This is an editorial. It represents the view of the editors.

Within a single week, two of the world's main education bodies said the same thing. The OECD devoted Education at a Glance 2026 to teacher shortages and found them in most developed school systems, worst in mathematics and science. UNESCO then put a number on the global gap: 50 million additional teachers needed by 2030, 44 million of them for primary and secondary schools.

Governments have responded mostly with workarounds. Germany has opened new routes into teaching for career changers and dual-study students, and, like other systems, it increasingly relies on teachers who do not yet meet every qualification requirement. These measures keep schools open. They do not fix the problem.

The leak is bigger than the tap

Recruitment campaigns treat the shortage as a pipeline problem: train more teachers and the gap closes. But a large part of the demand comes from replacing teachers who leave. A system that brings in new teachers while losing experienced ones at the same rate is running to stand still.

People leave for reasons that are well documented: workload, status, and pay. UNESCO reported in 2022 that in six out of ten countries, primary school teachers earn less than other professionals with similar qualifications. That is the gap that matters most, and it is the one governments are least willing to close.

What would work

  • Pay that competes. Starting and mid-career salaries should match comparable graduate jobs. Shortage subjects such as maths and physics may need more.
  • Time to teach. Administrative work and oversized classes push good teachers out. Cutting them is cheaper than replacing those teachers.
  • Careers, not just jobs. Teachers need routes to grow, into mentoring, curriculum design or leadership, without leaving the classroom entirely.

This year's World Teachers' Day marked 60 years since governments signed the ILO/UNESCO recommendation on the status of teachers. Its central promise, that teaching should be a respected and properly rewarded profession, is still the most practical answer to the shortage. Six decades on, it is time to keep it.

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