Career changers and students ease teacher shortage in schools [premium]

Austria is experiencing a considerable shortage of teachers across its schools, a problem exacerbated by demographic shifts, retirements, and an increasing student population. The situation has become more acute in recent years, leading to unfilled positions just before the school year begins. In response, the Ministry of Education, under Martin Polaschek (ÖVP), has been actively working to make the teaching profession more attractive through various measures, including simplifying the process for career changers and reforming teacher training programs.

Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) has also focused on combating the teacher shortage, and these combined efforts appear to be yielding positive outcomes. Last year saw a noticeable easing of the situation, a trend that is continuing this year. While final figures won't be available until the end of August, preliminary data on open positions and applications suggest that all posts will likely be filled this year. The Ministry of Education reported that the number of open hours, which stood at nearly 136,300 (equivalent to about 6,200 full-time positions) six weeks before the school start, is comparable to last year's figures. In total, over 128,000 teachers work in Austria.

The number of applicants has also seen a significant increase, rising from 12,900 in the spring to 18,400. This surge varies by region, school type, and subject matter, with some locations receiving far more candidates than available positions, while others have few or no interested parties. Vienna has the largest number of open positions, with 32,000 hours needing to be filled. Despite these regional differences, approximately two-thirds of the open hours were provisionally or permanently filled six weeks before the school year began, with the ministry confident the remaining third will be filled by the start of term.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Wiederkehr attributed the rise in applications to two main factors: an increase in graduates from reformed and shortened teacher training programs, and a substantial pool of certified career changers. These initiatives aim to address the growing and diverse needs of students, ensuring that schools can adequately staff their classrooms.

“

There are two reasons for the increase: Firstly, there are more graduates from teacher training programs, as the reform and shortening of teacher training programs since last year are slowly taking effect. Secondly, there is a very large pool of certified career changers.