The Severe Growth of the National Teacher Shortage
- Grace Huang
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Educators had been a key in guiding the development of our societies, However, this occupation had been facing an international shortage which began in the 2010s, this percentage began to increase around 2015-2016.
A report provided by The Teacher Task Force, had shown the increase rate of global primary teacher attrition up to 4.62% in 2015. In 2020, the demand for teachers for different types of subjects had increased significantly, yet the percentage of global primary teacher attrition had reached up to 5.17%, and the lower secondary teachers attrition had increased up to 7.85%.
With the most recent data, the global attrition rate of primary teachers had increased up to 9.06% in 2022, and the attrition rate of lower secondary teachers had decreased down to 5.71% compared to 2020.
As mentioned, teacher shortage doesn’t only happen in countries like India, Nigeria, and sub-Saharan Africa which are less developed, but this issue also takes place in countries that are well-developed such as the United States and Australia. The percentages of teacher retirements inside the country regions had reached to an concerning rate.
The root of this severe situation lies in low salaries, which had become unattractive to many new graduates from the universities, which led them to find other occupations in the same sector with the same level of education requirement and even the need for second jobs.
Apart from low salaries, the heavy workload is also one of the factors that has led to the teacher attrition. The increased workload had meant heavier responsibilities, sometimes teaching outside their specialties, and gradually leading to burnout.
In addition, difficult working conditions which have a challenging environment on teaching, hard managing classes, and the lack of academic resources and equipment are also a point that influenced the attrition of teachers. With the attrition of primary teachers, the schools also have to use an aging workforce of teachers leading to more retirements due to the work ability and the educator’s mental health.
With hardships in finding teachers, schools are forced to find teachers that are less qualified to maintain student’s education, increasing the size of each class and even heavier workloads.
According to UNESCO, 44 million more teachers are required in order to achieve primary and secondary education internationally by 2030. If not achieved, students could face a severe gap in education.
The addressing of the issue in this article is to aim for a future where educators are valued more and are able to maintain the balance between education to students along with the society.
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