Addressing teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools

Introduction

Over recent years, few topics in education have received as much media, public and political attention as that of teacher shortages. While there is an overarching agreement about the existence of the teacher shortages worldwide (UNESCO, 2023), finding consensus on solutions has proven more challenging. This is partly due to the unique circumstances that have created teacher shortages across many parts of the world. The causes and the magnitude of these shortages vary geographically, leading to different responses including a diverse range of initiatives and policies, each grounded in a specific understanding of the problem. Furthermore, countries have leveraged different policy solutions to varying effects on the recruitment and retentions of their teaching workforce.

Severe teacher shortages, commonly attributed to inadequate new teacher supply amid rising student enrolment and teacher retirements, have prompted a focus on increasing the influx of new teachers. However, as Ingersoll and Tran (2023) note, while recruiting more teachers into the profession is crucial, a sole supply–demand understanding of the problem does not effectively address a significant contributor to staffing challenges. Simply boosting recruitment is unlikely to resolve school staffing inadequacies if a substantial number of recruited teachers leaves within a few years. To maximise the impact of recruitment initiatives, mitigating teacher exit thus becomes essential.

This special issue provides some opportunities to better understand and propose solutions to what has become, without exaggeration, a crisis. The research represented in the papers in this special issue critically examines the topic of teacher shortages while acknowledging the inherent complexity of the problem (see McPherson et al., 2024). The focus is on exploring the intersection of policy-related factors, school-community context, and initial teacher education initiatives. This intersection is particularly important for understanding teacher shortages in schools considered as hard-to-staff. These schools tend to have more challenging working conditions due to issues related to under-staffing, resource constraint and higher than average rate of staff turnover.

As Darling-Hammond et al. (2023) aptly note, countries achieving significant success in teacher education and retention prioritise a well-prepared and well-supported teachers within a comprehensive framework with long-term planning in support of teacher wellbeing. Many such countries heavily invest in universal, high-quality, government-funded teacher education programmes. To combat attrition, they offer mentorship to all early-career teachers, reduced teaching loads, shared planning time, and continuous professional learning, engagement in decision-making and competitive salaries.

Amid the current surge of proposed solutions to tackle the teacher shortage problems in hard-to-staff school, we evaluate the affordances and the limitations of existing responses from different contexts including Australia, the UK, and China. We question the extent to which the depiction of the problem reflects a case of “misdiagnosis and incorrect prescription” (Ingersoll, 2002). In doing so, the papers respond to long-held concerns about adequate solutions and highlight the need for a more precise understanding of the factors contributing to the ongoing cycle of teacher recruitment and teacher attrition.

Teacher shortages and hard to staff schools

While teacher shortages are a growing issue and a global concern (UNESCO, 2023), the reasons for these shortages differ from nation to nation and the magnitude of these workforce shortages vary. Furthermore, different nations leverage different polies to address the shortages and the impact of these policies also affect both teachers and students differently. Concerns about teacher recruitment, attrition, and retention cross-national boundaries, but the issues are not “one size fits all.” For instance, Sun Yee’s paper focuses on teacher shortages in rural China. Teacher shortages have been a historical issue in countries such as Australia as well, but the issue is now more widespread. On the other hand, “like” Anglosphere countries, such as Australia and England, have other things in common, such as poor remuneration compared to other professions, an ageing (and retiring) teacher workforce, the impact of the pandemic, teacher workload and grappling with the low status and consequently the precarious mental health and “demoralisation” of teachers (Santoro, 2018). It seems timely to unpack the differences, and the similarities between education workforce issues to see both what we have in common and how we differ to come up with more viable, long-term solutions to what has become an issue of urgency.

In fact, there has been some debate over how to define a “hard to staff” school or what the term really means. In their paper, Mills et al. discuss some other language used, sometimes euphemistically, to describe schools that have long found it hard to attract or retain teachers. These include not just rural or remote schools but also “challenging” schools, schools in culturally diverse or high poverty locations and, particularly in the US context, “urban” schools which are often used as code for high-poverty and consequently hard to staff schools. One cautionary challenge arising from the papers in this special issue is to avoid conflation or, at the very least, to start looking at nuance. Some teaching shortage issues have been perennial concerns for a long time, such as how to attract and retain teachers in “undesirable” schools and shortages in certain areas such as STEM, languages, and special education.

While the focus of many prior initiatives has been on attracting new teachers into schools, they are often reluctant to consider, and staffing issue remain hard for these schools, these are no longer the only concerns. Even “leafy green” and independent schools, at least in the Anglosphere, now call themselves hard-to-staff and where shortages used to be most prevalent in secondary schools, primary schools, and even more-so early childhood education, now struggle to find enough staff to meet the needs of their children and young students. And, stating what might seem obvious, schools that cannot easily staff their schools experience the consequences of those vacancies: even more exhausted teachers, less time for teachers to focus on educational outcomes of their students, and more likelihood of resigning. It’s a complex cycle in need of intervention.

The implication of teacher shortages is widespread with long-term consequences and many players and stakeholders. Globally and in differing ways, Initial Teacher Education is under pressure both to recruit more people into the teaching profession and fast-track graduates quickly to alleviate issues related to supply-and-demand. Government is pressured to staff schools quickly while simultaneously maintaining quality and competitive literacy and numeracy rates, such as those publicly visible in international PISA comparisons. And in the meanwhile, families and students are still cycling through the school system which cannot stop, while these issues are sorting themselves out. The research represented in the papers in this special issue provides some opportunities to theorise, reflect, plan, and propose solutions to what has become, without exaggeration, a crisis.

The spatial and temporal aspects of teacher shortages

Collectively, the papers in this special issue examine teacher shortages with a particular focus on spatial and temporal considerations. As McPherson et al. (2024) discuss in their paper, teaching workforce planning typically hinges on governments’ population projections to gauge future teacher demand. However, addressing staffing challenges in hard-to-staff schools extends beyond mere supply and demand forecasts. Complex issues within these contexts interact to compound the impact of teacher shortages. This includes individual level, school level, and community-level factors. As a result of such complexities, a more nuanced analysis is needed, McPherson et al. (2024) note, to provide a deeper understanding of why teachers leave the profession, especially in hard-to-staff schools.

Mills et al. (2024) paper in this special issue identifies key discourses on teacher shortages, including investment/support, school culture, diversity, and hardest-to-staff subjects. While these discourses highlight valid issues, caution is advised regarding their assumptions and effects. The authors advocate for a new perspective on teacher shortages in hardest-to-staff schools, emphasising (re)professionalisation and social justice for systemic change. They highlight the urgent need for recognising teachers’ expertise and autonomy. Additionally, the authors stress the importance of addressing systemic issues such as curriculum control, workload, and diversity in the teaching profession as part of a broader response.

A spatial analysis of the causes and proposed solutions to the teacher shortage problems is timely as it brings into sharper focus the uneven distribution of these shortages. For instance, Yip and Jiang’s (2024) paper focuses on teacher shortages in rural China. Their paper examines the Rural Teacher Living Subsidy Policy (RTLSP) effectiveness in attracting and retaining teachers in rural Chinese schools. The authors demonstrate that while the programme initially attracts teachers, most leave after 3 years. The study furthers compensating wage differential theory by considering short- and long-term effects and suggests extending incentives beyond salary to include tuition fees and loan reimbursements. It identifies broader factors influencing rural teacher recruitment and retention, such as economic development and infrastructure.

Teacher shortages have also been a recurring policy problem in “like” Anglosphere countries, such as Australia and England – see Mills et al. (2024) and Brooks and Perryman’s (2024) papers in this special issue. These countries have in common challenges that impact teacher retention including poor remuneration compared to other professions, an ageing (and retiring) teacher workforce, low status of the profession, heavy workloads, the impact of the pandemic and in more recent years the growing bureaucratic and administrative regimes that has led to a decline in teacher autonomy and subsequent “demoralisation” of the workforce (Santoro, 2018). Understanding these similarities and differences is crucial in identifying what can lead to teacher exit and in finding more viable, long-term solutions.

Spatial considerations are significant from an equity perspective. Although many schools are now grappling with teacher shortage problems, the intensity of the problem is greater in schools serving socio-economically marginalised communities. Many of these schools have access to limited resources and generate higher stress levels associated with meeting the more complex needs of marginalised students and their families (Dadvand et al., 2023). This can present unique challenges for teachers, who are called upon to address deeply entrenched historical, social, and economic inequalities. Therefore, adequate teacher preparation, evidence-informed induction processes, and ongoing support become more crucial in retaining teachers within these school settings.

In recognition of existing spatial disparities, responses need to bring social justice front and centre in teacher education policy. Brooks and Perryman’s (2024) paper discusses the spatial effects of current policies on teacher education in England, highlighting redistribution of resources away from rural areas and a disconnect between policy makers and areas in need. The paper argues that policies often pay little attention to spatial impacts and instead focus on standardisation without addressing regional challenges. Brooks raises concerns about the potential adverse effects of centralisation on rural and remote regions. The paper suggests a need for closer monitoring and research on the impacts of policies, especially on marginalised communities, to ensure equitable teacher education outcomes.

Teacher shortages remain an enduring policy problem for governments, one that (re)emerges at various scales and intensities. This gives the problem, and the search for more effective policy solutions a temporal dimension. Over the past few years, the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic has exacerbated some legacy issues relating to teacher shortages that have traditionally marked the teaching profession internationally. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) survey shows the negative impacts of the pandemic on teacher wellbeing across countries in Africa, Asia, the Arab region, Europe, and Latin America (Meinck et al., 2022).

The temporal dimension of the teacher shortage problems can also be examined in relation to the proposed solutions to the problem. While the urgency of the current teacher shortage crisis does indeed demand prompt resource mobilisation, sustained solutions need to address the underlying causes of teacher shortages. This, in turn, requires long-term planning and considerations of the (un)intended impacts of policy responses. In the absence of deliberate, sustained, and long-term workforce planning strategies for the most underserved schools, the cycle of teacher recruitment and exit is likely to persist.

Our own paper (see Lampert & Dadvand, 2024) in this special issue dwells on the temporal dimensions of the policy responses to teacher shortage problems within the Australian context. We examine the affordances of alternative pathways into teaching. These programmes, which combine study with paid employment, have grown in popularity in recent years as part of the broader suite of government responses to teacher shortage problems. Our discussions address the implications of these programmes for teacher practice and identify ways in which alternative pathways can be strengthened to provide more genuine opportunities for school–university partnerships and community engagement in the service of greater equity, inclusion, and social justice.

Together, the articles in this special issue help highlight a need for policy solutions to integrate sustained, deliberate, and previously unconsidered strategies for long-term impact to avoid the revolving door of teacher recruitment and exit. Policy responses to the present teacher shortages, particularly the challenges encountered by some of the hardest-to-staff schools, necessitate a dual focus. Firstly, equity considerations must be central to the design of policies and resource mobilisation aimed at alleviating teacher shortages. Secondly, there should be a concerted effort towards implementing sustained and deliberate strategies for long-term solutions. This approach can help to break the cycle of continuous teacher recruitment and attrition, ensuring stability and quality in teacher preparation.