A summary of initiatives to address teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools in the Anglosphere

ABSTARCT

This article brings together a number of key issues that emerge in research around the problem of teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools. It offers a broad overview of the hard-to-staff schooling sector as discussed in recent academic literature and provides a context-specific overview of the literature around workforce shortages in hard-to-staff schools with relevancy for high poverty contexts. In line with Williams et al. (2022) position on “Local Strategies, Global Inspiration,” this paper focuses on the problem of teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools in Australia while looking to both Australian and broader Anglosphere literature (p.120) to reconsider responses to teacher recruitment and retention. The paper begins with a survey of the current state of this issue of workforce shortages in hard-to-staff schools in Australia. Turning our attention to literature from both Australia and Anglosphere countries, the summary then focuses on the specific initiatives and mechanisms employed for recruiting and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools, particularly the organisational contributions of Initial Teacher Education that support recruitment into hard-to-staff schools. The article concludes by highlighting limitations and critiques of hard-to-staff initiatives in the literature to inform policy and organisational considerations when addressing the issue of teacher shortages going forward.

KEYWORDS:

• Hard to staff schools
• teacher shortages
• high poverty schools
• initial teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy McPherson

Dr Amy McPherson is a senior lecturer in the School of Education and a member of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre at the University of Newcastle. She is currently researching the impact of teacher shortages in Australia.

Jo Lampert

Jo Lampert is Professor of Teacher Education for Social Transformation at Monash University. She leads the Faculty’s ITE Research and Scholarship Group and is co-leader of Monash’s Education Workforce for the Future Impact Lab. Current research includes a large study of the impact of teaching shortages on those who remain teaching.

Bruce Burnett

Bruce Burnett is Adjunct Professor of the Australian Catholic University in the School of Education. He is currently researching the impact of teacher shortages in Australia.