The funding and lack of attractiveness of the profession have led UNESCO to estimate the number of teacher shortages in the world at 44 million by 2030, a number that is nevertheless an improvement compared to 2016 estimates.
In a report released on Tuesday in conjunction with World Teachers Day, which takes place on October 5, UNESCO – the United Nations organization dedicated to education and culture – recalled that forecasts in 2016 pointed to a shortage of 69 million teachers in the primary education. and secondary education, about a third more than the now revised forecasts.
“The situation has improved, but not enough to meet global education needs”said a statement from UNESCO, identifying South Asia as the region of the world that has made the most progress in combating the teacher shortage, yet still faces a shortage of 7.8 million teachers.
A third of the world’s teacher shortage is in sub-Saharan Africa, while Europe and North America, “despite low birth rates”, rank third among the world’s regions with the most largest shortage of teachers, where four are missing. professionals.
UNESCO concluded that the lack of attractiveness of the profession makes it difficult to recruit young people and causes them to drop out of education at the start of their careers.
“Teachers play a crucial role in our societies, yet the profession is facing a massive vocations crisis. In some parts of the world there is a shortage of candidates. Others suffer from high dropout rates in the first few years of their work. The answer is the same: we need more value, better training and more support for teachers.”defended UNESCO Secretary General Audrey Azoulay, quoted in the statement.
In the 79 countries analyzed by UNESCO, the primary school dropout rate has increased from 4.62% in 2015 to 9.06% in 2022, with varied and different causes from country to country, but three factors stand out: poor working conditions, stress and low wages.
In terms of salaries, the report points out that only half of countries worldwide pay primary school teachers as much or more than other professions requiring the same level of qualifications, a situation exacerbated in Europe and North America, where primary school teachers secondary education salaries are 75% or less than those in other comparable professions.
UNESCO also states that the rate of leaving the profession is higher among men, at 9.2% in primary education worldwide, more than double the 4.2% among women.
“This is mainly due to the fact that men have more professional opportunities in other sectors and can change careers more easily, in addition to gender biases, such as views on who should be responsible for raising children”says UNESCO.
Faced with this problem, the United Nations recommends seven measures, such as investments in initial and continuing teacher training, mentoring programs that promote collaboration between experienced and novice teachers, competitive salaries compared to comparable professions and career development opportunities, eliminating bureaucratic work to enable greater focus on teaching, greater balance between private and professional life, mental health care to deal with ‘stress’ and strong school leadership that values the contributions of teachers.
Source: DN
