Many European countries face teacher shortage

　　According to a recent report by Agence France-Presse, primary and secondary schools in many European countries are facing a shortage of teachers.

Relevant data show that after the end of the teacher qualification examination in 2022, there are still more than 4,000 vacancies in French primary and secondary schools; Italian media and teachers' unions pointed out that there are currently 15,000 vacancies for teachers in the country.

Until the start of the new school year this year, there are still a large number of vacancies for teachers in Italy, and the government has to hire a large number of temporary workers; Sweden has a demand for more than 70,000 teacher positions; about 3/4 of the schools in the UK are recruiting more teachers through various channels ...

　　At present, the French Ministry of Education has extended the registration period for the 2023 teacher qualification examination by two weeks, but the number of applicants has not yet reached expectations.

French Minister of Education Pape Ndiaye pointed out that the attractiveness of the teaching profession continues to decline, and France is still facing a serious shortage of teachers this year.

Laila Ben Chick, the principal of a school in Nice, France, said that there is a general shortage of teachers in French primary and secondary schools, and nearly 63% of them face the situation of "at least one teacher". Negative impact.

Chick said that due to the lack of teachers, on the one hand, current teachers have increased work pressure and often need to take on several jobs;

Many parents of students in France are very dissatisfied with this. They jointly established an organization called "We Need Teachers", demanding to change the current situation of teacher shortage and urging schools to face up to the problem of reducing students' class hours.

　　Germany expects to have a shortage of 25,000 teachers by 2025.

According to German media reports, there is currently a serious shortage of kindergarten and elementary school teachers in Berlin, Germany, and the wave of retirements will exacerbate this problem-it is estimated that 10,000 school teachers will retire in the next four years.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, already has 4,400 teacher vacancies at the start of the new school year in 2022.

The German Education and Science Union warns of teacher shortages: "School cancellations have become the norm".

　　According to European media analysis, there are many reasons for the shortage of teachers in many European countries, including declining occupational attractiveness, unclear training paths, restricted geographical mobility, and declining salary levels.

For example, low teacher salaries in France have become a major reason for leaving.

In the 1990s, the wages of young teachers who had just entered the job in France were about twice the minimum wage, but now it has dropped to 1.1 times, which is almost the same.

According to the OECD data, the legal salaries of French teachers are generally lower than the average level of the OECD and the EU.

According to reports, there will be 2,286 teachers who will leave their jobs early in 2021, about four times that of 10 years ago.

　　In addition, teachers in Germany need to take on more administrative work, and teachers in Hungary have "increased working hours", which have led to teachers leaving their jobs.

Many experts suggest that to alleviate the shortage of teachers, it is necessary to adopt a multi-pronged approach in terms of policy and training, further increase the salary level of teachers, improve the working environment, and respect the social value of teachers more.

　　(Newspaper, Paris, February 7th)

　　Our reporter Liu Lingling

　　Our reporter Liu Lingling