Cyprus and Greece avoid EU teacher shortages, study finds

A study presented to the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) indicates that Cyprus and Greece are the only EU member states that do not appear to be facing teacher shortages. The findings were presented by University of Glasgow professor Torre Sørensen.

While Cyprus and Greece show no significant shortages, the study notes that teacher shortages remain a systemic and persistent issue across most other member states. This problem involves both recruitment and retention, affecting not just the total number of educators but also the availability of fully qualified personnel. Countries such as Estonia, the Netherlands, and Sweden were identified as having documented issues based on multiple indicators.

Factors impacting the attractiveness of the teaching profession include compensation, workload, relationships with school administration, and professional development opportunities. The report also highlighted the aging of the teaching workforce and the need for better data collection to allow member states to predict future staffing needs. Additionally, the CULT Committee Chair, Nela Riegl, noted that recent PISA assessment results for 15-year-olds showed the lowest scores in reading, mathematics, and science since the assessment began in 2000.