Commissioned by the European Commission, Kristof De Witte and his team wrote a voluminous report on what we do and do not know scientifically about tackling the teacher shortage. The first observation is that there is little evidence for certain policy measures, for example. Do not read: they do not work; instead, little research has been done on whether they are effective.

Yet there are also a series of recommendations in the report. For example, measures that specifically target teachers:

First, we recommend the use of targeted financial incentives, as these appear promising with respect to cost-effectiveness, especially in promoting the retention of teachers in areas of high need. Such incentives include bonuses, salary differentials and deferred retirement plans.

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Second, based on the available evidence and literature, we recommend closing the salary gap between teachers and similarly educated workers. An across-the-board salary increase could be an effective policy measure to tackle teacher shortages by improving both the attractiveness of the profession and the retention of in-service teachers

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Third, we recommend focusing on combined interventions such as an across-the-board salary increase, compensated for by a proportional increase in class sizes.

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Lastly, we recommend exploring the use of teaching assistants to reduce teachers’ workload. Teaching assistants can carry out some tasks at a similar level of quality to teachers, but at a lower cost.

That the research was done by people with an educational economics perspective may be obvious. At the school level, there are also things that can be done:

First, we recommend implementing longer induction and mentoring programmes, of at least two years.

…stimulating continuous professional development could be an effective means to increase teacher retention. Professional development activities should have a high content focus, involve active learning, have a sustained duration, include collective participation, and offer coherence and ownership. While research on the area remains limited, it also appears that teacher collaboration, e.g. in professional learning communities, can result in the increased retention of teachers.

And then there are also system-level interventions possible:

First, we recommend the promotion of existing initial teacher education programmes. ITE provides a valuable path into teaching, and the quality of ITE programmes contributes to the attractiveness of the teaching profession. Thus, in debating whether to professionalise or deregulate teacher education, countries should carefully consider the evidence and retention rates among ITE-educated teachers versus those who receive training via an alternative route into teaching.

Second, countries facing teacher shortages could make use of alternative pathways to attract potential teachers, especially in areas of high need, as little difference can be discerned in terms student achievement between teachers who are traditionally trained, versus those who are trained by alternative routes. However, teachers trained via alternative pathways are more likely to leave their school when compared with traditionally trained teachers. Therefore, to combat these higher attrition rates among alternatively trained teachers, recruitment and retaining incentives must be balanced.

Third, we recommend improving the use of computer-assisted learning (CAL) in education.

The latter does come with a warning, though:

Although CAL can be beneficial in supporting student learning in situations where direct teacher instruction is unavailable, it should only be used as a temporary solution to address teacher shortages. This is because teachers have a critical role to play in promoting students’ social and emotional development, as well as providing guidance and support that cannot be substituted using CAL.