Swedish schools under pressure to recruit 77,000 teachers
Sweden's schools and pre-schools need to recruit up to 77,000 new full-time teacher positions in the next five years, according to a new forecast by the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket).
Since Skolverket's last prognosis two years ago, the need for qualified teachers has gone up by 7,000 to 77,000, mainly because of population growth. There is also a need to replace temporary staff without official teacher training qualifications with newly examined teacher graduates up until the year 2031.
Skolverket's Director-General Peter Fredriksson emphasized the importance of making Swedish schools an attractive workplace: "It must be made more attractive to work as a teacher and for that everyone with any influence in schools, not least the teachers' employers, need to make sure that schools are a desirable workplace".
READ ALSO: 'In Sweden no kid should be left behind'
Taking into account replacing temporary staff, in order to cover the number of full-time teachers needed by 2031, Skolverket say they need to recruit 187,000 staff in total. In effect, this means there will need to be 227,000 teachers and pre-school teachers employed by 2031.
"At that rate, we will be 80,000 teachers short in 2031," Fredriksson noted.
Schools in Sweden have been under scrutiny for a number of years since performing poorly in the international Pisa reports in 2013. The most recent Pisa report showed a positive upswing in Sweden's global world ranking.
READ ALSO: Sweden recovers in global Pisa ranking
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Since Skolverket's last prognosis two years ago, the need for qualified teachers has gone up by 7,000 to 77,000, mainly because of population growth. There is also a need to replace temporary staff without official teacher training qualifications with newly examined teacher graduates up until the year 2031.
Skolverket's Director-General Peter Fredriksson emphasized the importance of making Swedish schools an attractive workplace: "It must be made more attractive to work as a teacher and for that everyone with any influence in schools, not least the teachers' employers, need to make sure that schools are a desirable workplace".
READ ALSO: 'In Sweden no kid should be left behind'
Taking into account replacing temporary staff, in order to cover the number of full-time teachers needed by 2031, Skolverket say they need to recruit 187,000 staff in total. In effect, this means there will need to be 227,000 teachers and pre-school teachers employed by 2031.
"At that rate, we will be 80,000 teachers short in 2031," Fredriksson noted.
Schools in Sweden have been under scrutiny for a number of years since performing poorly in the international Pisa reports in 2013. The most recent Pisa report showed a positive upswing in Sweden's global world ranking.
READ ALSO: Sweden recovers in global Pisa ranking
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