European education systems are experiencing an open shortage: according to the 2023 European monitoring, 24 of the 27 EU member states reported difficulties filling teaching positions. This shortage affects very different countries, from Finland to Greece, from Poland to Spain—but its mechanisms are not uniform. Behind the common figure, two Europes of education coexist: one that attracts, one that bleeds.
The Essential Points
- The majority of EU member states report teacher shortages.
- In Spain, Italy, and Portugal, a significant share of teachers under 35 years old work on short-term contracts, representing structural precarity, not cyclical precarity.
- Free movement allows certain mobility, which remains hindered by language, procedures, and recognition of qualifications; no evidence consulted establishes the alleged causal mechanism or universal absence of compensation.
- European policies already integrate some of these factors, notably recognition and language skills, but their consideration of contractual stability and employment conditions varies across instruments.
- Solutions exist: several countries are testing accelerated certification pathways, retention bonuses, and targeted career transition programs.
In Southern Europe, Teacher Precarity Has Become the Norm
In Spain, a significant share of teachers under 35 years old work on fixed-term contracts. Comparable situations are observed in Italy and Portugal. These short contracts last for years, sometimes an entire decade. A Spanish teacher may chain replacements lasting a few weeks for seven or eight years before obtaining a permanent position, with no guarantee of achieving it.
Contractual precarity is associated with intentions to leave or continue the career, without establishing direct causality. The OECD observes that the selectivity of training systems is associated with a higher share of teachers who chose this career first. This results in reverse selection: some systems experience increased recruitment difficulties in certain territories, public institutions, or socially disadvantaged contexts. The share of contract workers varies mainly according to the education system, seniority, and local contexts.
The mechanism is well documented by Bruno Palier’s work on the political economy of labor in Europe. His central thesis: when social protection systems do not adequately secure professional transitions, qualified workers make choices in favor of sectors and geographies offering the best prospects. Teaching in Southern Europe illustrates this diagnosis with almost clinical precision. The quality of work—stable contract, salary progression, institutional recognition—is the variable that public sector human resources policies have failed to stabilize in certain countries. And this omission is now taking its toll.
European Mobility Redistributes Talent in the Wrong Direction
Free movement of workers is one of the fundamental achievements of European construction. For teachers, it theoretically opens the possibility of practicing in another member state. But this formal right runs up against real obstacles: national accreditations are not automatically recognized from one country to another, validation procedures are lengthy, diploma equivalences are uncertain.
Those who overcome these obstacles are, by definition, the most determined and often the best trained. A Portuguese science or mathematics teacher, whose skills are directly exportable in a Dutch or Swedish school system, has rational reasons to attempt the venture. Teacher salaries vary considerably among EU member states. The difference in working conditions—class sizes, available resources, administrative support—is also substantial.
This results in certain movements of teachers between unequally endowed systems. Some countries like the Netherlands and Sweden offer attractive conditions. Some countries training teachers might see their graduates practice elsewhere.
A market economist would emphasize that mobility is a signal of efficiency: human resources go where they are most valued, and regulatory barriers to retention would produce more damage than benefits. The logic of the mechanism is sound. However, this argument assumes that the costs of initial training are borne equitably by the countries that benefit from mobility, which existing documentation does not confirm.
The transfer of human resources related to teacher mobility is not clearly compensated by existing mechanisms between states.
The Deep Reasons for the Shortage Cross Borders
Teacher shortage is not exclusively a problem of intra-European mobility. Structural factors for shortage exist in many systems, but the figure of 24 countries must be supported by comparable definitions and sources.
The first is demographic. A large portion of teachers in position belongs to baby boom generations; their mass retirement creates a replacement need that current cohorts of young graduates do not cover. According to a European Commission report, the number of active teachers in Germany is expected to decrease by approximately one-third by 2030.
The second is a question of relative attractiveness. In economies where university graduates have access to well-paid jobs in the private sector—tech, finance, consulting—teaching loses ground in career choices. A significant income gap between teachers and comparable graduates is associated with teacher shortages. The correlation is not perfect, but it is robust.
The third factor is less often named: the perceived degradation of working conditions. OECD surveys show that teachers in position describe an increase in administrative burden, a rise in disruptive behaviors in class, and a sense of loss of pedagogical autonomy. These elements directly affect the recommendation of the profession: a teacher who does not recommend their profession to a young graduate is as powerful a signal as salary statistics. This phenomenon is, moreover, linked to the concentration of economic gains at the top that one observes in other sectors: professions with strong relational content and low immediate profitability struggle to maintain their relative attractiveness in economies that massively value digital and managerial skills.
Distinctive Practices of Certain Countries
Shortage is not inevitable. Several European countries have tested concrete responses, and some show results.
Portugal implemented in 2023 a dynamic tenure process accessible under certain conditions, notably after at least 1,095 days of service. The objective was to stabilize several thousand teachers awaiting competition. Results are still partial, but signs of increased interest in recruitment competitions suggest that securing status affects attractiveness.
In Germany, several Länder have opened career transition pathways for professionals from other sectors wishing to enter teaching. The Quereinstieg pathways allow graduates or professionals from other fields to enter teaching according to regional rules, with pedagogical and professional qualification whose duration varies. The approach is contested by teachers’ unions, who see it as a devaluation of initial training, but it has helped fill certain vacant positions in mathematics and sciences.
Finland, often cited as a model, maintains its attractiveness through a different mechanism: the very demanding selection at entry to teaching programs—approximately 10% of candidates admitted annually to the primary teacher training program at Helsinki University—confers on the profession a social prestige that translates into symbolic remuneration and real pedagogical autonomy. This model is not directly transferable at large scale, but it illustrates that the attractiveness of the profession is a public policy choice, not an immutable given.
European Harmonization: Brake or Lever
The question that arises on the 2030-2035 horizon is that of accreditations. Today, a teacher certified in France cannot practice in French-speaking Belgium without recognition procedure, both a geographic absurdity and a real barrier to chosen mobility. Automatic mutual recognition of teaching qualifications between member states would allow two things: facilitating the voluntary mobility of teachers who wish to change countries, and reducing administrative obstacles that currently hinder otherwise qualified applications.
Harmonization of accreditations only solves part of the problem. Easier mutual recognition of accreditations could accelerate mobility, but would not alone address resource inequalities between school systems. European policies facilitate mobility and include corrective measures, but their impact on disparities between systems remains poorly documented. The issue joins that of intergenerational mobility: shortages and insufficient resources can contribute to educational inequalities, but the specific causality attributed to mobility mechanisms requires additional data.
A mechanism for financial compensation between states, analogous to European structural funds but targeted at teacher training, would be more equitable. Countries that train teachers who end up practicing abroad could receive partial compensation from beneficiary countries. This approach remains largely at the stage of academic discussion.
Shortage as a Revealer of an Unarticulated Political Choice
Teacher shortage in Europe is not a statistical surprise. Warning signals appeared in OECD data several years ago. The 2023 European monitoring identified recruitment difficulties in 24 member states, but national indicators are not fully comparable; the problem remains structural.
What is lacking, for now, is a coherent European doctrine on teaching as a common good. Education remains a jealously guarded national competence, and this is legitimate—school systems are deeply rooted in local cultures and histories. But this national sovereignty is not incompatible with coordination on minimum working conditions, mutual recognition of qualifications, and solidarity mechanisms between unequally endowed systems.
The main adjustment variable remains the quality of daily teaching work: contractual stability, decent salary, pedagogical autonomy, and real institutional support. These elements are the conditions for practicing a profession that European societies place in their social mobility model. Disparities in working conditions between European regions contribute to the persistence of shortage.
The European Union could treat teaching with the same seriousness it accords to competition in energy or digital markets. The tools exist. Without commitment in this direction, recruitment difficulties risk persisting or worsening in the years to come.
Sources
- OECD, Education at a Glance 2025, How severe are teacher shortages across countries?: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2025/09/education-at-a-glance-2025_c58fc9ae/full-report/how-severe-are-teacher-shortages-across-countries_781f4a97.html
- European Commission, Education Monitor 2025 (no link: annual report from DG EAC, available at education.ec.europa.eu)
- Teach East, 2025 analysis on teacher shortages in Europe (no link: report available on the organization’s website)
- Bruno Palier, works on the political economy of labor and social protection in Europe (Sciences Po, CEVIPOF)
- OECD, comparative data on teacher salaries and working conditions (dashboard Education at a Glance, annual editions)
