More students, more part-time, not enough teachers

To ensure that whole classes are not suddenly left without a teacher, more career changers should be attracted. But experts don’t see this as a recipe for combating the teacher shortage. They point to other causes – for example, to the glaring wage differences.

In 2021, more children were born than at any time since 1972. For the schools this means: They have to adapt to a new generation of baby boomers.

Christoph Ruckstuhl / NZZ

More than 500 vacancies are advertised this week on job portals across Switzerland for the primary level alone. Whether in Basel, Bern or St. Gallen, there is an acute shortage of teachers almost throughout the country. Throughout the country? One spot in Switzerland has hardly any worries – the canton of Zug: “Our working conditions are above average,” explains the Zug education director Stephan Schleiss (SVP) the relaxed situation in his canton.

What Schleiss describes as good working conditions can be expressed in Swiss francs and centimes: A primary school teacher in the canton of Zug earns 78,191 francs in the first year. This emerges from the wage survey data of the Swiss-German education directors’ conferences. In the canton of Bern, where the shortage of teachers is particularly pronounced, the starting wage is lower, even if it’s only a good thousand francs a year.

Harmonization of wages demanded

But the longer a teacher stays in the job, the more the gap widens. In the 11th year of work, the difference between Bern and Zug is already over 13,000 francs – not including the Zug tax benefits. The gap between other cantons is sometimes even greater: in the canton of Graubünden, a primary school teacher can earn 110,880 francs at best, while in Zurich it is over 143,000 francs.

For Thomas Minder, President of the Association of School Principals, the stark differences are one of the main reasons why certain cantons can no longer find enough teachers: “In cantons where wages are low, the schools have been missing this for a long time Personnel – this connection is clear,” says Minder. The problems are particularly acute where cantons with similar living costs but different wage structures are right next to each other. Bern and Solothurn are an example of this.

As long as the relationship between supply and demand on the labor market was reasonably balanced, such differences hardly mattered. But because several unfavorable developments are currently overlapping, the situation is coming to a head. Hundreds of vacant teaching positions are advertised at all levels in individual cantons. In order to counteract the mutual poaching between the cantons, an adjustment of wages is therefore necessary, demands Minder.

More and more students – more and more teachers

One of the reasons for the growing shortage is the age of the post-war baby boomers. Many older teachers have been and are currently being retired. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the peak of this demographically-related wave of resignations seems to have been passed a few years ago. But in the years to come, around a thousand more teachers will be retiring across Switzerland every year than was the case ten or twelve years ago.

At the same time, the number of students is increasing significantly. The birth rate fell steadily until 2003, after which the trend reversed: while there were just over 141,000 children of primary school age in Switzerland in 2008, ten years later there were already over 172,000. This trend is also continuing practically unabated: That’s how it will be in 2021 more children were born than at any time since 1972. For the schools this means: They have to adapt to a new generation of baby boomers.

The number of students is increasing and increasing

Learners at primary level 1-2: surveyed and expected development and population aged 5 to 6 years (thousands)

Population aged 5 to 6 years

However, it is not the case that this growing number of students has to be looked after by a dwindling number of teachers. The teaching profession is by no means in crisis. In the past few years, the number of students at teacher training colleges (PH) has even grown significantly across the country. Today about twice as many people are enrolled at the PH as there were 15 years ago. This is also evident from figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

Lateral entrants only help to a limited extent

These high figures, which have persisted for many years, are “a strong sign of the attractiveness of the teaching profession,” explains Heinz Rhyn, Rector of the Zurich University of Education and President of the Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Teacher Training Institutions: “The development is helping to counteract the shortage of teachers. » The increase in the number of female graduates is due, among other things, to the fact that the teacher training colleges have intensified their advertising for new female students in view of the emerging shortage of teachers in recent years.

The teaching profession is becoming increasingly popular

Development of the number of students at the teacher training colleges

preschool and primary level

Also Thomas Less observes that teacher training is by no means losing popularity. All the more he criticizes attempts by politicians to counteract the shortage of teachers with quick fixes, which ultimately made the profession less attractive again. The Department of Education of the Canton of Zurich has decided that from autumn school communities can also hire people who do not have a teacher’s degree. “In Germany and Austria, it can be observed that a not inconsiderable number of career changers quickly leave the profession,” says Stephan Huber, head of the Institute for Education Management and Education Economics at the PH Zug. This is because they felt like second-class teachers.

Such measures will achieve the opposite of what was actually planned – Dagmar Rösler also fears that the attractiveness of the teaching profession will be reduced. “When lateral entrants receive quick help, class assistants carry out pedagogical tasks or completely unqualified people are hired as teachers, this weakens the reputation of the profession and the quality of the teaching,” said the President of the Swiss Teachers’ Association (LCH) this week in the Tamedia newspapers. Some cantons, such as Thurgau, do not want to hire lateral entrants without insufficient qualifications.

Ultimately, the students suffer

There is also another reason why experts warn against tweaking the quality of training: the increasing demands in the classroom have already led to the fact that only a quarter of all teachers are still working full-time. This is the result of a survey of 11,000 teachers from German-speaking Switzerland in 2019. The introduction of inclusive education and the implementation of Curriculum 21 have exacerbated this trend. The many part-time jobs do not necessarily mean that the stress decreases. On the contrary, the number of overtime hours is growing due to activities outside of the actual lessons.

Despite the boom in teacher training, the situation is only partially defused. The teachers suffer as a result – but above all the students. “The current shortage of teachers is the hottest issue in education policy,” says Huber. “It’s about nothing less than the quality of education for future generations.” In the opinion of the education expert from the PH Zug, nothing is gained with well-intentioned campaigns such as increased advertising for the teaching profession. A master plan and various coordinated measures are needed.

Huber says that it’s just a matter of mere plaster policy if the young teachers who have now been recruited leave the profession after a few years because they are frustrated. “That doesn’t help anyone, neither the teachers nor the students nor the parents. Rather, the vicious circle continues.”

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