A report presented to the EU Commission on 10th February has shown that several EU countries, including Germany, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, are facing a shortage of specialist teachers. The statistics presented by the report include the fact that over 40% of 15 year olds in Germany have no specialist science teacher, and around 30% of Dutch students of the same age do not have a specialist maths teacher.

The signs for the future are also not good. Teaching is an increasingly aging profession - in the UK, Germany and Belgium, over 30% of teachers are close to retirement age - and it appears that for the younger generation, teaching is losing its appeal as a career choice. Despite increased salaries, the number of graduates training to be teachers is falling.

In order to help make teaching a more attractive prospect for younger people, the Commission want to provide an opportunity for 1 million teachers to train and teach abroad as part of the Erasmus for all programme.

“The professional development of teachers is a key factor in ensuring high quality education for our students. That’s why Erasmus for All (the Commission’s proposed new programme for education, training and youth) aims to strengthen the professional development of teaching staff while at the same time modernising education systems," commented Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

The report also showed that while unemployed graduates find work quicker that those without a university qualification, graduates are increasingly having to take jobs for which they are over-qualified.

Read the full press release here:http://europa.eu/rapid/pressRelease...

Image Source : stu_spivack on Flickr