Chapter 3: International Experiences of Recruitment and Retention

This chapter considers the experiences of the recruitment and retention crisis in other countries around the world. A number of nations across Europe have reported teacher shortages (European Commission, 2018), alongside Australia, the United States and countries in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The patterns are complex, including differences across curriculum subjects, age phases and in different areas within countries (See, Morris, Gorard, et al., 2020). We consider some of the factors identified as important in creating these teacher shortages and what countries are attempting to do to tackle them. How do these factors compare with the situation in England, and what might this tell us about the potential to overcome teacher shortages as we emerge from the long shadow of the pandemic?