at all or leave after just a few years (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2017). Teacher shortage can be traced back at least 50 years and that the causes are many and complex, for example many different reforms, deteriorating conditions, low status of the profession and New Public Management as a management philosophy. The possibilities to solve the problems in the long term are several: higher wages, better working conditions, strengthened professional identity, higher status, and flexible ways to study to become a teacher. Analysis of the situa-tion have shown the following:1) Paradoxically, every educational policy reform in Sweden seems create even greater degree of problems with teacher supply. 2) The dominant man-agement philosophies, New Public Management, must be re-evaluated in relation to the school and its activities. 3) A broad anchoring with all significant relevant actors is needed to meet the internal and external challenges that exist for Swedish schools and for to be able to remedy the teacher shortage (Boström et al. 2021). Drawing on Bacchi's (2009) critical policy analysis What’s the Problem Represented to be (WPR) this paper analyses national and regional actors' perceptions of the problem in the light of previous research in the light of previous research and in relation to international findings, national and regional stakeholders' perceptions of the problem and its consequences.

Bacchi, C. L. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenchs Fo-rest, N.S.W Pearson. Boström, L., Bostedt, G., Håkansson Lindqvist, M (2021)Den allvarliga lärarbristen i Sve-rige – hur kunde detta hända och vad kan vi göra? PAIDEIA, nr. 22, 6-22 Federičová, M. (2020). Teacher turnover: What can we learn from Europe? European Jour-nal of Education, 2020(00), 1–15. DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12429 García, E. & Weiss, E. (2020). A policy agenda to address the teacher shortage in U.S. pub-lic schools. The sixth and final report in the ‘Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market’ series. Economic Policy Institute. Washington, DC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED611183.pdf Statistiska centralbyrån SCB (2017). Lärare utanför yrket. Temarapport 2017:2.

Teacher shortage in Germany has reached an alarmingly high level. In total, estimations point out a gap of 30.000 qualified teachers in August 2022 (Stephanowitz, 2022). In order to define the rather complex phenomenon (in Germany) more precisely, a differentiation between several determinants like federal state, region, school type, and subject seems to be adequate. For instance, primary schools, special needs schools, and vocational schools are strongly affected as well as the subjects mathematics, chemistry, physics, and music (KMK, 2022). The impact of the imbalance is manifold: classes are cancelled, some subjects are deleted from the timetable, teachers work overtime, or not fully qualified staff—often university students—is hired. As a consequence, job satisfaction suffers and sickness rates rise. Several causes of teacher shortage can be identified: for example, miscalculations, demographic developments such as rising birth rates and migration, and also an unpredictable number of dropouts at university or in teacher training. Moreover, there is an aging teacher population. Accordingly, many teachers will soon reach retirement age (Eurydice, 2021). In addition, the number of study places does not match the demand of teachers, especially as the educational planners assume that on the one hand every student enters the labor market and on the other hand after a standard period. Reality looks different: Studying often takes much longer than expected (Kreienbaum, 2008) or students drop out. Not all of those who complete their exams become teachers. The short-, medium- and long-term measures to counteract the shortage are as varied as its causes: some schools re-activate retirees. Those working part-time are asked to switch to full-time. In some federal states, academics from other professions are trained as teachers in special programs. In order to gain a better understanding of the complex phenomenon, interviews with experts in the field of Educational Science were carried out (Kreienbaum & Wüllner, 2023). Their views on the problem as well as their ideas to overcome the crisis will be presented and discussed. We aim at structuring our results with the help of the methodological model created by the WATS up team (Blanco et al., 2023).

Blanco, A. M., Bostedt, G., Michel-Schertges, D., & Wüllner, S. (2023 in press). Studying Teacher Shortages: Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Approaches. Eurydice/European Commission/EACEA. (2021). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/o/opportal-service/download-handler?identifier=78fbf243-974f-11eb-b85c-01aa75ed71a1&format=pdf&language=en&productionSystem=cellar&part= KMK (2022) = Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (2022). Lehrkräfteeinstellungsbedarf und -angebot in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2021-2035. [Teacher Recruitment Requirements and Supply in the Federal Republic of Germany 2021 - 2035. Summarized Model Calculation of the German States]. https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/Statistik/Dokumentationen/Dok_233_Bericht_LEB_LEA_2021.pdf Kreienbaum, M. A. (2008). Katholisch, weiblich, weit gereist – der aktuelle Bildungshintergrund angehender LehrerInnen in NRW. [Catholic, Female, Well-travelled – The Current Educational Background of Prospective Teachers in NRW]. magazIn, 18-25. Kreienbaum, M. A., & Wüllner, S. (2023 in press). Lehrkräftemangel in Deutschland – Ursachen, Maßnahmen und Einschätzungen aus der Perspektive von Expert*innen () [Teacher shortage in Germany - causes, measures and assessments from the perspective of experts]. Stephanowitz, J. (2022, 30. August). An deutschen Schulen fehlen bis zu 40.000 Lehrer. [At German Schools there is a Shortage of 40.000 Teachers]. https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/schule/2022-08/lehrermangel-40-000-lehrer-fehlen-deutscher-lehrerverband

Teacher shortages in Denmark as well as internationally are a growing problem (Andersen et al., 2021; Boström et al., 2021). In the Danish literature, such shortages are often described as problems of recruiting and retaining teachers (KL, 2016), as well as minimising the number of teachers who leave the profession (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2010). One-third of all new Danish teachers leave their jobs in state schools during the first year, and four out of ten teachers resign during the first five years , feeling that the job is demanding, unrewarding and lonely (Dahl et al., 2022). Overall, 17,000 qualified teachers do not work in schools (DLF, 2018); both political (DLF, 2018) and professional (Nordenbo et al., 2008) stakeholders seem to agree that the lack of qualified teaching staff in schools damages children’s schooling. The problem of teacher shortages in Danish schools seemingly does not concern a general lack of trained teachers, but rather that schools find it hard to attract and retain teachers (DLF, 2018). But why do Danish school teachers leave the profession? And how may the problem of teacher shortages, particularly teacher retention, be addressed by schools? Drawing on self-determination and motivation theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017) and situated learning theory (Wenger, 1998), the paper explores the motivation and professional becoming of new teachers, whose working-lives are characterised by a multi-faceted complex of problems (Dahl et al., 2022; EVA, 2019; Hargreaves, 2000; Hjort & Weber, 2004). The paper concludes that although new teachers start their careers as inspired individuals who are motivated for ‘doing good’ (Pedersen et al., 2016), their motivation for teaching is dismantled (Dahl, 2020) when they experience the conflicting demands of personal and professional ambitions, political plans, in a time-, top- and economyrestricted everyday school practice in schools.

Andersen, F.Ø., Frederiksen, L., Sunesen, M.S.K. & Thorborg, M. (2021). Lærermangel i Danmark. Paideia, 22: 21-32. Boström, K., Bostedt, G., & Lindqvist, M. (2021). Den allvorliga lärerbristern i Sverige – hur kunde dette hända och vad kan vi göra? Paideia, nr. 22: 6-20. Dahl, K.K.B. (2020). Mo(ve)ments in professional identification. Compare, 50(1): 123-140. Dahl, K.K.B, Laursen, P.F., & Andreasen, B. (ed.) (2022). Overlevelsesguide for nye lærere. Dafolo. DLF, Danmark Lærerforening (2018). Folkeskolens rekrutteringsproblemer. DLF. EVA, Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut. (2019). TALIS 2018. EVA. file:///C:/Users/au50263/Downloads/TALIS%202018_011019.pdf Hargreaves, A. (2000). Nye lærere, nye tider. Klim. Hjort, K. & Weber, K. (2004). Hvad er værd at vide om professioner? I Hjort, K. & Weber, K. (red.), De professionelle. (s. 7-20). Samfundslitteratur. Nordenbo, S. E., Larsen, M. S., Tiftikçi, N., Wendt, R. E. and Østergaard, S. (2008). Lærerkompetencer og elevers læring i barnehage og skole. Copenhagen: Dansk Clearinghouse for Uddannelsesforskning

Teacher shortage in Germany is severe – especially in vocational schools. Recent prognoses expect a shortfall of approximately 1600 qualified V(ocational)E(ducation) and T(raining)-Teachers a year until 2035 (Autor:innengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung, 2022, 315). The lack of vocational teachers concerns beyond S(cience)T(echnology)E(ngineering) and M(athematics) and the personal service professions. It is an unsolved problem at present whether the expansion of training capacities and the development of cross- and side-entry programmes will be sufficient to address the shortage in all vocational disciplines. Therefore, it is quite important to understand both, the attracting as well as the deterring factors of choosing teaching in vocational schools as a career. In educational research, however, teachers’ motivation in the choice of career has been analysed especially referring to expectancy-value theories (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020) mostly based on university student samples (Watt et al., 2012; König et al., 2013). This is obviously not ideal for two reasons: Firstly, in student-teacher surveys, the motivation to become a teacher is measured after the transition in teacher education (Goller & Ziegler, 2021). This might lead to biased answers due to social desirability and false memories to an extent we can’t nearly assess yet. Secondly, we learn less about the dissuasive factors of teaching as a career if we only ask those who have already - at least to a certain extent – decided on the teaching profession (Renger et al., 2022; Rahn et al., 2023). Against this background, the lecture will explore the questions, what influences students’ motivation or (dis-)inclination of choosing teaching as a career before deciding to start teacher training? Which attraction factors and especially which aversion factors can be identified? In order to answer this, empirical findings from a survey of roundabout 540 students of German vocational schools are presented and discussed. Referring to expectancy-value theory the fit choice scale of Watt & Richardson has been adapted. In addition, the prestige of teaching in VET as a profession has been measured. With a few exceptions, the scales have satisfactory or good internal consistency. Some descriptive results and logistic regression models will be presented and discussed as well. The presentation will lead to practical conclusions for VET-Teachers’ current recruiting strategies on the national level, which might run the risk of having undesirable side effects and some conclusions for international comparing research on the teacher shortage in VET.

Autor:innengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung (2022). Bildung in Deutschland 2022: Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zum Bildungspersonal. Bielefeld. Eccles, J. S. & Wigfield, A. (2020). From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive, and sociocultural perspective on motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859 Goller, M. & Ziegler, S. (2021): Berufswahlmotivation angehender Wirtschaftspädagog*innen: Validierung des FIT-Choice-Ansatzes und Exploration der Gründe für das Studium der Wirtschaftspädagogik, 117 (2), 154–193. König, J., Rothland, M., Darge, K., Lünnemann, M. & Tachtsoglou, S. (2013). Erfassung und Struktur berufswahlrelevanter Faktoren für die Lehrerausbildung und den Lehrerberuf in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 16(3), 553–577. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-013-0373-5 Rahn, S., Schäfer, B., Fuhrmann, Ch. (2023). Berufsoption „Lehrer*in an einer beruflichen Schule?“ Warum sich Schüler*innen (nicht) für das Lehramt an beruflichen Schulen interessieren. Zeitschrift Bildung und Erziehung, 01/2023. Renger, S., Köller, M. M., Möller, J. (2022): Was motiviert Schülerinnen und Schüler für das Lehramt?. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 36, 1–15. Watt, H. M.G., Richardson, P. W., Klusmann, U., Kunter, M., Beyer, B., Trautwein, U., Baumert, J. (2012).Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28 (6), 791–805.