Later retirements would only dent teacher shortage as more men enter primary education

The shortage of primary school and high school teachers will not be solved by allowing teachers to retire later; it will only lead to a slight dent in the shortage, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) has said.

Researchers calculated that keeping teachers who retired at least one year before reaching the state pension age in work for an additional year would have added 770 full-time positions in primary education. That would have covered 13 percent of the current teacher shortage, leaving 87 percent of the shortfall unresolved.

The shortage at high schools could be reduced by 24 percent by delaying the retirements by a year. This will amount to 520 full-time positions.

The researchers stressed that the percentages represent an upper limit and that the actual effect is likely to be smaller. The CPB said the calculations assume that teachers and school leaders would both be able and willing to take jobs anywhere in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, and Almere would see the smallest effect of the change. In these cities, extending teachers’ careers by one year would cut the shortage by less than 4 percent in primary education and by 10 percent in secondary education. The shortages in these areas are already higher than elsewhere in the Netherlands, while teachers there also tend to retire later on average.

It was reported by the Education Executive Agency (DUO) that more and more men are getting their diplomas to teach at a primary school level. A total of 858 men got their primary school teaching diplomas last year, DUO said.

Around 10 years ago, there were 515 men who passed the teachers’ course; the recent numbers indicate an increase of 66 percent.

Most of primary school teachers are women. These numbers are also increasing, but at a lower rate than men. Ten years ago, around one in seven of new teachers were men; now that rate has risen to around one in five.

Political leaders and education organizations are calling for more men to become teachers, arguing that they can provide boys with male role models in the classroom.