Estonia has a significant reserve of teachers

Eneli Kindsiko, an expert at the Foresight Centre, said that greater engagement of those with teacher education would help alleviate the shortage of teachers, as well as increase the proportion of qualified teachers in schools. “Every year, 1500 teachers on average leave schools in Estonia either temporarily or permanently,” said Kindsiko. “Those who have left in the last five years are part of the reserve of teachers with the highest value. According to scientific research, this is the most crucial timeframe for attracting teachers back.” More than half of the reserve of teachers is located in Tallinn and Tartu, which is exactly where the work overload and shortage of teachers are the greatest.

In the years between 2005 and 2022, 6218 people graduated from teacher training at Estonian universities, 3654 or 59% of them were working as teachers in 2023 and a reserve of teachers constitutes 38% or 2337 people. Considering that there are currently 16,942 active teachers in Estonia according to Haridussilm (Education Eye) data, the size of the reserve is thus 14%. 53% of the reserve of teachers are people under 40 years of age.

The reserve of teachers is largest in Harju County, Tartu County and Ida-Viru County. The reserve of teachers is also significant in some other regions – for example, in Võru County, there are as many as 60 people who have completed teacher training and do not work as teachers, whereas in Saaremaa, there are 45 such people.

The Foresight Centre noted in their short report Reserve of Teachers in Estonia that there are plenty of more lucrative alternatives for those with teacher training in the labour market of Tallinn and Tartu, whereas the biggest shortage of teachers is precisely in these cities today. “To alleviate the insufficiency of teachers, more focus should be placed on the reserve of teachers. It is significantly faster and more cost-beneficial for the state than to keep investing increasingly on teacher training in a situation where a considerable part of those who have completed the training do not go to work as teachers,” said Kindsiko.

However, a major blind spot in today’s labour market is how heads of schools treat departing teachers and how they shape their departure experience, for example, whether or not exit interviews are held. “If the leaving of the post has been accompanied with the feeling that the teacher is welcome to return, teachers are more inclined to return to work at the school and heads of schools could build a reserve of teachers for their own school,” said Kindsiko.

The short report Reserve of Teachers in Estonia is a part of the Foresight Centre’s research direction The Future for the Next Generation of Teachers.