As the pandemic eases off, students started to go back to school. However, there’s a shortage of teachers all over the world right now. In France, before the return to school in 2022, there were still 4,000 vacant teacher posts. Teachers in Hungary and Poland cannot earn a decent salary, many choose to leave the state school systems. As over 85,000 Ukrainian refugee children registered at Polish Schools, the need for teachers in Poland dramatically increased. In Asia, teacher shortages are happening too. People shy away from the long working hours which results in teacher shortage in Japan. Teacher shortages are currently a global crisis, which means that many students will not receive the education they need to succeed in life.

What Causes Teacher Shortages?

From the introduction, we can see poor pay is usually what causes teacher shortages. But there are actually more reasons for the shortages

• Poor pay: Many teachers say that they are satisfied with their jobs, but less with their salary. Some couldn’t afford their living and are forced to find other job opportunities.
• Lack of support: Teachers don’t only need to deal with students. Parents sometimes put pressure on teachers too. However, there are not enough support systems to help teachers.
• Teaching is getting harder: During the COVID-19, teachers need to balance online and hybrid teaching models. As the quarantine policy changes, they need to play it by ear.
• Lack of respect for teachers: Teachers used to earn respect from the society. But now a teacher’s salary is not proportional to the effort he makes. And we always think that they have long vacations but ignore that they spend lots of time preparing for classes.
• Increasing class sizes: Many countries choose to increase class sizes which makes teachers stressful.

How to Fix Teacher Shortages?

• Increase teacher pay: We have talked about the poor remuneration for teachers. If we increase teacher pay, it not only keeps teachers in the classroom, but also can attract more people to enter the profession. The lack of professional autonomy and low wages are main reasons why young people don’t want to be teachers. A competitive salary is a significant method to recognize teachers’ hard work and encourage young people to choose teaching as a career path.
• Provide support group resources for teachers: Teachers spend lots of time on classes and provide mental support for students. They sometimes don’t really have time to talk to other teachers and exchange their teaching experience. Teaching then becomes a solo activity. During the pandemic, the situation is even harder for them. It’s important to let teachers know what communities can help them and support their mental health. WeAreTeachers is a good example that teachers can use these online resources to get teaching ideas and discuss teaching techniques.
• Create teaching model exchange workshops: You must have heard of flipped classroom, hybrid learning and more innovative education models. We always hope teachers integrate the latest technology in the classroom without providing them enough learning resources. So teachers need to spend more time starting from scratch to study how to build a new teaching model. If we have more workshops for teachers, they will feel more relieved to prepare for new courses. Transcend’s Innovative Models Exchange is also a good online resource to inspire and help teachers easily implement new learning models.
• Integrate easy-to-use edtech tools in the classroom: During the pandemic, teachers are forced to learn many new software and hardware to do the hybrid teaching. However, not every tool works for teachers. Some are too complicated and get teachers anxious. Therefore, you must choose the right edtech tools for teachers. The interface should be easy for both teachers and students. The tool needs to fit teachers’ learning needs too.

What Edtech Tool Can Help Teachers in The Classroom?

White board and screen sharing are two things that a teacher usually uses in the classroom. To let both teachers and students easily share content from their devices, ASTROS wireless presentation solutions are definitely your top choice. It supports Windows, macOS, Android and iOS devices to share the content wirelessly. The One-to-Many allows users to share content to 4 displays at most, which gives teachers the opportunities to move tables and chairs flexibly in the classroom. Teachers don’t need to worry if students share inappropriate content during the class, they can use the Moderation function to fully control the content sharing. If the classroom is large, students can use the Remote View feature to capture the displayed content on their devices. People sitting far can still see the content.

A good edtech tool can not only benefit teachers and students, but also saves IT staff’s time. ASTROS Manager enables IT staff to easily manage ASTROS wireless presentation solutions and change settings for multiple gateways at once with the browser-based interface. If you are interested in ASTROS, CLICK HERE to contact us.

Conclusion

If we care about education, we should pay attention to the workforce of education too. No one can disagree on how important a teacher is and how they are actually the essential players in promoting quality education. By highlighting the cause of teacher shortages, we hope teachers will receive attention and resources to get through the difficulties.