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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 5.11.2026 COM(2026) 795 final

2026/0348 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

on an attractive teaching profession: the EU Teachers Agenda

{SWD(2026) 800 final}

(Text with EEA relevance)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

Providing better support to teachers is essential if Europe’s ambitions for democracy, social

and territorial cohesion, competitiveness and resilience are to be achieved. Teachers play a

key role in facilitating students’ learning and socialisation and fostering critical thinking and

civic engagement. Addressing underachievement in literacy, mathematics, science, digital and

civic education requires qualified, well-prepared teachers in sufficient numbers1.

However, nearly all EU countries face shortages of qualified teachers, and patterns of teacher

supply and demand vary across subjects, geographical regions and school settings2. These

shortages in turn limit the quality of instruction. The objective of this proposal is to support

Member States in ensuring that enough qualified teachers enter and remain in the profession,

across the subjects, regions and schools where they are most needed to ensure quality

education for all. The proposal also aims to strengthen Member States’ capacity for workforce

management in education and training settings. It focuses on increasing the attractiveness of

the teaching profession and on what matters to teachers: attractive careers and working

conditions, strong initial teacher education and continuing professional development, and

agency in an age of artificial intelligence (AI). In line with national practices, social dialogue

in education, including collective bargaining, also plays a significant role in designing

balanced approaches. Combining such policies with financial investment can strengthen the

teaching profession and support sustainable investment in Europe’s human capital.

Teacher job satisfaction is shaped by a range of factors. These include the degree of respect

they are afforded in society, their salary, the professional autonomy they enjoy, the influence

they have on education policies, and their working conditions3. Administrative workload,

1 Gambi and De Witte, 2023. The literature shows that differences in teaching effectiveness explain a

substantial share of the variation in student achievement, within countries, not only between schools but

also within them (Rivkin, Hanushek and Kain, 2005; Chetty, Friedman and Rockoff, 2014. These

effects are cumulative: several consecutive years of effective teaching can substantially narrow

achievement gaps for disadvantaged students (Hanushek, 2011). Teachers’ preparation and

qualifications have also been found to be associated with student achievement (Darling-Hammond,

2000). 2 This proposal draws on the most recent quantitative, cross-EU comparative evidence presented in the

following reports: European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023. Structural indicators for

monitoring education and training systems in Europe 2023: The teaching profession,

https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/849109; European Commission, Directorate-General for Education,

Youth, Sport and Culture, 2026; The teaching profession in the EU – A comparative analysis building

upon the TALIS 2024 results, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/3841850; Investing in education 2026:

Focus on the teaching profession, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/4146282; School principals in the

EU: a comparative analysis based on TALIS 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/3385642

Sorensen T. B., 2026, Research for CULT Committee - Teacher Shortage Crisis in the European Union,

European Parliament, Policy Department for Citizens, Equality and Culture, Brussels. 3 For a state of play and an analysis of key elements of appealing working conditions, teacher preparation

for evolving demands, and teacher’s agency in the age of AI, see the European Commission 2026 Staff

Working Document ‘Elevating the teaching profession: evidence and analysis supporting the EU

Teachers Agenda’. Furthermore, the teachers’ dashboard provides a compass for navigating aspects of

relevance to the attractiveness of the teaching profession in the EU context. It is available at

https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor/en/monitor-toolbox/themes/teaching-

profession.html.

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classroom demands and insufficient support can undermine their well-being and intentions to

continue in the profession. School leaders, multiprofessional support teams and fit-for-

purpose school buildings and infrastructure, including digital, support effective learning

environments, yet administrative overload especially among school leaders, limited

preparation4, insufficient support and outdated facilities continue to place a major strain on

teaching and learning. A large stock of old educational buildings poses challenges in relation

to their accessibility, safety and health5. Moreover, many buildings are energy-inefficient and

ill-equipped to cope with climate-related impacts6.

Teachers report strong preparation as regards subject content. Gaps remain in continuing

professional development, including for the use of AI for teaching and learning, special

educational needs, classroom management, individualised learning, social-emotional support,

multicultural or multilingual settings7, and the specialised pedagogical and occupational, up-

to-date knowledge required for vocational education and training (VET). Responding to the

diverse needs of adult learners also requires teacher preparation. Stronger initial teacher

education and continuing professional development can help address these gaps, be beneficial

for the quality of teaching and make the teaching profession more attractive8. Closer

cooperation among teacher education and professional development providers, alongside staff

learning mobility can also support teachers’ preparation, although individual and institutional

barriers still limit participation in learning mobility9.

Strengthening teacher agency is essential to ensure that digital technologies and AI support

teachers’ professional judgement. To build the AI that we want – a technology that supports

educational quality, professional autonomy and staff well-being, and that anchors human

interaction at the heart of teaching, its introduction should involve teachers and their

representatives and preserve professional judgement and human interaction. The role of

teachers is growing, not shrinking with AI and they need to be prepared for the safe, ethical

and effective use of AI10, to assess when and how AI is educationally appropriate, to help

learners engage critically and ethically with AI, and nurture their motivation and curiosity for

learning.

The Commission will establish a regular European dialogue with the teaching profession,

building on the governance of the European Education Area (EEA) and the Education and

Skills Summit, bringing together Member States, social partners and teachers’ representatives.

The Commission will also support national action to strengthen initial teacher education and

continuing professional development, in particular in addressing emerging classroom

challenges, including on the pedagogical use of AI, including drawing on Erasmus+, the

4 Leadership-specific preparation is considerably less widespread than standard preparation: 63.8% of

principals report having completed a school administration or principal training programme, while only

45.9% indicate having received formal training in instructional leadership. 5 European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Investing in our

future – Quality investment in education and training, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022,

https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/45896. 6 European Environmental Agency, 2022, Climate change as a threat to health and well-being in

Europe: focus on heat and infectious disease. Report 7/2022. Available at

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/climate-change-impacts-on-health/climate-change-

impacts-on-health/@@download/file. 7 TALIS 2024/European Commission 2026a 8 OJ C, 14.6.2024. 9 SWD(2023) 719 final. 10 TALIS 2024/European Commission 2026a. In 2024, two out of three teachers had not used AI yet for

teaching, and among those, the most frequently cited obstacle is a lack of knowledge and skills (74.3%).

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National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP) and the Interreg Plan. The NRPP will bring

together all EU funds implemented by Member States and regions, including the European

Social Fund, and give additional opportunities to support strong public policies for education

through integrated investments and promoting reforms, related to education and training,

skills development. while promoting synergies and coherence across policies.

The Commission will also reinforce the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies to increase their

impact, effectiveness and widen their added value to the entire teaching community.

Furthermore, the Commission will assess progress on reforms affecting the teaching

profession in the annual country reports under the European Semester and, where relevant,

propose country-specific recommendations, in line with the Council Recommendation of 9

March 2026 on human capital in the European Union. The Commission will report on the

implementation of this Recommendation based on a two-stage monitoring: updating the

Teacher’s Dashboard as part of the Education and Training Monitor Toolbox on a regular

basis and, by 2031, it will report on the implementation of this Recommendation, drawing on

reporting within the European Semester and the results of the Teaching and Learning

International Survey (TALIS) 2030. Erasmus+ support aims at expanding the number of

countries participating to TALIS and TALIS Starting Strong.

• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

This proposal forms part of a broader ‘Education and Skills Package’, with the Commission’s

policy framework and longer-term vision set out in the 2026 Communication ‘Stronger

education foundations for all in the age of AI’. The Education and Skills Package includes

two proposals for Council Recommendations on reversing the decline in basic skills and on

the EU Teacher’s Agenda, respectively. It further includes a European strategy for vocational

education and training. It also involves the creation of a European Digital Infrastructure

Consortium on Education. The actions under the Education and Skills Package to be

implemented, with complementary European actions to support its implementation, include

strengthening cooperation through the European School Alliances, the EU Network of

Advisory and Support Services, the new generation of Teacher Academies and an AI-ready

education initiative. These actions complement the measures recommended to Member States

under the present proposal by strengthening the European infrastructure for cooperation,

knowledge-sharing, evidence and capacity-building.

This proposal contributes to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights

Action Plan11, notably its first principle on education, training and lifelong learning, principle

eight on social partner consultation, and principle eleven on childcare and support to children.

It builds upon the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training

towards the European Education Area12. The interim evaluation of the 2021-2030 European

Education Area strategic framework13 found persistent EU-wide challenges, especially to

teacher shortages, the attractiveness of the profession, and working conditions and showed

that less progress had been made to improve the competences and motivation in the education

profession, relative to other strategic priorities. This Council Recommendation is proposed as

a dedicated EU policy framework to support the efforts of EU Member States in this area,

creating momentum for urgently needed change with dedicated and supportive EU actions

outlined in the corresponding umbrella communication.

11 COM/2021/102 final. 12 OJ C, C/2026/3720, 10.7.2026. 13 COM (2025) 340 final.

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This proposal contributes directly to the Union’s broader objectives on skills development,

competitiveness and social cohesion, notably those pursued under the Union of Skills14, with

its emphasis on human capital development and attractive teacher careers, and its Action Plan

on Basic Skills15 and STEM Education Strategic Plan16. By giving comprehensive guidance

on teacher workforce management, this proposal is also consistent with and complementary to

the Council Recommendation of 9 March 2026 on human capital in the European Union17,

which invites Member States to ensure adequate incentives to increase the attractiveness of

the teaching profession, especially for STEM subjects, and to support initial and continuous

professional development at all levels.

In the field of digital education, this proposal complements the Digital Education Action Plan

2021-202718, which aimed to strengthen digital competence and fostering the effective use of

digital technologies in education and training. It is also consistent with the 2023 Council

Recommendations on digital education and skills19.

In addition, it builds on earlier Council actions and Erasmus+ Teacher Academies by bringing

them together in a more coherent policy framework for teacher professional development and

learning mobility.

This proposal takes into account the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 on High-

Quality Early Childhood Education and Care System (ECEC) and highlights specific

challenges for ECEC staff, where applicable20. These relate to the lack of recognition of the

profession, addressing staff shortages and poor working conditions, in view of the need for

greater recognition of the educational value of early childhood education and care and the

related need for increased professionalisation of ECEC staff.

This proposal further aligns with Council Recommendation of 24 November 2020 on VET for

sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience21 and the Herning Declaration of 12

September 2025 on attractive and inclusive Vocational Education and Training for increased

competitiveness and quality jobs 2026-203022 which stresses the need to address shortages of

VET teachers and trainers, ensure their physical and mental well-being, promote their

mobility and ensure they have the skills needed to understand the risks and benefits of using

AI. It addresses measures that are relevant for teachers of all sectors and highlights specific

challenges for VET teachers, where applicable. Furthermore, this proposal complements the

European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training of 4 November 2026, which

focuses on key actions at European level to support Member States in strengthening the

quality, agility and strategic relevance and openness of VET. Teachers, trainers and VET

leaders are central to the quality and agility of VET systems.

The proposal addresses persons with teacher and ECEC educator or equivalent status under

national law and practice, including VET teachers, and trainers in vocational education and

14 COM/2025/90 final. 15 COM/2025/88 final. 16 COM/2025/89 final. 17 OJ C, C/2026/1687, 13.3.2026. 18 COM/2020/624 final. 19 OJ C, C/2024/1115, 24.1.2024 and OJ C, C/2024/1030, 23.1.2024. 20 OJ C 189, 5.6.2019. 21 OJ C 417, 2.12.2020. 22 https://wayback.archive-it.org/12710/20260919115725/https:/danish-

presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/new-declaration-to-strengthen-european-cooperation-on-

vocational-education-and-training/

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training, including workplace trainers. It does not cover teachers in higher education, who are

covered by the Council Recommendation of 25 November 2024 on attractive and sustainable

careers in higher education23.

• Consistency with other Union policies

This proposal is aligned with:

The Commission Communication of 24 March 2021 on the EU Strategy on the Rights of the

Child, which recalls children’s right to quality and inclusive education24.

The Commission Communication of 29 January 2025 Competitiveness Compass25, with its

emphasis on human capital development.

The European Democracy Shield26, which includes the role of schools in fostering democratic

participation, critical thinking, media literacy, active citizenship and resilience against foreign

information manipulation and interference and disinformation.

The principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, notably its first principle on the right to

quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning, its eleventh principle on the

right of children to quality early childhood education and care, and principle eight calling for

the consultation of social partners on policies.

The Anti-Poverty Strategy27, with the strengthened European Child Guarantee and the Care

Strategy28. These initiatives are relevant for equitable access to education and support for

disadvantaged learners, in deprived areas. The present proposal complements them through

measures on teacher recruitment, retention and support in disadvantaged settings.

Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on

the recognition of professional qualifications, which provides the legal framework for the

professional mobility of teachers. Secondary school teachers are the second most mobile

(regulated) profession, with 4 953 recognition decisions29 in 2024.

Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on

fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, which prohibits discrimination

against fixed-term workers.

Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the framework agreement on

part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and ETUC.

23 OJ C, C 7282, 5.12.2024. 24 COM (2021) 142 final. 25 COM (2025) 30 final. 26 JOIN (2025) 791 final. 27 COM (2026) 538 final. 28 Communication on breaking the cycle of child poverty – strengthening the European Child Guarantee,

COM (2026) 539 final, 6.5.2026; Communication on the European Care Strategy, COM(2022) 440

final, 7.9.2022. 29 https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regprof.

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The Quality Jobs Roadmap of 4 December 202530 renewing the commitment to fostering

quality jobs and the two-stage consultation of European social partners on the possible

direction of EU action to further improve quality jobs.

The Skills Portability Initiative proposals which will make it easier to have qualifications

understood, verified and, where needed, recognised across borders. The proposals include a

Skills Portability Act, addressing the digitalisation and availability of reliable, comparable

and verifiable information on qualifications, a revision of the Professional Qualifications

Directive, proposing to modernise the procedures for recognition of professional

qualifications to access regulated professions, in particular by introducing a new digital

workflow in all EU Member States and by shortening procedural deadlines; and a Directive

on recognition of qualifications of third-country nationals, proposing to introduce common

EU rules for recognising such qualifications.

The Communication from the Commission of 12 November 202531 on a Cultural Compass for

Europe to strengthen the provision of arts and cultural education and improve its quality,

promote stronger cooperation between culture and education policies, foster partnerships

among artists, cultural institutions, community cultural organisations, schools and non-formal

education providers.

Multilingualism, which promotes language awareness and language sensitive teaching as a

key skill for all teachers and identifies the quality of language teaching and better training of

language teachers as key challenges.

The Union of Equality strategies32, which create the conditions for everyone to live, thrive

and lead regardless of differences based on gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief,

disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.

The EU Preparedness Union Strategy33 outlining the importance of including preparedness in

school education curricula and educational staff training.

The upcoming Right to Stay strategy to ensure people live, work and thrive in the place they

call home.

The use by the Commission of all instruments for implementation and enforcement of

legislation.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

The proposal is based on Articles 165(4) and 166(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the

European Union (TFEU), and on Article 292 in conjunction with Article 153(1), points (b)

and (i).

Article 165(1) of the TFEU provides that the Union is to ‘contribute to the development of

quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by

30 COM (2025) 944 final. 31 COM (2025) 785 final. 32 Equality and inclusion: key actions - European Commission 33 JOIN (2025) 130 final.

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supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the

Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of their education systems’.

Article 165(2) of the TFEU further specifies that Union action in education has the aim of

‘promoting cooperation between educational establishments’ and ‘encouraging mobility of

students and teachers’.

Article 166(1) of the TFEU stipulates that the Union is to ‘implement a vocational training

policy which shall support and supplement the action of the Member States, while fully

respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content and organisation of

vocational training’. Article 166(2) of the TFEU states that Union action aims to ‘stimulate

cooperation on training between educational or training establishments and firms’.

Additionally, the proposal is based on Article 153(1) point (b) and point (i) in conjunction

with Article 292. Article 153(1) point (b) states that the Union is to ‘support and complement

the activities of the Member States’ in the field of ‘working conditions’. Article 153(1) point

(i) concerns equality between women and men in labour market opportunities and treatment at

work. Article 292 of the TFEU provides the legal basis for the Council to adopt

recommendations based on a proposal from the Commission.

The initiative does not propose any extension of EU regulatory power or binding

commitments on Member States. It is the Member States who will decide, based on their

national circumstances, how they implement this Recommendation.

• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)

The proposal is in conformity with the principle of subsidiarity as provided for in Article 5(3)

of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU). Member States are responsible for the content of

teaching and the organisation of their education and training systems. At the same time,

evidence shows that they face a number of shared challenges relating to the attractiveness of

the teaching profession. The proposal seeks to increase transnational cooperation in school

education while safeguarding the ability of the Member States to take independent legislative

decisions and implement measures aiming to foster deeper cooperation between school

education systems and teacher education (at higher education institutions). Action at EU level

adds value through comparable evidence, mutual learning, transnational cooperation between

school education systems and teacher education at higher education institutions and

complementary funding to address shared workforce challenges. Decisions on staffing,

curricula, recruitment and the organisation of education remain with the competent national,

regional and local authorities.

• Proportionality

The proposal is in conformity with the principle of proportionality as provided for in Article

5(4) of the TEU. Neither the content, nor the form of the proposal exceeds what is necessary

to achieve its objectives. The actions proposed are proportionate to the objectives pursued, as

they respect Member States’ practices and the diversity of systems. Any commitments by

Member States are voluntary in nature and each Member State remains free to decide on the

implementation of the proposal. This Recommendation proposes non-binding guidance,

allowing Member States to select and sequence measures according to local needs,

institutional arrangements and available resources.

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• Choice of the instrument

To achieve the objectives referred to above, Articles 153(1), points (b) and (i), 165(4) and

166(4) of the TFEU, as well as Article 292, provide for the adoption by the Council of

recommendations, on a proposal from the Commission. A Council Recommendation is an

appropriate instrument within the area of education and training, in which the Union has a

supporting responsibility. As a legal instrument, it signals the commitment of Member States

to the measures presented and provides a stronger political basis for cooperation in this area,

while fully respecting Member State authority in the field of education and training.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER

CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

The interim evaluation of the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme and the final evaluation of the

2014-2020 Erasmus+ programme34 found that the programme produced lasting effects on

participating organisations. These effects include improved teaching practices, increased

opportunities for cooperation, capacity building, organisational development and

internationalisation. Streamlining programme rules are key to ensuring easier access to

Erasmus+, including for teachers.

The interim evaluation of the 2021-2030 European Education Area strategic framework35

identified basic skills gaps, teacher shortages and weakening democratic engagement among

young people as the remaining significant challenges, as well as the need to further support

Member States in adapting their education systems to enable students and teachers to thrive.

• Stakeholder consultations

The stakeholder consultations that have informed the proposal include:

– a hearing of the education sector social partners in June 2026;

– an implementation dialogue between Executive Vice-President Mînzatu and

stakeholders to discuss European support for the teaching profession in June

2026;

– a consultation with youth representatives organised in the framework of the

Youth Check process in June 2026;

– a call for evidence open between 30 July and 8 September 2026;

– discussions at meetings within the European Education Area Strategic

Framework carried out in autumn and winter 2025-2026;

– workshops with education sector social partners, civil society organisations,

researchers, international organisations and EU agencies, and teachers and

school leaders carried out in autumn and winter 2025-2026;

– targeted stakeholder consultations with teachers and policymakers during the

review of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), carried out between

2024 and 2025;

34 COM (2025) 395 final. 35 COM (2025) 340 final.

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– an online survey on the European School Education Platform on building

attractive teaching careers in November 2025;

– focus group meetings with teachers and other educators in January 2026.

More information about these consultation activities is included in the accompanying Staff

Working Document.

• Collection and use of expertise

The proposal is based on:

– the results of the OECD TALIS and the Teaching and Learning International

Starting Strong Survey, and the Commission’s analysis, which builds on these

results36;

– Eurydice reports37;

– academic expertise provided in the form of literature reviews by the Expert

Network on Economics and Sociology of Education and Training38;

– lessons learned from the implementation of the strategic framework for

European cooperation in education and training towards the European

Education Area (reports from working groups and peer learning activities);

– lessons learned from Erasmus+ projects, in particular policy experimentation

and Erasmus+ Teacher Academies.

• Impact assessment

The proposed activities would complement Member States initiatives. An impact assessment

was not carried out, given their voluntary nature and the expected limited magnitude of the

impacts, also as the proposed instrument cannot ensure consistent outcomes across the Union.

The development of the proposal was informed by studies, and consultations with social

partners, stakeholders and Member States.

• Regulatory fitness and simplification

Not applicable.

• Fundamental rights

The proposal respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised by the

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, namely the right to the protection of

personal data laid down in Article 8, freedom of assembly and of association under Article 12,

36 European Commission, Directorate for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, 2026. The teaching

profession in the EU – A comparative analysis building upon the TALIS 2024 results. Luxembourg:

Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/3341850. 37 European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023. Structural indicators for monitoring education and

training systems in Europe – 2023: The teaching profession. Eurydice report. Luxembourg:

Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/849109.European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2021. Teachers in Europe: Careers, Development and Well-being.

Eurydice report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/997402.European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026. Digital

Education at school in Europe 2026: bridging gaps in access, teaching and learning. Eurydice Report.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/7577152. 38 https://education-socioeconomic-experts.ec.europa.eu/index_en.

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the respect for the arts and scientific and academic freedom under Article 13, the right to

education under Article 14, non-discrimination under Article 21, equality between women and

men under Article 23, the rights of the child under Article 24, integration of persons with

disabilities under Article 26, the right of collective bargaining and action under Article 28 and

the right to fair and just working conditions under Article 31.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

This initiative will not require additional resources from the EU budget.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

The Commission intends to:

– facilitate peer learning among Member States, social partners and stakeholders;

– develop mechanisms ensuring the recognition of teaching and involvement in

transnational cooperation activities;

– foster synergies between this proposal and the proposal for a Council

Recommendation on reversing the decline of basic skills, and a Commission

implementing decision on a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium on

Digital Education;

– facilitate evidence-based policy and monitoring of this proposal through the

annual Education and Training Monitor.

No dedicated reporting mechanism is envisaged. The implementation of this

Recommendation will be monitored within the second cycle of the strategic framework for

European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area (2026-

2030), in particular through the annual Education and Training Monitor, while challenges and

relevant policy actions will be followed up under the European Semester. This avoids

additional administrative burden while allowing progress to be assessed regularly and

experience to be exchanged among Member States. The Commission will report to the

Council on the implementation of this Recommendation in 2031, drawing on the results of the

strategic framework cycle.

• Explanatory documents (for directives)

Not applicable.

• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

The proposal establishes a framework to support Member States in making the teaching

profession more attractive, while reinforcing European cooperation. The provisions, all

addressed to Member States, are organised around action at the level of education systems.

Points 1 and 2 of the proposal cover the scope of the proposal (point 1) and definitions (point

2). The proposal invites Member States to take a comprehensive approach to making the

teaching profession more attractive (point 3). The measures suggested focus on more

attractive careers and working conditions (points 4 to 12), strong initial teacher education and

continuing professional development (points 13 to 19), and teachers’ agency in the age of AI

(points 20 to 24).

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The proposal pays particular attention to teachers’ agency and professional autonomy and

covers both material and non-material working conditions.

Points 25 to 29 of the proposal cover provisions on investment and delivery of actions and

invite Member States to strengthen dialogue and a shared understanding, collective bargaining

and social dialogue processes (point 25), implement the necessary reforms and make effective

use of national and regional investment, supported by Union funding instruments (point 26),

promote, support and contribute to research, experimentation, evaluations, evidence-building,

capacity-building and sharing (point 27), to translate evidence and consensus into an

implementation strategy that includes clearly defined objectives and a timeline (point 28) and

to make use of the High-Level Group on Education and Training to review strategic issues

and exchange implementation experience on the topics addressed in this Recommendation

(point 29). Points 30 and 31 cover reinforcing implementation through European cooperation.

These measures acknowledge the diversity of the education systems and the teaching

profession across Europe and fully respect Member States’ responsibility for the content of

teaching and the organisation of their education and training systems, as well as the role and

autonomy of social partners.

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2026/0348 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

on an attractive teaching profession: the EU Teachers Agenda

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular

Article 292 in conjunction with Article 153(1), points (b) and (i), and Articles 165(4) and

166(4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

WHEREAS:

(1) The European Pillar of Social Rights1 stated in its first principle that everyone has

the right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning. In its

eleventh principle it emphasised the right of children to quality early childhood

education and care. Principle eight called for social partners to be consulted on the

design and implementation of policies.

(2) The Council Resolution of 29 June 2026 on the second cycle of the strategic

framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European

Education Area (2026-2030)2 established six strategic priorities in the field of

education and training. Among these strategic priorities is ‘enhancing attractiveness,

competences and motivation in the education and training profession’.

(3) The Council Recommendation of 9 March 2026 on human capital in the European

Union3 considered the significant risk posed to the quality of education by the shortage

of qualified teachers across many Member States, regions, cities and remote and rural

areas. It noted that the lack of attractiveness of the profession and the low earnings,

compared with other occupations to which a degree can give access, contribute to

teacher shortages across the Union. It called on Member States to ensure adequate

incentives to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession, especially for

STEM subjects, and to support initial and continuous professional development at all

levels. This Recommendation sets out a comprehensive approach for acting on that

guidance.

1 OJ C 428, 13.12.2017. 2 OJ C, C/2026/3720, 10.7.2026. 3 OJ C, C 1687, 13.3.2026.

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(4) The Commission Communications of 5 March 2025 on the Union of Skills4

announced an EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda to help Member States tackle

teaching shortages, improve teachers’ working conditions, and improve career

prospects. The Commission Communication of 5 March 2025 on the Action Plan on

Basic Skills5 reiterated that further policy action is required to improve teacher

training, increase the attractiveness of the profession and ensure that novice teachers

receive the support they need. The Commission Communication of 5 March 2025 on

the STEM Education Strategic Plan6 noted significant shortages of qualified STEM

teachers in nearly all Member States.

(5) The proposal for a Regulation of 17 September 2026 on an EU KIDS Act73 and the

Commission Communication of 17 September 2026 on an EU approach to online child

safety74 highlighted the impact that excessive screen time, digital distraction and

addictive design features can have on children’s well-being, development and

learning. Tackling such distractions and promoting safer, age-appropriate and

purposeful use of digital technologies can support learning and well-being. Teachers

need appropriate preparation and support to contribute to these objectives. These

initiatives build on the Council Conclusions of 9 December 2022 on supporting well-

being in digital education76 and the Commission Communication of 10 February 2026

on the Action plan against cyberbullying ‘Safer online, stronger together’77.

(6) The Commission Union of Equality Strategies underlined the need to address gender

imbalances in the education sector, tackle stereotypes, fight inequalities and

discrimination, promote diversity, and ensure accessibility.

(7) The 2025 PISA results reveal a deepening basic skills crisis: around one in three 15-

year-olds in the EU now underachieve in reading and mathematics, and one in four in

science, while the share of top-performing pupils is falling. Large socio-economic

gaps persist, and the EU compares poorly with other major economies. Persistent

teacher shortages tend to reduce the quality, continuity and intensity of instruction, and

constrain the support available to learners, particularly in educational institutions

facing greater challenges.

(8) This Recommendation builds on existing policy provisions on the teaching profession,

in particular Council Conclusions7 and Council Recommendations8, and is consistent

4 COM/2025/90 final. 5 COM/2025/88 final. 6 COM/2025/89 final. 7 In particular the Council Conclusions of 11 May 2026 on teachers in the era of artificial intelligence;

the Council Conclusions of 26 May 2020 on European teachers and trainers for the future; theCouncil

Conclusions of 5 April 2022 on enhancing teachers’ and trainers’ mobility during their initial and in-

service education and training, as well as the Council Conclusions of 19 October 2026 on equality as a

driver for economic growth and competitiveness, which stressed the need take an inclusive and gender-

responsive approach, such as attracting more men to the teaching profession. 8 Council Recommendation of 23 November 2023 on improving the provision of digital skills and

competences in education and training; the Council Recommendation of 23 November 2023 on the key

enabling factors for successful digital education and training; the Council Recommendation of 28

November 2022 on Pathways to School Success; the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 on

High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems; the Council Recommendation of 22 May

2019 on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages; the Council

Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on promoting common values, inclusive education and the European

dimension of teaching;

EN 14 EN

with relevant Union policies, in particular the European Democracy Shield9, the

Preparedness Union Strategy, the European Affordable Housing Plan10, and Europe on

the Move.

(9) This Recommendation should cover persons who have the status of a teacher, ECEC

educator or equivalent under national law and practice, including VET teachers and

trainers. Teachers in higher education should remain outside the scope of this

Recommendation, as they are covered by the Council Recommendation of 25

November 2024 on attractive and sustainable careers in higher education11. This

Recommendation should be applied in a manner appropriate to the distinct roles and

employment arrangements of teachers, ECEC educators and VET trainers, including

workplace trainers.

(10) The ILO-UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachersunderlined

the need to address teachers’ professional, social and economic status in a manner

commensurate with their essential role. The United Nations Secretary General’s High-

Level Panel on the Teaching Profession12 called for decisive action to invest in

education; develop national teacher policies; support teachers’ evolving roles; ensure

decent work for teachers; and promote the use of digital technology to augment – but

not replace – the critical human relationship that is the foundation of teaching. The

Santiago Consensus of 29 August 2025 also identified priority actions including

teacher policies; teacher education and professional development; social dialogue and

teacher participation in decision and policymaking; sustainable financing of the

teaching profession; and inclusion, equity and gender equality,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THAT MEMBER STATES:

With due regard to the national organisation of education systems and the role and autonomy

of the social partners, and in accordance with national law and practice:

(1) This Recommendation concerns persons who have the status of a teacher, ECEC

educator or equivalent under national law or practice, including VET teachers. It

does not cover teachers in higher education.

(2) For the purposes of this Recommendation:

(a) ‘teacher’ means a person who is acknowledged as having the status of a teacher

or ECEC educator, or an equivalent status, according to national law and

practice;

(b) ‘trainer’ means a person who carries out one or more activities linked to a

theoretical or practical training function, either in an education or training

institution or in the workplace;

(c) references to teachers should be understood as including trainers where

relevant for their roles and responsibilities.

9 JOIN/2025/791 final. 10 COM(2025) 1025 final, 16.12.2025. 11 OJ C, C 7282, 5.12.2024 12 International Labour Organization, UNESCO, United Nations. United Nations Secretary-General’s

High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession: Recommendations and summary of deliberations:

transforming the teaching profession. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54675/OIOH9275.

EN 15 EN

(3) Make the teaching profession more attractive through a comprehensive approach

combining:

(a) attractive careers and working conditions;

(b) initial teacher education and continuing professional development;

(c) teachers’ agency in the age of artificial intelligence;

(d) investment and delivery.

Create attractive careers and working conditions

(4) Foster teacher agency and professional autonomy, in particular by:

(a) fostering teacher agency in implementing applicable curricula and selecting

teaching, learning and assessment methods;

(b) promoting and strengthening teachers’ professional autonomy and academic

freedom, framed by rigorous scientific, professional, ethical and quality

standards;

(c) protecting teachers against intimidation, discrimination, violence or harassment

and safeguarding their professional independence from undue external

interference, while respecting the responsibilities of competent authorities and

institutional leadership;

(d) promoting governance and quality assurance models that balance

accountability with professional trust, with a view to supporting teacher

motivation and ensuring quality teaching and education outcomes, while

reducing unnecessary administrative burden for teachers and school leaders.

(5) Reinforce actions to attract and retain qualified teachers in subjects, sectors and

areas facing recruitment challenges, in particular by:

(a) using workforce planning to better align recruitment and retention measures to

shortages;

(b) reviewing recruitment and deployment policies and, where necessary,

introducing targeted incentives to attract and retain qualified teachers in areas

that are rural, remote, high-cost, socio-economically disadvantaged or

otherwise challenging;

(c) reducing obstacles to teachers’ transitioning between different subjects or

education levels, while supporting subject knowledge and pedagogical

competences;

(d) promoting gender equality, workforce diversity and inclusiveness by removing

barriers for under-represented groups, including teachers with disabilities, and

from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds;

(e) where alternative pathways into teaching are used, ensuring that their design

and implementation include robust qualifications and pedagogical preparation

that meets professional standards, which may be acquired through different

quality assured pathways including modular or employment-based preparation,

and carrying out evaluations of their impact on teacher shortages and education

outcomes;

EN 16 EN

(f) considering the specific circumstances of VET teachers and trainers, including

by developing flexible and quality-assured pathways into teaching for

experienced professionals from industry and other relevant occupations;

promoting two-way mobility and flexible career pathways between enterprises

and VET institutions; and supporting, where appropriate, hybrid employment

models allowing individuals to combine teaching with relevant professional

activity.

(6) Evaluate and, where appropriate, address the extent to which teacher salaries and

terms of employment constitute a barrier to attracting and retaining qualified

teachers. Take into account the distinct roles and employment conditions of teaching

assistants, ECEC educators, VET teachers and trainers, and primary school teachers

in that assessment.

(7) Ensure that teachers have reasonable and sustainable workloads that do not

compromise their well-being and teaching quality, in particular by:

(a) carrying out regular assessments of teachers’ tasks and work intensity,

considering contextual factors such as class size, students’ specificities and

learning needs, the number of subjects and classes taught; and taking account

of the specific working conditions of ECEC staff, which may include heavy

physical work, multitasking, and an absence of breaks;

(b) evaluating whether working-time arrangements adequately recognise teaching

and other professional duties including preparation and planning, assessment

and feedback, professional development, collaboration and school engagement,

communication with parents and students, and administrative tasks, to

guarantee sufficient time for quality teaching;

(c) minimising the administrative burden on teachers and school leaders by

promoting the simplification of administrative processes and reinforcing

support from administrative staff and IT experts.

(8) Improve the attractiveness of teachers and school leaders’ careers, in particular by:

(a) creating greater opportunities for career progression; diversifying the roles and

responsibilities that teachers can undertake. Improving recognition and reward

of responsibilities such as mentoring, leadership, pedagogical guidance or

coordination, professional development, curriculum development, research and

innovation, and continued engagement with professional practice;

(b) reinforcing career guidance, from initial teacher education onwards;

(c) reinforcing leadership careers in ECEC and school education, promoting

gender balance and developing context-specific strategies in areas including

school administration, learning environments, human resources, relations with

parents and communities, and digital infrastructure;

(d) incentivising collaborative models of school and institutional leadership that

support teacher and student voice, and foster a leadership pipeline.

(9) Evaluate and, where necessary, strengthen structured multidisciplinary support to

improve teaching quality and the capacity for adaptive and differentiated instruction,

which may be provided through shared or external arrangements. Such support

should ensure adequate access to educational staff, including teaching assistants, and

specialised teachers (for specific learning difficulties) with a view to addressing

EN 17 EN

learning gaps in basic skills, especially among disadvantaged learners, as well as

supporting learners with the potential to be high performing. It should also include

other non-educational staff, such as school doctors and nurses, psychologists, cultural

mediators, language therapists, student counsellors in multi-professional teams.

(10) Improve systematic advice and support services to all schools on evidence-informed

practice, prioritising institutions with greater needs. Enable feedback for practice to

inform policy and research, including by using EU initiatives such as the

forthcoming network of advisory and support services.

(11) Strengthen the accessibility, safety, maintenance and climate resilience of school

buildings and infrastructure to heatwaves, extreme weather events and other climate-

related impacts, in cooperation with the authorities responsible for the facilities.

(12) Ensure that the public status and social recognition of the teaching profession is

adequately reflected in national policies and public communications and promote the

recognition of teachers as qualified professionals exercising expert judgment.

Strengthen initial teacher education and continuing professional development

(13) Strengthen the access to and the quality of initial teacher education, by:

(a) taking into account and addressing barriers to accessing and completing initial

teacher education, including tuition fees, student housing costs and other

barriers;

(b) reinforcing the support provided to initial teacher education providers, while

fully respecting their autonomy, to bolster their ability to attract talented and

diverse students into initial teacher education programmes and sustain the

students’ motivation to graduate and become teachers;

(c) ensuring the relevance of teacher education regarding subject knowledge,

pedagogical practices, and skills needed for classroom challenges, and better

adapting teacher education to the full scope of teachers’ professional

responsibilities, including by encouraging and supportingcooperation between

initial teacher education providers, research, teachers and school leaders;

(d) promoting structured, practice-based learning opportunities and professional

integration beginning in the early stages of initial teacher education.

(14) Reinforce induction and continuing professional development, in particular by:

(a) broadening access to structured induction programmes, including mentoring

and participation in professional learning communities, while considering a

reduced teaching load; supporting the dedicated professional preparation of

staff having a mentoring role and ensuring that early-career teachers are not

assigned more demanding classes or responsibilities until completion of the

induction phase;

(b) ensuring that continuing professional development is relevant and responsive

to evolving needs, strengthening quality assurance mechanisms including the

evaluation of the impact of professional development on teaching practice;

fostering collaborative practices, classroom observation and peer-learning in

schools for teachers to continuously reflect on their practice; removing barriers

EN 18 EN

such as accessibility, time, replacement cover or participation costs; and in that

context, considering the use of individual learning accounts and micro-

credentials, in line with the European approach to micro-credentials, while

taking into account national needs and circumstances;

(c) ensuring diverse professional development opportunities for VET teachers and

trainers, including company internships, professional exchanges, secondments

and professional networks;

(d) supporting teacher appraisal and professional review systems that inform

professional development and contribute to educational quality.

(15) Foster a European dimension of teacher education and professional

development, in particular by:

(a) creating strategic and sustainable European partnerships of teacher education

providers and, in particular using the Erasmus+ funded Teacher Academies 2.0

to design modern, flexible and inclusive teacher education aligned with

evolving needs, and benefit from excellence beyond national boundaries.

Encourage authorities responsible for teacher education and professional

development to join Teacher Academies 2.0, according to national

circumstances;

(b) promoting student teacher, teacher and staff mobility by reinforcing access to

language learning, and funding, and by ensuring that time is available for these

activities, including teacher replacement where needed to maintain teaching

provision;

(c) fostering transnational cooperation, in particular by promoting participation in

European School Alliances, and by promoting also the visits by experts from

other Member States, job shadowing and teaching or training assignments in

schools abroad;

(d) supporting schools, especially those serving disadvantaged pupils, embedding

learning mobility for staff and transnational activities in their school

development, including by helping them access and use EU instruments, such

as Erasmus+, and tools such as the European School Education Platform and e-

Twinning, which offers schools a secure online space for shared projects and

teacher collaboration;

(e) ensuring formal recognition of skills and competences acquired through

learning mobility and transnational cooperation, in line with national

regulations and context;

(f) improving the recognitionof teachers' professional qualifications across

Member States, in line with the relevant Union directives.

(16) Strengthen and respect teacher professional standards and competence

frameworks. Ensure that they align with educational demands, are tailored to career

stages and education levels, and are supported by assessment, recognition and

improvement mechanisms. Balance subject knowledge with pedagogical

competences and transversal competences.

EN 19 EN

(17) Strengthen teacher preparation and support to deliver citizenship education at all

levels of education, uphold democratic values in the classroom, deal with

controversial topics, facilitate informed and respectful discussion and support

students’ critical thinking and awareness.

(18) Improve teacher preparation to understand and identify educational disadvantage

and high performance, and to offer targeted support that enables every learner to

reach their full potential.

(19) Support school leaders, and the teacher community, to prepare for, respond to and

recover from crises which disrupt education, such as cyber-attacks, pandemics and

natural disasters, through continuity arrangements coordinated with the competent

authorities.

Strengthen teachers’ agency in the age of artificial intelligence

(20) Ensure that digital technologies and AI remain under meaningful human

oversight and support teachers’ professional judgement. Ensure that digital

technologies and AI are selected and used where educationally justified and

appropriate to learners’ age, in ways that support educational quality, professional

autonomy and staff well-being, that technology supports learning effort rather than

replacing it, and that human interaction remains at the heart of teaching. Involve

teachers and their representatives in decisions on the introduction of AI in education.

(21) Support teachers in developing digital and AI literacy and, where relevant to

their responsibilities and learners’ ages and needs, the competence to teach

about AI and use it appropriately, in particular by:

(a) including digital and AI competences, and their pedagogical use, in initial

teacher education curricula and in teacher professional standards, in line with

the updated European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators

(DigCompEdu);

(b) enhancing access to quality-assured professional development on the

pedagogical use of AI, including its use to support learners with special needs

and disabilities, and awareness to prevent discriminatory biases, with dedicated

time allocated to this and, where relevant, recognition, including through

micro-credentials;

(c) supporting teachers in adapting assessment practices to preserve their validity

in the age of AI, including through professional development;

(d) supporting teachers in developing pupils' AI literacy, as appropriate to their

ages and applicable curricula, drawing on the EU-OECD AI Literacy

Framework for primary and secondary education;

(e) supporting teachers in addressing the challenges raised by digital technologies,

including disinformation, cyberbullying and the risks of excessive use for the

development of reading, writing, mathematical competences, critical thinking

and problem-solving skills.

(22) Involve teachers, teacher education providers and experts in digital technologies

and AI in the design of teacher education. Support structured, multi-stakeholder

partnerships between education institutions and teachers, teacher education

EN 20 EN

providers, researchers and educational technology companies to co-design teacher

training that is aligned with national or regional curricula. Such cooperation should

focus on the pedagogical use of technology rather than on training in specific

products, while safeguarding pedagogical independence and transparency about

commercial interests.

(23) Foster the use of AI when it helps to reduce administrative burden and help

teachers and school leaders manage their workloads more efficiently, while ensuring

human oversight so that AI-driven administrative and classroom systems are not used

for intrusive tracking or algorithmic monitoring.

(24) Provide teachers the tools, infrastructure and support they need where AI use is

educationally justified. Ensure that teachers have access to safe, age-appropriate

and pedagogically sound AI tools and to a trusted digital education infrastructure and

ecosystem, including through the co-creation of educational solutions bringing

together teachers, industry and researchers, and through cooperation at Union level

on interoperable digital education infrastructure.

Invest and deliver

(25) Support dialogue with the aim to build a shared understanding regarding the

challenges involved and the measures required to make the teaching profession more

attractive in particular by:

(a) in accordance with national law and/or practice and while respecting the

autonomy of social partners, promoting an enabling environment for social

dialogue, including collective bargaining;

(b) recognising teachers as partners in shaping the future of education by

encouraging regular, structured dialogue between teacher unions and

employers’ organisations at all appropriate levels in accordance with national

law and practice;

(c) where relevant, taking supportive action allowing employers to provide

attractive, supportive working conditions and to address identified workforce

and organisational needs;

(d) strengthening partnerships between VET providers, enterprises, including

SMEs, chambers of commerce and industry, and social partners to support the

recruitment and retention of VET teachers and trainers.

(26) Implement the necessary reforms and ensure adequate and sustained investment

from national and regional budgets, seeking greater synergies between EU and

national funding programmes under the current and next multiannual financial

framework (2028-2034), in particular to:

(a) reflect the reform and investment needs on the teaching profession identified in

particular in the European Semester (in the Council Recommendation on

human capital in the EU and the country-specific recommendations) and other

EN 21 EN

relevant measures in the programming of the proposed National and Regional

Partnership Plans13;

(b) use Erasmus + and the related measures under the National and Regional

Partnership Plans, when appropriate, to support initial teacher education,

induction and mentoring, continuing professional development, and measures

to attract and retain teachers and trainers, notably in disadvantaged, rural and

remote areas and in shortage subjects and priority sectors.

(27) Promote, support and contribute to research, experimentation, evaluations,

evidence-building, capacity-building and sharing of effective practices in teacher

education, recruitment and retention at local, regional, national, Union and

international level.

(28) Translate evidence and consensus into an implementation strategy at the level of

the education system, through existing or updated national or regional strategies, to

increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession, in line with the above

recommendations, with clearly defined objectives and implementation timeline.

(29) Make use of the High-Level Group on Education and Training to review strategic

issues addressed in this Recommendation. The High-Level Group should receive

support and draw on expertise as it requires, including from exchanges with

stakeholders in the context of the EEA Working Group under the second cycle

(2026-2030) of the strategic framework.

Reinforce implementation through European cooperation by:

(30) inviting the European social partners in education and other representatives of the

teaching profession to the High-Level Group on Education and Training twice a year,

to promote a closer and regular European dialogue with the teaching profession and

to allow for a European-level discussion on key priorities and challenges in

education and teaching that need to be addressed to strengthen Europe’s human

capital, without prejudice to the competences of the Member States and to the role

and autonomy of the social partners;

(31) further supporting the implementation of this Council Recommendation through

mutual learning and exchanges with other Member States and all relevant

stakeholders, and by supporting capacity building and policy learning on the teaching

profession through:

(a) the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards

the European Education Area (2026-2030), including the EEA strategic framework

Working Group, peer counselling and the Learning Lab on Investing in Quality

Education and Training;

(b) a Commission report by 2031 on the implementation of this Council

Recommendation, drawing on the Education and Training Monitor and the European

Semester;

(c) sharing successful practices, policy guidance and practical tools to support system-

level and school-level actors, using the online platforms and communities of practice

13 Without prejudice to the ongoing negotiations on the future financial framework

EN 22 EN

for education and training, in particular the European School Education Platform,

including eTwinning.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President

EN EN

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 5.11.2026 SWD(2026) 800 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Elevating the teaching profession: evidence and analysis supporting the EU Teachers

Agenda

Accompanying the document

Proposal for a Council Recommendation

on an attractive teaching profession: the EU Teachers Agenda

{COM(2026) 795 final}

1

Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 2

1.1. Purpose and rationale for the proposal for a Council Recommendation ............. 2

1.2. Scope ...................................................................................................... 5

1.3. Wider policy context .................................................................................. 5

1.4. EU added value ........................................................................................ 8

2. State of play ................................................................................................ 9

2.1. Teacher shortages .................................................................................... 9

2.2. Declining attractiveness of the teaching profession ...................................... 11

2.3. Teacher preparation for evolving demands ................................................. 19

2.4. School environment and leadership ........................................................... 25

2.5. Integrating digital technologies in teaching ................................................ 27

3. Elements of a comprehensive approach to make the teaching profession

more attractive .................................................................................................... 29

3.1. Attractive careers and working conditions .................................................. 31

3.2. Strong initial teacher education and continuing professional development ...... 39

3.3. Teachers’ agency in the age of Artificial Intelligence .................................... 45

4. Teacher voice and social dialogue ................................................................. 47

5. EU support to the teaching profession ........................................................... 49

5.1. European Education Area ......................................................................... 51

5.2. European Semester ................................................................................. 53

5.3. Strengthening the EU-wide evidence base .................................................. 54

5.4. Support to candidate and potential candidate countries ............................... 55

5.5. EU-level programmes and actions that directly benefit teachers .................... 56

6. Annex 1: consultation inputs ....................................................................... 60

6.1. Consultation strategy .............................................................................. 60

6.2. Targeted Stakeholder Consultations: Key Insights ....................................... 60

6.3. Implementation Dialogue on supporting the teaching profession ................... 68

6.4. Social Partners Hearing ........................................................................... 69

6.5. Youth check Consultation ......................................................................... 69

6.6. Call for evidence – key insights ................................................................. 69

6.7. Annex 2: List of abbreviations and acronyms .............................................. 74

7. References ................................................................................................ 75

2

1. Introduction

The Commission Communication ‘Stronger education foundations for all in the age of AI’

and the proposal for a Council Recommendation on an attractive teaching profession: the EU

Teachers Agenda, both part of the Education and Skills Package of 4 November 2026, outline

actions to support education systems, schools and the teaching profession.

This Staff Working Document1 presents evidence and analysis to support the proposal for a

Council Recommendation on an attractive teaching profession: the EU Teachers Agenda.

Section 1 introduces the topic, and outlines the reasons, scope, and wider policy context for

the proposal. Section 2 presents the state of play and problem definition. Section 3 describes

the main elements of a comprehensive approach to make the profession attractive. Section 4

covers teacher voice and social dialogue. Section 5 summarises EU support to the teaching

profession.

To inform the proposal, the Commission carried out consultations on the state of the teaching

profession. From October 2025 to January 2026, education sector social partners, civil

society organisations, researchers, international organisations and EU agencies, Member

State representatives, teachers and school leaders were consulted to understand expert and

firsthand perspectives on challenges affecting teachers, and how best to support them at EU

level. Focus group meetings with teachers, school leaders and other educators were also

organised. The consultations took a view to grounding the preparation of the proposal in the

lived experience of the profession across the different stages of a teaching career, as well as

in the specificities of the vocational and educational training (VET) and early childhood

education and care (ECEC) sectors.

In June 2026, the Commission organised a hearing of the education sector social partners, an

implementation dialogue to discuss European support to the teaching profession, and a

workshop in the framework of the Youth Check. A call for evidence was open for public

contributions between 30 July and 8 September 2026. An online survey on building attractive

teaching careers was also open to the public on the European School Education Platform

between September and November 2025..The details and findings of these consultations and

the responses to the call for evidence are further explained in the annex.

1.1. Purpose and rationale for the proposal for a Council Recommendation

“Teaching should be regarded as a profession: it is a form of public service

which requires of teachers expert knowledge and specialized skills, acquired

and maintained through rigorous and continuing study; it also calls for a sense

of personal and corporate responsibility for the education and welfare of the

pupils in their charge.” 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the

Status of Teachers.

"As a teacher, you can play such an important role in accompanying young

people as they discover the world and who they want to be. This makes it a

very unique and special profession." Former teacher, Ireland.

1 This Staff Working Document draws on the expert support provided by ICF to strengthen the

Commission’s evidence, including the work of A.L. Milner and H. Grainger-Clemson, as well as the inputs

from the participants in the consultations.

3

“The main problem [is] that there is no balance between the workload and the

salary of the teachers because here, a teacher that works at upper secondary

school officially works for 18 hours. But they have to take part in the afternoon

staff meetings, they have to prepare lessons, and they have to revise the school

work. So, they work really for a long time, but they are paid only to work for

18 hours a week.” Teacher, Italy.

“It’s not actually the teaching that’s the difficult part; it’s all the things around

teaching.” Teacher, Denmark.

Empirical evidence shows that the educational level of students’ parents is among the

strongest predictors of their outcomes and that, among school-related factors, teachers have

the most decisive influence. Consecutive years of effective teaching can offset learning gaps

for disadvantaged students, but evidence shows that in nearly all EU countries, novice

teachers are teaching the neediest students (European Commission, 2022) and disadvantaged

and rural schools tend to lack fully qualified teachers, especially in certain subject areas.

Teachers are essential for supporting students’ learning and socialisation and for fostering

critical thinking and civic engagement. The social and relational dimensions of education,

particularly teacher-learner interactions, are central to students’ development. These

relationships are built on professional trust, pedagogical expertise, ethical responsibility and

mutual respect. PISA 2025 results suggest that teacher support strengthens the relationship

between belonging and curiosity, and between belonging and perseverance (OECD, 2026a).

Where students feel that they belong and that teachers are encouraging and responsive, they

are more likely to be interested in learning, and more likely to sustain effort when learning

becomes difficult. Teachers also play a broader role in fostering resilient communities,

connecting students, families, services, and the wider community (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024).

Numerous national, regional and local initiatives support the teaching profession; however,

education systems face increasing difficulties in attracting and retaining teachers and ensuring

the conditions and preparation needed for teachers to address the challenges of the classroom

and support students’ learning outcomes. As educational contexts evolve and technological

and social transformations accelerate, the demands placed on teachers and schools continue

to rise.

Major teacher policy issues include recruitment, retention and shortages. While localised

teacher shortages are not new, they are becoming a structural feature of many education

systems and concern recruitment of candidates as well as retention in the profession. Nearly

all EU countries face shortages of qualified teachers, and patterns of teacher supply and

demand vary across subjects, geographical regions and school settings. Early career attrition

from the profession, together with low numbers of applicants to initial teacher education

(ITE) programmes, and teacher students either not completing programmes, or graduating but

not entering the profession, contribute to gaps in the teacher workforce. Furthermore, the age

structure of the teacher workforce signals substantial replacement needs.

Teacher shortages tend to reduce the quality, continuity and intensity of instruction (European

Commission, 2026d). Shortages may amplify learning deficits, particularly in reading and

mathematics, and limit Member States’ capacities to provide high quality, inclusive and

equitable education (Gambi et de Witte, 2023). They also increase the workload for teachers,

4

placing additional strain on the workforce, and may be detrimental to the long-term

sustainability of the teaching profession. Beside the availability of teachers, ensuring that

teachers receive a high-quality level of preparation is key.

Teaching quality is also influenced by the content and quality of initial teacher education and

continuing professional development programmes. Teachers generally feel well prepared as

regards subject content, but important gaps in professional development remain as regards the

skills necessary for addressing contemporary issues. These include use of AI for teaching and

learning, as well as to teach students with special education needs, for classroom

management, individualised learning and students’ social-emotional support, for teaching in a

multicultural or multilingual setting, and the specialised pedagogical and occupational, up-to-

date knowledge required for vocational education and training. Moreover, teachers do not

feel that current continuing professional development programmes have a decisive impact on

their teaching practice (European Commission, 2026a).

According to early childhood education and care principals, absences, shortages of qualified

staff and insufficient number of educators often limit capacity to provide quality education

and care2. Staff shortages may lead to limited availability of (quality) services. Examples

include the temporary closure of places, long waiting lists for enrolment, reduced opening

hours, inability to welcome children with special educational needs or newly arrived children,

as was the case with Ukrainian refugee children in 2022. When staff is limited, it becomes

more difficult to effectively supervise and monitor children, which can also raise safety

concerns. This affects inclusion as well as children’s well-being and learning, since there is

not enough time to attend to individual needs (European Commission, 2023a).

VET teachers and trainers often combine a pedagogical role with an industry or craft

background and are required to keep pace with evolving occupational standards. Work-based

learning arrangements mean VET teachers and in-company trainers must coordinate closely

with employers, adding a dimension of engagement beyond the school environment. The pay

differential between teaching and working directly in industry, particularly in sectors facing

skills shortages, also affects recruitment and retention.

The objective of the proposal is to support Member States in ensuring that enough qualified

teachers enter and remain in the profession, across the subjects, regions and schools where

they are most needed to ensure quality education for all. It focuses on strengthening the

attractiveness of the teaching profession and supporting the attraction, development and

retention of qualified teachers.

Working conditions3 are central to the quality of working life and play a critical role in the

recruitment and retention of teachers. A large body of research has examined teachers’

satisfaction with their work, illustrating how it is likely shaped by a range of factors including

2 In the 7 participating EU member states in TALIS Starting Strong 2024. OECD, 2025c. 3 Teachers’ working conditions comprise all features of the workplace that affect their daily work

(European Commission, 2022; and Kraft and Lyon, 2024). Following the approach in European

Commission (2022), working conditions are defined as encompassing both financial and non-financial

features of the workplace and they include: (i) leadership and teacher agency, (ii) collegiality and

collaboration, (iii) accountability systems, (iv) career development opportunities, (v) terms of

employment, including contractual arrangements and remuneration, (vi) working hours and workload,

(vii) continuing professional development, including induction, mentoring, and feedback, (viii)

professional trust and recognition.

5

the degree of respect they are afforded in society, the salaries they earn, the professional

autonomy they enjoy, and the conditions under which they work (Kraft and Lyon, 2024).

Supportive working conditions are closely correlated to job satisfaction, well-being and,

ultimately, career intentions. More specifically, job resources including induction and

mentoring, teacher agency4, collaborative school environments, and supportive school

leadership are positively correlated with teachers' job satisfaction and well-being. In contrast,

job demands such as stress related to classroom discipline and administrative workload are

consistently correlated with lower job satisfaction, poorer well-being and increased intentions

to leave the profession.

1.2. Scope

For the purposes of this Recommendation, a ‘teacher’ is a person who is acknowledged as

having the status of a teacher or early childhood education and care educator (or equivalent)

according to national legislation and practice. A ‘trainer’ is anyone who fulfils one or more

activities linked to the (theoretical or practical) training function, either in an institution for

education or training or at the workplace. Teachers in higher education are outside the scope

of this Recommendation, as they are covered by the Council Recommendation of 25

November 2024 on attractive and sustainable careers in higher education.

1.3. Wider policy context

This proposal builds on the findings of the interim evaluation of the 2021-2030 European

Education Area strategic framework5 that identified basic skills gaps, teacher shortages and

weakening democratic engagement among young people as the remaining significant

challenges, as well as the need to further support Member States in adapting their education

systems to enable students and teachers to thrive. The interim evaluation found more limited

progress to enhance the competences and motivation in the education profession, relative to

other strategic priorities. This is partly due to the lack of complementary policy frameworks

and the fact that, unlike for the other strategic priorities, there were no EU initiatives (in the

form of a Council Recommendation). The interim evaluation concluded that the breadth of

challenges across all EU Member States in this area, in particular teacher shortages,

attractiveness of the profession, and working conditions, underline the need to strengthen

efforts.

The Council Resolution on the second cycle of the strategic framework for European

cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area (2026-2030) of

29 June 2026 set enhancing the attractiveness, competences and motivation in the education

and training profession as a strategic priority for European cooperation for the next four

years.

This proposal is also aligned with work on evidence-informed policymaking, mutual learning

and the exchange of good practices, including activities carried out through the Learning Lab

on Investing in Quality Education and Training, the European Education Area (EEA)

strategic framework sectoral working groups (that worked, between 2021-2025, notably on

early childhood education and care staff and leadership, and various aspects of effective

teaching), peer learning and peer counselling activities, and the European School Education

4 Teacher agency can be defined as teachers’ active role in shaping their work and working conditions. 5 COM (2025) 340 final.

6

Platform. It seeks to strengthen these efforts by proposing a comprehensive approach to

teacher workforce management at Member States’ level with strong EU support.

This proposal also considers the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 on early

childhood education and care and highlights specific challenges for ECEC staff, where

applicable6. These relate to the lack of recognition of the profession, staff shortages and poor

working conditions, the need for further recognition of the educational value of early

childhood education and care and therefore for increased professionalisation of staff, in view

of research findings on the neurodevelopment of young children.

This proposal is closely connected to key European policy areas, notably:

• The EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child7, which recalled children’s right to quality

and inclusive education and reiterated that each child has the right to the highest

attainable standard of quality education, irrespective of their background and where

they live

• The Commission Communication of 29 January 2025 on the Competitiveness

Compass8, the Commission Communications of 5 March 2025 on the Union of Skills9

and the Council Recommendation of 9 March 2026 on Human Capital in the

European Union with emphasis on competitiveness, human capital development and

an attractive teaching profession.

• The European Democracy Shield10, which included the role of schools and other

educational institutions in fostering democratic participation, critical thinking, media

literacy, active citizenship and resilience against foreign information manipulation and

interference and disinformation.

• The principles of the European pillar of Social Rights, notably its first principle on the

right to quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning, its eleventh

principle on the right of children to quality early childhood education and care and

principle eight calling for the consultation of social partners on policies.

• Social policy with emphasis on access to quality education and training and its role in

combating and preventing poverty and social exclusion. The Anti-Poverty Strategy11

with the strengthened European Child Guarantee and the Care Strategy12, with the

acknowledgment that systemic underfunding in deprived areas leads to teacher

shortages, higher staff turnover and fewer experienced educators. This in turn results

in less individualised support. These conditions are precisely the reverse of those

needed by disadvantaged children who cannot draw on compensatory resources at

home.

• The Affordable Housing Plan13 of 16 December 2025, which lists teachers among the

essential workers who cannot afford to live in the communities they serve. Essential

workers often encounter housing shortages or high costs, particularly in urban areas.

6 OJ C 189, 5.6.2019. 7 COM (2021) 142 final. 8 COM (2025) 30 final. 9 COM/2025/90 final. 10 JOIN/2025/791 final. 11 COM (2026) 538 final. 12 COM (2026)539 final, COM 2022) 440 final. 13 COM (2025) 1025 final.

7

The revision of State aid rules for affordable housing presented by the Commission

will help Member States facilitate support to affordable housing for low- and middle-

income households, including essential workers.

• Council Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, which

provides the legal framework for the professional mobility of teachers.

• Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement

on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, which prohibits

discrimination against fixed-term workers.

• Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the framework

agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC

• The Quality Jobs Roadmap14 of 4 December 2025 renewing the commitment to

fostering quality jobs and the two-stage consultation of European social partners on

the possible direction of EU action to further improve quality jobs.

• The Skills Portability Initiative make it easier to have qualifications understood,

verified and, where needed, recognised across borders. It will include a Skills

Portability Act address the digitalisation and availability of reliable, comparable and

verifiable information on qualifications, a revision of the Professional Qualifications

Directive proposing to modernise the procedures for recognition of professional

qualifications to access regulated professions, in particular by introducing a new

digital workflow in all EU Member States and by shortening ; and a Directive on

recognition of qualifications of third-country nationals, proposing to introduce

common EU rules for recognising such qualifications.

• The Communication of from the Commission of 12 November 2025 on a Culture

Compass for Europe15 to strengthen the provision of arts and cultural education and

improve its quality, promotes stronger cooperation between culture and education

policies, and foster partnerships among artists, cultural institutions, community

cultural organisations, schools and non-formal education providers, and encourage

grassroots arts and cultural education projects.

• Multilingualism, which promotes language awareness and language sensitive teaching

as a key skill for all teachers and identifies the quality of language teaching and better

training of language teachers as key challenges.

• The European VET Strategy of 4 November 2026 focusing on key actions at

European level to support Member States in strengthening the quality, agility,

attractiveness and strategic relevance and openness of VET. Teachers, trainers and

VET leaders are central to the quality and agility of VET systems.

• The Union of Equality strategies, which create the conditions for everyone to live,

thrive and lead, regardless of differences based on gender, racial or ethnic origin,

religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or sex

characteristics: the Anti-racism strategy 2026-2030; the Strategy for the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and the Communication ‘Enhancing the Strategy

on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities up to 2030’; the Gender equality strategy

2026-2030; the EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation

(2021-2030), the LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030.

14 COM (2025) 944 final. 15 COM/2025/785 final.

8

• The Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-202716, which identifies education

and training a main sectoral area and underscores that schools have the potential to be

hubs of integration for children and their families.

• The EU Preparedness Union Strategy17 with action 29 to include preparedness in

school education curricula and training of educational staff.

• The Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness18, which highlights the unique role of

teachers in supporting the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, values and

competences, while helping young people develop the foundational skills and

dispositions needed to thrive as lifelong learners.

• The upcoming Right to Stay strategy to ensure can ensure people live, work and

thrive in the place they call home.

This proposal is aligned with the Commission’s use of all instruments for implementation and

enforcement, including infringement proceedings. The Commission decided to refer Italy to

the Court of Justice of the European Union on 3 October 2024 for discriminatory

employment conditions of fixed-term teachers working in public schools, who are not entitled

to incremental salary progression based on previous periods of service, and for failing to

prevent the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts, as confirmed by the Court in its

judgment of 13 May 2026 in Case C‑155/25.

1.4. EU added value

Member States face common challenges relating to teacher shortages and the attractiveness of

the teaching profession, and relating to democracy, misinformation and online manipulation,

as well as digitalisation. This is compounded by a sense among teachers of being less

prepared for certain issues and of being undervalued by society and policymakers.

This proposal provides a framework for voluntary Union cooperation and evidence-informed

action, in line with the principle of subsidiarity and different national requirements. EU

cooperation on the teacher workforce could help Member States share what works, make best

use of EU funding to support national reforms, and support efficient and effective investment

in teacher recruitment, retention, teacher development and working conditions.

Good practices exist but they are scattered, and the differences across systems provide

opportunities for policy dialogue, peer learning and mutual support. EU action is required to

address this key policy gap to identify, compare, evaluate and disseminate effective

approaches at European scale. Member States are responsible for the content of teaching and

the organisation of their education systems (Article 165 TFEU), and many industrial and

professional issues such as pay, pay progression and pensions; job security and precarity;

work-time arrangements; workload and well-being; teacher professionalism, accountability

and collaborative governance; and teacher voice are conditioned by national, local (regional

or municipal), and school-level policy, and sectoral social dialogue. Ministries of Education

and social partners, namely teacher unions and employer or school leader organisations, are

the primary actors setting and negotiating these conditions through collective bargaining,

16 COM/2020/758 final. 17 JOIN (2025) 130 final. 18 COM/2026/110 final

9

sectoral social dialogue and national reform processes. The EU's role is to support and

complement these national and local efforts, within the bounds of subsidiarity.

Teachers are among the professionals who make the most use of recognition of qualifications

following the rules set out in the Professional Qualifications Directive19. Secondary school

teachers are the second most mobile (regulated) profession, with 4953 recognition decisions

in 202420. This is particularly relevant in border regions, where teachers may live in one

Member State and work in another. Teacher mobility can help match supply and demand,

provided it does not deepen shortages in sending Member States. A Council recommendation

is an appropriate instrument in the field of education and training where the Union has a

supporting responsibility. As a legal instrument, it signals the commitment of Member States

and provides a strong political basis for cooperation in this area.

2. State of play

2.1. Teacher shortages

Most EU countries face challenges in sustaining a sufficient teaching workforce, and

experience shortages21 of qualified teachers especially in certain subject areas, such as

STEM22, languages and special education needs (European Commission / EACEA /

Eurydice, 2023a). Teacher shortages can undermine equitable access to high-quality

education, particularly when difficulties to recruit and retain qualified teachers disrupt

instructional continuity. The effects of teacher shortages can also be seen through increased

reliance on teachers who are not fully qualified23, difficulties replacing absent staff and

19 Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the

recognition of professional qualifications. 20 https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regprof. Teachers working in pre-primary and primary

education are also among the fifteen most mobile professions in 2024. The study supporting the impact

assessment of the Skills Portability Initiative presents analysis for secondary school teachers. The most

mobile teachers appear to be ‘foreign languages’ teachers, especially English, German, French and Spanish,

followed by teachers of STEM subjects. The Commission Staff Working Document SWD(2026) 64 final

presents information collected from competent authorities for secondary school teacher about fees for the

recognition of professional qualifications, length of the procedure for examining an application for

recognition, documents required, use of electronic procedures 21 A shortage occurs when the number of available teachers is insufficient to meet the demand in schools (for

example due to unattractive working conditions), and when employed teachers lack qualifications or

competences necessary for their roles (Van Breukelen and Theelen, 2026). No single indicator can fully

capture the scale or nature of teacher shortages, nor the ways in which teachers are distributed across

schools. Data on teacher shortages remain limited at both national and EU level, and the data that exist are

not fully comparable. For example, the data may refer to vacant teaching positions, positions filled by

teachers who are not fully qualified, or school leaders’ reports of shortages (OECD, 2026b). The

forthcoming Eurydice report on teachers and school leaders will investigate which countries monitor

teacher shortages and how. 22 See also European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2022a and European Commission / EACEA /

Eurydice, 2022b. The difficulties to attract qualified graduates to the education sector are likely to increase,

as high-tech and STEM related industries are expected to have the highest employment growth in the EU

over the coming decade, and they generally offer more competitive salaries than teaching (for more details,

see https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/skills-forecast). 23 Non-fully qualified teachers refers to teachers entering the profession through alternative pathways; they

either hold the required academic qualifications but lack mandatory certification or teacher training, have

completed teacher training but lack the required academic qualifications, or lack both. In a few countries,

the category also includes fully qualified teachers who teach subjects or education levels other than those

for which they were originally trained or certified. The share of non-fully qualified teachers in primary and

secondary education increased by 2.1 percentage points between 2017/18 and 2024/25 on average in the

10

reduced selectivity in teacher recruitment, leading to recruiting candidates with lower levels

of preparation, experience or subject-specific expertise than would otherwise be expected

(OECD, 2026b).

The 2024 Global Status of Teachers24 report emphasises that teacher shortages are a global

issue, and teacher unions in Europe perceive severe shortages in mathematics, sciences,

information technology and special education (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024). Schools in some

locations, such as rural or remote areas or big cities, and schools with higher concentrations

of disadvantaged learners often have more difficulties to attract and retain qualified teachers

(European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023a). Persistent teacher shortages

disproportionately affect disadvantaged learners, as well as rural and remote communities

(OECD, 2026b). During the consultations25 carried out to prepare the proposal, it was noted

that teacher shortages tend to be localised, and vary across subjects, regions and school

settings. The consultations also highlighted specific challenges in the VET and early

childhood education and care sectors.

PISA data show that the percentage of students in schools whose principal reported that the

school's capacity to provide instruction is hindered ‘to some extent or a lot’ by a lack of

teaching staff is considerably higher in 2025 (40.2%) than before the pandemic (28.3% in

2018)26. Responses to the survey on building attractive teaching careers27 also point to a

widespread perception of teacher shortages.

Consultation participants indicated that teacher shortages can result in unfilled teaching

positions, out-of-field teaching, larger class sizes and increased workloads for teachers,

further undermining teacher retention, and negatively affecting efforts to ensure the provision

of quality education for all. PISA data point to only a weak negative association between

teacher shortages and students’ science results, once socio-economic background is taken into

account. Even so, the coefficient on the PISA index of shortage of education staff stays

negative for the EU on average, as well as in 9 Member States, indicating that the relationship

between shortages and performance is not fully explained by socio-economic factors. Leaders

of early childhood education and care settings also report that absences, shortage of qualified

staff and insufficient staff can hinder capacity to provide a quality environment for children

(OECD 2025c).

EU, suggesting a growing use of alternative staffing arrangements in response to recruitment difficulties

(OECD, 2026b). 24 The Global Status of Teachers report is commissioned by Education International, the major global

federation of teacher unions. It provides an analysis of the status and conditions of the teaching profession

drawing on survey data from 204 senior union representatives across 121 countries. This report builds on

previous reports from 2015, 2018, and 2021 with the aim of highlighting the key issues facing teachers in

2024. 25 See details in the annex. 26 One in five teachers work in schools whose principals report that the shortage of qualified teachers hinders

quality instruction, EU-22 average, TALIS 2024, table 1.17. 27 Results can be found here: https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/discover/expert-views/survey-building-

attractive-teaching-careers-results. To note that the number of responses from some countries is higher than

from others. Also, given the promotion of the survey among the European School Education Platform users

and eTwinning community, the respondents are likely to be more experienced in international projects and

mobility activities. Therefore, the overall results should not be considered fully representative.

11

The age structure of the teacher workforce signals substantial future replacement needs28. In

2023, 11 % of primary and secondary teachers were aged 60 or above, and 40 % were aged

50 or above, while only 8.0% were under the age of 3029. (European Commission, 2026a).

The share of teachers aged 50 or older has increased from 39% to 42% over the period

between 2013 and 202330. Additionally, the OECD Teaching and Learning International

Survey (TALIS 2024) results suggest that 43 % of teachers aged over 50 intend to leave the

profession within the next five years (OECD, 2025a, table 7.1)31. This data signals a high risk

of both impending retirements and early departures32, which can further undermine the ability

to ensure an adequate supply of teachers. Cedefop (2026) reports a need for qualified teachers

in VET systems across all EU countries, also driven by an ageing workforce, declining

numbers of new entrants and growing difficulties to retain teachers.

Some EU countries also struggle to retain young teachers. The share of teachers under 30

who intend to leave the profession within five years has risen since 2018, reaching 15 % in

2024 (European Commission, 2026a). These teachers most frequently cite job opportunities

outside education, and personal or family reasons. In the four countries33 with data on

seniority, at least 30% of those resigning had been teaching for less than five years (OECD,

2025b). The consultations also highlighted the early attrition of qualified teachers who are

attracted to other sectors with acute labour shortages.

In some countries, retention issues are compounded by increasing difficulties to sustain

enrolment in initial teacher education programmes and ensure that graduation rates meet

workforce demands (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2021). Despite falling

enrolment of student teachers in many systems, growing expectations for inclusive education,

personalised learning and student well-being continue to increase demand for teaching

personnel (OECD, 2025b). The consultations34 also highlighted that not all graduates from

initial teacher education enter the profession.

2.2. Declining attractiveness of the teaching profession

Social recognition

The challenges to retain the existing workforce and recruit new teachers are an indication of a

decline in the prestige and attractiveness of the teaching profession. Teachers who feel that

society appreciates their work are less likely to consider leaving the profession. According to

TALIS 2024, teachers often feel valued by parents or guardians, but their perception of how

society values their profession remains very low in many countries with 15.4% of teachers

reporting they feel valued by society, on average (European Commission, 2026a). In some

countries, perceived social recognition is higher amongst early childhood education and care

28 The evolution of teacher shortages depends on trends in student numbers and the age distribution of the

teacher workforce, as well as effective retirement ages, trends in the number of graduates from initial

teacher education, attrition rates, and policy parameters such as class sizes, support staff, and subject

allocation. Most Member States do not undertake regular workforce forecasting, with some (e.g. Austria,

Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal) having invested in forecasting models (Sorensen, 2026). 29 Eurostat, online data code: educ_uoe_perp01. 30 Data for the EU25. OECD, 2026b, Education at a Glance, Table D8.1. 31 TALIS 2024, table 7.1. 32 17.9% of teachers over the age 50 intend to leave, excluding those who are about to retire. 33 Austria, Estonia, Poland and the Slovak Republic. 34 Details on the inputs from the consultations are presented in section 3 and the annex.

12

staff compared to staff working in other levels of education. Cedefop pilot survey data35

suggest that only 9% of VET teachers feel valued in their countries (Psifidou et al., 2026).

Perceptions of being valued vary depending on the source of that recognition. Teachers tend

to feel considerably more valued by their immediate school community, students and parents,

than by the broader community, including the media and policymakers. This suggests that the

erosion of prestige has less to do with day-to-day relationships in schools and more with how

the profession is portrayed and treated at societal and political level.

Salaries and terms of employment

Around two in five teachers in lower secondary education report that they are satisfied with

their salaries. This is in contrast with about 90% of teachers who report being satisfied with

the profession and their current work environment, and about 70% with their terms of

employment, excluding salaries.

Although teaching is a large employer of graduate labour, the salaries of lower secondary

teachers are 15 % lower than the average earnings of tertiary-educated workers in the EU

(European Commission, 2026a). Pay gaps tend to be even more pronounced for primary and

especially for pre-primary teachers.

The teaching profession is highly feminised, partly due to gender stereotypes and a long-held

perception that being a teacher is compatible with family life (Stevenson and Milner, 2023).

To some extent, this “occupational advantage” has been considered a trade-off for lower pay.

Nonetheless, working life has changed considerably, particularly following the COVID-19

pandemic. Many employers offer policies to attract the best graduates, such as flexible

working arrangements with hybrid and telework options. In contrast, the school day is based

around rigid timetables which demand physical presence and restrict opportunities for time

off during term time. At the same time, teachers’ work has become increasingly demanding.

For these reasons, a reliance on what made teaching attractive in the past may be less

effective at filling the teacher gap in the future.

Teachers' actual salaries relative to earnings of tertiary-educated workers, EU average, by

gender (2024)

35 Preliminary findings from the European Vocational Teacher Survey are based on responses from 735

teachers across 23 EU Member States.

13

Source: European Commission calculations based on Table D3.5 Education at a Glance 2025. Note: The figure shows the

average actual salaries (including bonuses and allowances) of full-time teachers aged 25-64 in public institutions as a

percentage of the earnings of full-time, full-year workers aged 25-64 with tertiary educational attainment. The values

represent the average for EU Member States excluding Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain and Luxembourg, where there is no data

available, Cyprus and Malta. At pre-primary level, there is no data available for Austria, Germany and Ireland. Breakdown

by gender is not available for Estonia, Germany, Romania, Lithuania and Slovakia.

Persistent gender pay gaps in the private sector make it comparatively hard to attract men to

teaching, where wages are not subject to the same discrimination. On average, male teachers

earn 30 % less than other tertiary-educated men at primary level, 28 % at lower secondary

level and 23 % at upper secondary level, while female teachers earn close or similar salaries

to those received by other tertiary-educated women.

Lower salaries relative to those of similarly educated professionals affect teachers' living

standards and career choices and more generally, they contribute to broad perceptions of the

status of the teaching profession. While several Member States have implemented across-the-

board salary increases, these have not kept pace with the rising costs of inflation (European

Commission, 2023b). Consultations also highlighted that in some countries, salaries are still

lagging.

There are stark differences across EU countries in teachers’ statutory starting salaries and pay

progression over time36. Two aspects are particularly relevant when assessing to which extent

salary progression is attractive for teachers: first, the size of the salary increases linked to

length in service; and second, how early in their career the increases are awarded.

36 Half of the education systems were organising their career structures in formal ascending career levels, with

each step representing a greater complexity of tasks and responsibility, and teachers typically receiving a salary

raise as they move to a higher level in the career structure (European Commission/ EACEA/Eurydice, 2021).

14

Statutory salaries of lower secondary teachers with the minimum qualification (in PPS),

2024/2025

Starting salary

10 years in service 15 years in service

Top salary

Source: Based on data from Eurydice’s Teachers' and School Heads' Salaries and Allowances 2024-2025 (European

Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2026b).

Note: Annual gross statutory salary of full-time, fully qualified lower secondary school teachers, as adjusted for differences

in purchasing power, using purchasing power parities (PPPs) for actual individual consumption from Eurostat

[prc_ppp_ind_1]. The period of reference for teachers’ salaries is from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. The reference date for

PPPs is 2025. Countries are shown in descending order according to the starting salaries. In Bulgaria, the data correspond to

salaries of teachers, senior teachers and chief teachers respectively. In Estonia, the starting salary refers to the minimum

wage applicable to teachers, there are no salaries statutorily defined for the different stages in the career. In Latvia, the

education authority only defines the minimum and maximum salaries. For other country notes, see the Eurydice’s webtool.

In some countries, the teaching career is conceived primarily in terms of salary progression,

with pay increases linked to years of service. However, it can also be structured as a career

ladder with successive steps leading to greater responsibilities and higher pay. In both career

models, teachers may also take on horizontal responsibilities or roles, for example subject-

related, or digital, pedagogical or sustainability coordinators, although these do not always

come with fair economic compensation or reduced teaching load (European

Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2021).

Regarding their professional status, fully qualified teachers can be: (i) employees subject to

general employment legislation, (ii) employees subject to special employment legislation

governing contractual relations in the public sector without civil servant status, or (iii)

employees with civil servant status, which usually affords teachers higher job security.

Teachers are employed as civil servants in 11 EU countries, as non-civil servant public

employees in 5 EU countries, and under contracts subject to general employment legislation

in 10 EU countries (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2021). However, there are

additional distinctions in certain EU countries37.

37 For example, in Luxembourg, the employment status of teachers depends on the type of school or the

teacher’s nationality, while, in Italy, teachers are public employees with private contracts (European

Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2021).

% increase compared

to starting salaries BEfr BEde BEnl BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR HR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE

After 10 years 25 25 25 3 6 15 13 a 37 20 9 9 4 10 49 a 3 25 2 19 53 28 19 20 25 40 12 15 10

After 15 years 41 35 41 7 11 15 18 a 59 30 16 12 7 21 85 a 15 38 4 22 75 41 44 27 30 69 15 23 15

At the top of the range 72 65 77 a 32 15 30 a 95 90 43 57 19 49 143 60 31 74 4 22 104 78 50 110 42 105 29 30 31

Average No years

to reach the top 27 26 36 a 32 12 a a 35 36 39 34 40 35 24 a 25 30 15 12 12 32 20 34 25 18 40 20 a

15

Teachers in EU education systems are commonly employed on contracts with an indefinite

duration. Temporary contracts are used under specific conditions, such as for substitute

teachers or to respond to changes in school demographics (European

Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2021). However, the use of temporary and fixed-term

contracts has become more widespread.

One in five teachers (17.7%) in the EU report that they work on a fixed-term contract.

Contracts of one year or less are more prevalent than fixed contracts longer than one year

(14.2% compared to 3.5%). More precarious employment conditions are largely concentrated

among young and novice teachers. One in two teachers under 30 (48.6%) is employed on a

fixed-term contract, compared to 9.3% of teachers over 5038. The share stands at 52.7% for

novice teachers and 7.5% for experienced teachers (European Commission, 2026a).

Education is one of the economic sectors where the share of temporary employment is

highest39, together with the commerce, hospitality and health sectors.

Most teachers are employed on full-time contracts, with 25.4% of teachers employed part-

time in 2023, and much higher proportions in some EU countries40. According to TALIS

2024 (OECD, 2025a), teachers employed on part-time contracts are much more likely to

work in multiple schools compared with their full-time colleagues.

Job demands

“There are times when work is overwhelming and interferes with private life. Sometimes

parents (or kids) need my help outside working hours, even during weekends. Correcting

papers, writing and answering emails, documentation are tasks most often done after working

hours”. Teacher, country not specified

“In Lithuania, we have a problem that it’s a lack of teachers and most of the teachers have

more than one full workload…So, we have lots of contact lessons per week… I stay after my

lessons…other teachers work till 6pm because of lack of teachers….” Teacher, Lithuania.

“I teach English in a rural area…in a small school… So, my challenge here in my school

[concerns] too many classes. I have nine classes…It has been demanding and normally most

of my [work]time is at home…School is not enough, the time we use to prepare everything.

And the bureaucratic part…. I have around 200 [students]. So, for one teacher, I think it’s too

much.” Teacher, Portugal.

“Things happen between the lessons, during the lessons, and so on. Our work, now, we have

three things that are very much on top: relations, relations, relations. We have to build the

relations all the time with the parents and the students and among us teachers as well… If I

don’t talk with [the parents], I get a lot of emails.” Teacher, Sweden.

Working beyond contractual hours is more common among those working in education

(26 % of men and 19 % of women) compared to other sectors (Eurofound, 2026). Work-life

balance has deteriorated due to heavier workloads outside school hours, driven by

increasingly complex and diverse learning needs. The boundaries between work and personal

38 In Austria, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Romania, more than two thirds of teachers under the age of 30 are

on fixed-term contracts. 39 Eurofound reports a share of temporary employment in education at around 11%, a figure roughly 6

percentage points lower than the fixed-term contract rate reported in TALIS. 40 In Belgium (47.1%), Germany (45.1%), Lithuania (45.9%), Latvia (47.3%), Croatia (48.5%), Netherlands

(61.6%) and Estonia (63.5%). Eurostat, online data code: educ_uoe_perp03.

16

life have also become blurred with increasing use of digital technologies for communication

and collaboration.

Several studies show how time pressure and excessive workload, heavy administrative

burden and highly regulated environments, as well as unstable precarious employment

contracts all contribute to teacher burnout and job dissatisfaction (Kozina, A. and Nairz-

Wirth, E., 2026).

The largest component of teachers’ work is classroom instruction, although this accounts for

less than half of their working time on average across the EU41. Lesson preparation and

assessment account for about one quarter of their time, and communication and collaboration

with other teachers, students and parents, school management, professional learning and

administrative tasks make up the remaining quarter (European Commission, 2026a).

However, the teachers who report the longest working hours devote most of their time to

tasks other than teaching (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2021).

Teacher workload can be difficult to analyse as contractual requirements (statutory hours)

often differ from the actual hours worked (Stevenson and Milner, 2023). The project

‘Teaching Around the Clock – Unveiling the Reality of Working Time and Compensation for

Teachers in Europe’ is carrying out a comparative analysis of working time models,

highlighting teaching and non-teaching tasks and the extent to which actual working hours

are effectively compensated42.

Teachers who participated in focus groups during the preparations of the proposal identified

large class sizes and inadequate support for students with special educational needs as major

challenges. They reported that their work routinely extended into evenings, weekends and

holidays. School trips and after-school events were highly valued, but largely unrecognised as

part of teachers’ workload. Teachers reported that their main workload challenges concerned

documentation, parent communications, student pastoral care, covering for sick colleagues,

meetings, and reporting. Early childhood education and care professionals reported unpaid

preparation time, high child-to-teacher ratios and settings that remain open year-round, all of

which intensified their work strain. Some teachers noted that shortages of teachers and high

administrative workload expanded their working hours, which were not always remunerated.

The early childhood education and care sector presents specific challenges, notably around

non-contact time, meaning the paid time dedicated to tasks not involving direct contact with

children, such as liaising with parents, preparing for teaching, documenting and assessing

children's learning progress, planning activities, discussing pedagogical and organisational

approaches with colleagues, and engaging in continuing professional development (CPD).

Where this non-contact time is limited or poorly protected, it adds to workload pressures

already affecting the workforce.

The OECD is conducting work on teacher workload and how digital tools may enhance the

effectiveness of different tasks, as part of the ‘Resourcing School Education: Policies for the

Digital Transformation of Education and Future-readiness of Teachers’ project of the

Education Policy Committee Programme of Work.

41 Only in Finland and Belgium (French Community) does classroom instruction account for at least 50% of

teachers’ working time. 42 https://etuce.org/en/projects/139:teaching-around-the-clock.

17

Workers in education are those who most experienced a degradation in work intensity43

across all economic sectors (Eurofound, 2026). Consultations also noted an intensification of

teachers’ work that concerns both the quantity and higher complexity of everyday tasks.

According to TALIS 2024, teachers under 30 report the highest levels of work-related stress.

The most common sources of stress for teachers are administrative work, changing

requirements from authorities, and maintaining classroom discipline (European Commission,

2026a). The prevalence of maintaining classroom discipline as a source of stress has

increased in more than a dozen EU countries since 2018. In nearly all countries, novice

teachers feel stressed for this reason and report classroom disruptions and disorder more

frequently than their experienced colleagues. ECEC educators report that requirements to

carry out too many tasks simultaneously and to take on other colleagues’ tasks (due to high

sickness absence rates) are the most significant sources of stress (OECD, 2025c). Nearly half

of VET teachers (49%) report that they feel overburdened by taking on additional

responsibilities due to staff shortages, and physical exhaustion and emotional strain are

widespread (Psifidou, I., et al., 2026).

Other studies have corroborated that difficulties in classroom management and discipline

problems are associated to teacher burnout, lower satisfaction and premature attrition,

particularly among early-career and early childhood education and care teachers (Kozina, A.

and Nairz-Wirth, E., 2026). The education sector has a considerable share of workers (24 %)

worrying about work (Eurofound, 2026).

Verbal abuse is most reported in the public administration sector (17 %), followed closely by

the education, health, and transport sectors, all 15 % (Eurofound, 2026). Cyberbullying is

most prevalent in the education sector (4 %), while bullying is an issue across all three public

sectors, with public administration, health and education recording equally high prevalence

rates of 7 % each.

Teacher agency and autonomy

“A profession that is not making its own decisions is not very attractive” Trade union,

Czechia, June 2026.

Fewer than one in five teachers (18.3%) believe that they can influence education policy

(OECD, 2025a, table 5.28), even though those who do report higher levels of job satisfaction.

Teachers who feel that their views are valued by policymakers are also less likely to intend to

leave the profession (European Commission, 2026a).

In contrast, around four in five teachers report to be involved in school decision-making and

lead collaborative activities, on average in the EU. However, only around two in five teachers

work in schools whose principals report that teachers have a significant responsibility in

defining school improvement priorities, student disciplinary procedures and assessment

policies. Involvement is lower as concerns deciding student diversity policies, facilitating

43 Across sectors, the degradation in work intensity was experienced most by workers in education (– 7

points), followed by commerce and hospitality (– 6 points) and health (– 3 points). The difficulty in taking

a break from work is particularly prevalent among those working in the education (50 %), followed by the

health (40 %) and commerce and hospitality (35 %) sectors. Education is also the sector with the highest

share of workers affected by persistent emotional exhaustion (18 %).

18

professional development activities to support students’ social and emotional development,

and, particularly, staffing and budget decisions (OECD, 2025a, table 5.2).

Globally, teacher unions report that governments consult with teachers’ organisations only to

some extent on key areas affecting teachers such as curriculum, professional development

and teacher evaluation (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024).The consultations identified professional

autonomy as fundamental, noting that teachers are often positioned as the ‘implementers’ of

decisions taken far away from the classroom and underscoring that teachers need the ability

to take and implement decisions, and contribute to shaping professional standards, pedagogy

and professional development.

Instructional autonomy is widespread: in most EU countries, over 90% of teachers report

having substantial autonomy in designing and planning lessons and selecting teaching

methods. However, teachers report lower levels of autonomy to choose assessment activities,

and particularly to implement the curriculum in a flexible way and select learning objectives,

with EU averages below 80% and cross-country differences much more pronounced

(European Commission, 2026a). Furthermore, instructional autonomy can be constrained if

teachers need to cover a large, mandated curricula and prepare students for standardised

assessments too frequently (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024).

Diversity of the teaching profession

Classrooms have become increasingly diverse with students with special or distinct learning

needs, neurodiverse learners, from migrant or disadvantaged backgrounds and students whose

home language(s) differs from the language of instruction. Research evidence suggests that

schools can better serve their communities when the workforce reflects the student population

because teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators (Egalite

et al., 2015). The consultations also suggested that students who see themselves represented

in the classroom are more likely to be encouraged to become teachers. Having more men in

the teaching profession is also about role models for both girls and boys, in the context of the

higher rates of underachievement among boys,

However, only eight Member States have policies or measures to promote the recruitment of

teachers with diverse backgrounds, and these primarily focus on the recruitment of migrants

or persons with disabilities. While there are national policy legislation, strategies and action

plans on equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination in employment, there is little

evidence of their implementation and impact in practice (European

Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2023b).

A 2016 European Commission study showed that persons of migrant or minority

backgrounds were significantly underrepresented in initial teacher education and the teacher

workforce (Donlevy et al., 2026). A case study of a fast-track teacher education programme

for recently immigrated teachers and pre-school teachers in Sweden illustrates the

complexities of professional entry for migrant teachers44. During the consultation,

44 Six universities developed the programme, in collaboration with teacher unions, the Swedish Association of

Local Authorities and Regions and the Swedish Public Employment Service. Starting in 2016, it had

enrolled more than 1200 students within five years. Alongside knowledge of the Swedish school system,

school law and the curriculum, the programme included Swedish language instruction and supervised

school-based training; however, it did not lead to formal teacher certification. The analysis highlighted

several key challenges faced by participants: language and communication issues, which affected

19

stakeholders also pointed to barriers for migrant/refugee teachers with third country teaching

qualifications (insufficient support for language learning and pedagogical adaptation, short

term roles, length of procedures for the recognition of qualifications) and the need for

sustained mentoring and professional socialisation. The integration of teachers with third

country qualifications into the profession could also be supported through the provision of

affordable bridging programmes or courses in case of partial recognition of professional

qualifications.

Limited research on teachers with disabilities reveals attitudinal and physical barriers to

entering the profession. In their review, Neca et al. (2022) noted that many teachers with

disabilities lacked recognition of their competence. This underlines the need for disability

awareness training to challenge stereotypes and ensure that the specific needs of teacher

candidates are understood so reasonable accommodations can be made. Moreover, disability

representation in social dialogue is essential to ensuring the full and meaningful participation

of teachers with disabilities in education systems (Milner et al., 2026) The European

Disability Forum (2026) reports that many teachers do not receive enough training on

disability, inclusive teaching methods, or the human rights approach promoted by the United

Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Overall, EU-level data on

teacher diversity are limited, restricting the analysis of representation across demographic

groups and making it difficult to develop policies.

2.3. Teacher preparation for evolving demands

Addressing new challenges in the classroom

Teachers’ work has always been multifaceted and constantly evolving. In recent years,

however, teachers manage increasingly complex realities: a growing range of educational

needs, multiple languages spoken in the classroom and at home, and expectations to protect

students’ well-being and mental health. Teachers are increasingly expected to respond to

wider social challenges, support pupils with complex needs and take on responsibilities

beyond classroom teaching. Teaching requires increased instructional adaptation and

differentiation, which can place additional demands on teachers (time to develop their skills

and prepare their lessons) and the system (e.g. class size, curricula flexibility).

About 20.8% of teachers in the EU report experiencing significant disruptive noise and

disorder in their classrooms and losing time because students interrupt the lesson (OECD,

2025b, Table 3.35). Additionally, maintaining classroom discipline has become more difficult

since 2018 as teachers report using teaching practices regarding classroom management more

frequently, such as calming students who are disruptive (European Commission, 2026a, Table

1.35, OECD, 2025b). Among job demands, stress related to maintaining classroom discipline

and experiencing intimidation or verbal abuse by students shows the strongest and most

consistent association with teachers’ intentions to leave the profession within the next five

years across EU countries.

relationships with staff and students and influenced how they were perceived as a teacher; pedagogical

adaptation from a teacher-centred to a pupil-centred approach; uncertainty in recruitment practices,

resulting in many working under precarious work contracts; lack of professional recognition, often leading

to recruitment as teaching assistants or cultural translators; the need for longer-term mentoring; and the

complex and lengthy professional socialisation process (Bengtsson and Mickwitz, 2022).

20

Novice teachers are more often exposed to challenging classroom contexts, such as those

with higher shares of students who have difficulties understanding the language(s) of

instruction, special education needs, behavioural problems, or academic difficulties. They

also report more disruption than their more experienced colleagues (European Commission,

2026a). These findings suggest that novice teachers face greater challenges in managing

classroom discipline, either because they have not yet developed the necessary skills or due

to the way classes are assigned.

While teachers generally report that their formal education prepared them well in terms of

subject content, they feel less prepared for pedagogy and class practice. TALIS 2024 results

also show a decline in the proportion of recently qualified teachers who feel that their formal

education adequately prepared them in content, pedagogy and classroom practice in the

subjects they teach. This trend suggests that new teachers may perceive that the professional

demands of teaching exceed the preparation received during their initial teacher education

(OECD, 2025a).

Teachers’ sense of preparedness for different aspects of teaching

Source: OECD, 2025a (Table 4.5)

Moreover, only a small proportion of teachers (31.3%) report that they feel that their initial

teacher education prepared them for teaching in multicultural/multilingual settings45 and for

supporting the social and emotional development of their pupils (43.4%) (European

Commission, 2026a). Preparation to respond to linguistic diversity in the classroom,

recognise and value learners’ linguistic backgrounds and use them as a pedagogical resource,

while strengthening competence in the language of schooling are essential in supporting

educational success. These can support educational achievement and more inclusive learning

45 Language awareness and language sensitive teaching are a key skill for all teachers, given that 15,5% of

pupils have a different language at home than the language of schooling.

21

environments, particularly for learners from migrant backgrounds, and contribute to their

well-being at school (European Commission, 2020a).

Although provision of induction has become widespread across Europe (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2021), on average, only one third of teachers with five

years of experience or less report having participated in a formal induction programme

(OECD, 2025), and only one in five reports that they have an assigned mentor (European

Commission, 2026a).

Stakeholder consultations pointed to the need to align recruitment, training and induction

more closely to local needs, so that preparation reflects the specific contexts in which

teachers will work. Participants also noted that raising the status of teaching requires higher

recognition of the teacher educator profession and the field of teacher education research,

which underpin the quality of initial preparation. This was linked to the need to guarantee that

there are trained, recognised mentors to support new teachers through their induction, and to

develop roles that allow experienced teachers to share their expertise without leaving the

classroom altogether.

There are also gaps in opportunities for career-long professional learning. While

participation in continuing professional development is near-universal46 across the EU, only

around half of teachers think it had a positive impact on their teaching. Moreover, continuing

professional development focuses mainly on traditional topics, and there remain unmet needs

for core areas such as classroom management, teaching students with special education

needs, individualised learning and supporting students’ social-emotional development

(European Commission, 2026a). Additionally, fields such as ICT skills and teaching students

with special needs evolve rapidly with new pedagogical approaches, generating an ongoing

need to remain up to date (OECD, 2019).

Consultations highlighted the need for sustained continuing professional development that

better matches teachers’ needs, considers the tangible impact on teaching practice and applies

effective learning approaches, rather than traditional one-off courses. According to TALIS

2024, the lack of time is a reason for not participating in continuing professional development

activities for 64% of teachers, while around 50% of teachers lack incentives to participate or

cannot participate because of conflicts with their work schedule (OECD, 2025a, table 4.39).

Main barriers to participation as mentioned by the stakeholders include the lack of time or

replacement in their teaching duties.

Teacher appraisal can play a role in identifying individual development needs, recognising

and incentivising meaningful continuing professional development. However, more than one

third of teachers work in schools where remedy to address professional weaknesses is not

discussed in their appraisal, and more than half work in schools where no individual

professional development plan is established as a result (European Commission, 2026a).

Defending democracy

46 According to TALIS, most teachers participated in at least one CPD activity in the year before the survey.

22

“In what has been termed a ‘post-truth’ condition, professional judgements including those

made by teachers are increasingly dismissed as mere opinions. This disregard persists despite

the years teachers spend cultivating their understanding and their efforts to make informed

pedagogical decisions based on knowledge and evidence”. Carmi, T. (2026)

Schools are often the first environment students experience outside the family and serve as a

setting for practicing democracy, shaping young people’s civic knowledge, attitudes and

engagement (Damiani, 2026). They are also spaces for connection and belonging, where

people with diverse perspectives come together.

Education International (2026) highlights that teachers across multiple countries have

reported intimidation and a recent survey of over 1,000 teachers in Germany found that 22%

of teachers experience right-wing extremist behaviour from pupils every week, and 12% of

these teachers said that they are hesitant to promote democracy in their classes for fear of

backlash. Those teachers also called for training and support in navigating such situations.

Consultations also noted teachers’ sense of vulnerability in a politicised environment and the

effects of social media, characterised by several participants as a threat to teacher agency and

professional autonomy, with a disproportionate effect on women given the gender

composition of the profession.

The professionalisation of teaching is based on specialised knowledge, public trust, and

professional authority. Carmi, T. (2026) analyses several trends that disrupt teacher

professionalism: misinformation and disinformation, rejection of verified claims, primacy of

belief over evidence, declining trust in institutions and experts, fragmentation and

polarisation of information environments (e.g. social media and messaging apps). For

example, misinformation and disinformation may fuel suspicion about teachers’ competence

and teachers’ judgments may be challenged. The spread of dispositions that erode trust in

expertise have an impact on the teaching profession, and beyond.

International mobility

According to TALIS 2024, teacher international mobility has increased on average in recent

years, yet, in 2024, only 21.7 % of lower secondary teachers declared having been abroad as

a student during their ITE, 13,3 % as a teacher in an EU programme, and 7,5 % as a teacher

in a national or regional programme. In all countries, the share of teachers participating in an

EU programme was higher than the share participating in a national or regional programme.

Moreover, evidence shows that higher participation rates in EU-funded programmes are

associated with higher participation rates in national or regional programmes.

23

Percentage of teachers who have been abroad for professional purposes, ISCED 24, 2024

Source:European Commission services’ calculations based on TALIS 2024 database.

Accompanying students on visits to other countries and learning a foreign language are the

most common reasons for teachers to go abroad. Around half of the teachers who have been

abroad report these two professional purposes for their mobility. Teachers also often go

abroad either to complete part of their ITE or to establish contacts with schools abroad once

in service. Less frequently, they go abroad to teach or learn other subject areas.

Percentage of teachers who have been abroad, by professional purpose, EU-22 average, 2024

Accompanying visiting students

Language learning

Studying as part of my teacher

education

Establishing contacts with

schools abroad

Teaching

Learning of other subject areas

Source:European Commission services’ calculations based on TALIS 2024 database.

Teachers with less than 10 years of experience, and particularly those in their first five years

of service, are less likely to participate in mobility actions. TALIS 2024 results also show that

early-career teachers, male teachers and teachers approaching retirement have lower odds to

24

participate in EU funded mobility. According to Erasmus+ programme data47 for 2024,

around two thirds of mobilities concerned teachers between 30 and 49 years old, and more

than three quarters were women. The number of total mobilities more than doubled between

2018 and 2024, reflecting a significant budget increase between these years. In terms of type,

courses and training account for the largest share, although job-shadowing has increased

notably.

Erasmus+ Teacher mobilities

Courses and training

Female teachers

18-29 years old

Job shadowing

Male teachers

30-39 years old

Teaching or training assignments

Undefined 40-49 years old

50-59 years old

60+

Source:European Commission services’ calculations based on Erasmus+ programme data from the Erasmus+ dashboard.

Data refers to completed Erasmus+ mobilities in school education, including ECEC.

The main barriers to the mobility of teachers include limited language competences,

insufficient financial support, family responsibilities, and lack of recognition of mobility

periods (in the country of origin) or professional qualifications (in the destination country).

Other important obstacles may be the administrative burden linked to organising mobility,

insufficient support from institutions, concerns about the impact of absence on pupils and

school continuity, difficulties in arranging substitute teachers, and timetable and curriculum

constraints.

Some stakeholders flagged prejudice and inconsistent understanding of learning outcomes in

East–West or South-North mobility and highlighted Nordic automatic recognition as a model.

They stressed the importance of support and training during the recognition phase.

47 Data were extracted on 7 July 2026 and relate to completed Erasmus+ mobilities in school education,

including ECEC.

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

2018 2024 2018 2024 2018 2024

By purpose By gender By age

25

The study supporting the impact assessment of Directive 2005/36/EC48 identifies barriers

pertaining to qualifications when seeking to work or to move between EU countries, in

particular relating to provision of information, the length of the procedure, and wide variation

in documentation requirements.

2.4. School environment and leadership

School leaders

School leadership across the EU is characterised by an ageing workforce, with limited inflow

of younger professionals. Nearly seven out of ten principals are aged 50 or above, while

fewer than 5% are under 40, and the average age has increased from 51.7 years in 2018 to

53.1 years in 2024.

Job satisfaction is high among school leaders: 94.3% of principals are satisfied with their job

overall and 96.4% enjoy working at their school. However, only 42% of principals are

satisfied with their salaries (European Commission, 2026c). The demands they experience

involve a distinct layer of occupational pressure: around 31% of school leaders report high

levels of occupational stress, with administrative workload being a primary source for 77.5%

of principals. Moreover, only 24% of school leaders perceives societal recognition of their

profession. More than one in three principals (including those approaching retirement age)

report intending to leave the profession within the next five years, pointing to significant

sustainability challenges for school leadership (European Commission, 2026c).

Formal initial preparation for school leadership remains uneven across EU education systems,

and unmet professional learning needs are substantial. While 79.9% of principals report

having completed teacher education as pre-service preparation, only 63.8% report school

administration training and 45.9% report formal training in instructional leadership. Despite

widespread engagement in professional learning activities, school leaders report the highest

levels of need in promoting staff well-being (29.9% report a high need), developing

collaboration among teachers (28.7%), using data to improve school quality (24.3%) and

school management, such as human resource and financial management (23.9%). TALIS

Starting Strong 2024 (OECD, 2025) shows that more training opportunities are needed in the

early childhood education and care sector, for example in the areas of inclusion, leadership,

language expertise.

Supportive leadership

School leaders directly influence the working conditions and job satisfaction of teachers and

the learning environments of students. They play a key role in supporting teachers throughout

their careers. They are particularly important in supporting new teachers, but also in shaping

school culture, collegiality and professional development opportunities for early-, mid- and

late-career teachers.

Research shows that school leaders are vital in creating the conditions where learners and

teachers can thrive and succeed: they allocate time for collaboration and reflection, signpost

or provide professional learning, mediate between system-level expectations and school-level

26

realities. They can cultivate a supportive climate that values professional autonomy. School

leadership influences collective teacher efficacy or sense of ability (Çoğaltay and Boz, 2023)

and leaders are crucial to creating the necessary culture for pedagogical innovation. They can

drive evidence-informed pedagogical practices and promote mental health and well-being for

both staff and students.

Supportive leadership, including principals who trust teachers’ expertise, provide useful

feedback and maintain good professional relationships with staff, is among the most robust

positive correlates of job satisfaction across EU countries (European Commission, 2026a).

School leaders, when they are well-supported and equipped, can drive evidence-informed

pedagogical practices, cultivate a supportive climate that reduces burnout and values

professional autonomy, implement systemic, preventative mental health and well-being

frameworks for both staff and students.

Supportive school environments

Teachers who report collaborating more tend to be more likely to fulfil their lesson aims. This

holds for several specific collaborative activities, in particular working with colleagues to

ensure common assessment standards (18 of 23 EU Member States with available data),

participating in collaborative professional learning (13 EU Member States) and joint

activities across classes and age groups (12 EU Member States)49. Collaborative school

environments are also positively correlated with teachers’ job satisfaction and well-being

(European Commission, 2026a; ENESET 2026).

Regarding collaborative practices, teachers typically participate in informal exchanges on

specific students’ learning development or teaching materials. Most teachers report that

principals encourage co-operation among teachers and maintain good professional

relationships with staff. However, working in a team, peer observation or collaborative

professional learning activities remain uncommon.

Teachers are increasingly expected to take on tasks typically carried out by other

professionals, such as psychologists and social workers, which places an additional burden on

them. Multiprofessional teams, bringing together teachers, psychologists, social workers

and counsellors allow provision of comprehensive support in schools, addressing the

challenges more effectively and alleviating burden on teachers. The European Disability

Forum (2026) reports that schools often struggle to recruit and retain specialised staff,

including support teachers, sign language interpreters, and other professionals.

A safe, secure, and accessible physical environment is crucial. It fosters teaching and

learning, and is an attractive workplace. School buildings, classrooms and equipment affect

how students learn and how teachers teach, and good design can support innovative teaching

practices. Well-built and well-maintained infrastructure can have positive effects on student

well-being and learning outcomes.

Adequate lighting, air quality, temperature, acoustics, hygiene and accessibility remain basic

requirements for school infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic drew some attention to

school design, but mainly to features such as ventilation, classroom density and hygiene

facilities. Educational buildings are among the oldest and energy-inefficient and badly

49 OECD, TALIS 2024, Table 6.11.

27

prepared for heat waves (European Commission, 2022). Nearly 43% of schools in European

cities are in urban heat islands that are at least 2°C hotter than their region’s average climate,

and 5% of European schools are in urban heat islands that are at least 4°C hotter than their

region’s average climate (European Environmental Agency, 2022). The impact of climate

change on teachers’ work conditions, health and well-being in poorly insulated schools is

increasing (Flouris, 2025). Teachers find themselves coping with classrooms that overheat

during the summer and are cold and poorly ventilated in the winter. During heatwaves, these

schools become even hotter, exposing teachers and students to health-threatening

temperatures. Since 2010, the quality of the physical environment has improved in all sectors,

except for the education and health sectors.

2.5. Integrating digital technologies in teaching

In the 2025 Eurobarometer survey, 41% of respondents cited inadequate teacher preparation

as a reason for gaps in student basic digital skills (European Commission, 2025). According

to the 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), computer and

information literacy (CIL) is below level 2 for nearly half of students in their eighth year of

schooling (average age 13.5+) in the EU (European Commission, 2024). Strengthening

teacher digital competences is essential not only to bridge student digital skills gaps but also

to combat disinformation, mitigate risks for social relations and well-being, and promote the

responsible and safe use of digital technologies and AI. Moreover, integrating digital

technologies to enhance learning is closely associated to teacher preparation (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026a).

According to Eurydice, 18 Member States explicitly address the use of digital technologies to

enhance teaching and learning in competence frameworks for ITE, which are usually

mandatory. ITE frameworks cover personalised learning, student assessment and responsible

technology use by learners in 15 and 14 countries respectively, and the safe and ethical use of

AI in only six. Frameworks for teacher professional development – existing in 16 Member

States – tend to cover more digital competence areas but are seldom mandatory (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026a).

The integration of digital competences into initial teacher education programmes is relatively

recent and, therefore, continuing professional development remains essential (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026a). However, in-service teachers tend to participate

mainly in learning activities on integrating digital technologies into teaching, while other

areas receive less attention – including supporting personalised learning, assessing students,

identifying and dealing with disinformation and managing social problems associated with

digital communication. Although teachers generally recognise the need to develop these

competences, they may lack access to relevant learning opportunities or sufficient time.

Participation in professional development activities on AI is even less common, partly due to

teachers’ concerns on the use of this technology and doubts about its educational benefits.

Most member states have established and support specialised networks and communities of

practice that enable teachers to share their experience and enhance their expertise. The use of

self-assessment tools, usually drawing on SELFIE for teachers, is also common (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026a). Some education systems have also developed

personalised learning paths that teachers can adapt to their own needs and follow at their own

pace. The completion of these learning paths or the development of digital competences

28

through other means may be certified and recognised for professional development or career

progression.

Education systems laying out digital competences for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and

Continuing Professional Development (CPD), ISCED 24, 2024/2025

ITE CPD

Use of digital technologies to

enhance teaching and learning

Selection, creation and management

of digital content

Use of digital technologies for

communication, collaboration and

professional development

Use of digital technologies to

enhance inclusion, personalisation

and learners’ active engagement

Use of digital technologies to assess

student learning

Enabling learners to use digital

technologies responsibly

Safe and ethical use of AI

Number of education systems Number of education systems

Regulations

Recommendations

Source: Based on data from Eurydice report Digital education at school in Europe 2026: Bridging gaps in access, teaching

and learning.

According to ICILS, teachers are generally more positive than negative about the use of

digital technologies in teaching and learning. They most commonly see benefits in improving

student’s access to information, increasing their interest in learning, and broadening

opportunities to work at the level of their individualised needs. Teachers are notably

concerned about students plagiarising online content, the potential decline in their written

expression skills and shorter attention spans. The greatest variation across countries concerns

teachers’ views on whether digital technologies improve students’ academic performance or

rather distract them from learning. The Council of Europe’s Education Department has

launched a survey to gather teachers’ views on the impact of digital technologies on the

profession, co-developed with ETUCE. The results will inform the development and follow-

up of a White Paper on the Futures of Teachers and the Teaching Profession, to be adopted by

Ministers of Education in December 2026.

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Teachers views of the benefits and drawbacks of using digital technologies in teaching and

learning (%), ISCED 24, 2023

BENEFITS

Enables students to access better sources of information.

Helps students develop a greater interest in learning

Helps students to work at a level appropriate to their learning needs.

Helps students develop problem-solving skills.

Enables students to collaborate more

effectively.

Helps students develop skills in planning and self-regulation of their work.

Improves academic performance of students.

% DRAWBACKS

Results in students copying material from

internet sources without attribution.

Results in poorer written expression among

students.

Results in shorter attention spans among

students.

Limits the amount of personal

communication among students.

Results in poorer calculation and estimation skills among students.

Confuses students with false or misleading

information.

Distracts students from learning.

%

Lowest percentage to median

Median to highest percentage

Source: Eurydice report Digital education at school in Europe 2026: Bridging gaps in access, teaching and learning, based

on ICILS 2023.

Note: Each bar shows the range from the country with the lowest percentage of teachers that agreed with each statement to

the country with the highest percentage of teachers. The colour shade changes in the median value.

3. Elements of a comprehensive approach to make the teaching profession more

attractive

“The status of teachers is closely tied to the quality of education (…) Where systems invest

seriously in teacher education, working conditions, and participation in decision-making,

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the profession becomes more attractive; where they do not, the downward spiral of

shortages, overwork, and demoralisation accelerates”

Opening address by Michalinos Zembylas at the Informal Meeting of EU Education

Ministers on 29 January 2026 in Cyprus.

“The prestige of any occupation is traditionally linked to its professional status or

professionalisation, which is characterised by a set of conditions: that the work is

recognised as essential to society, that it requires substantial specialised education

(advanced degrees, a well-developed knowledge base), restrictions on entry into the

profession, that it is guided by a strong ethical code, common norms and standards of

practice, that professionals have meaningful autonomy and responsibility, and relatively

high compensation”. Kraft and Lyon, 2024.

A main recommendation emerging from the research and consultations is the importance of a

comprehensive approach to create an attractive profession. Participants to the

consultations were clear that an attractive profession cannot be created through isolated

measures or incentives, and that it requires a long-term, coherent approach to recruitment and

retention policies, covering professional standards, induction, working conditions, teacher

autonomy, career development and the social recognition of teachers.

The consultations described competitive salaries and job security as essential foundations. At

the same time, the consultations highlighted that improving salaries is not sufficient to

address recruitment and retention issues, when professional trust, agency and autonomy are

not addressed. They also highlighted unsustainable workloads, administrative burden and the

erosion of teachers’ personal time as a major concern. Looking at the education sector as a

whole, the top three reported areas of work in which education sector workers would like to

see improvements are: pay and benefits, workload and learning opportunities (Eurofound,

2026).

While a lot of policy attention is given to incentivise teacher recruitment, the importance of

attrition as a key cause of shortages cannot be overstated (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024).

Stakeholders underlined the need for nuanced and focused approaches to develop and sustain

“the right people in the right place with the right preparation”, including attention to regional

variations in the distribution of shortages in many countries, which call for complementing

national policies with regional and local workforce planning. They also called for broadening

the focus from retention to sustaining novice teachers in a profession where they will feel

fulfilled and see themselves as making a strong contribution throughout their careers.

Respondents to the online survey on building attractive teaching careers emphasise a range of

conditions that support high-quality practice, including manageable workloads, stable

contracts, supportive leadership and access to resources, as well as their prioritisation of

professional autonomy, recognition of expertise and meaningful participation in educational

decision-making. Their strong interest in ongoing professional learning, research engagement

and mobility opportunities further reflects a commitment to continuous improvement and to

broadening their pedagogical perspectives, even when significant structural and personal

barriers exist.

Based on the analysis and the consultations, a comprehensive approach to make the teaching

profession more attractive would cover the following elements: (i) attractive careers and

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working conditions; (ii) strong initial teacher education and continuing professional

development; and (iii) teachers’ agency in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Consensus

building to reach a shared understanding of the causes of teacher shortages and the direction

to address them emerges as a necessity, and social dialogue, as it engages all key stakeholders

and considers all stakeholder concerns, is identified as the most effective mechanism to

address occupational tensions and achieve complex goals (Stevenson and Milner, 2023).

There is a rich diversity of contexts and national circumstances, and many jurisdictions have

taken measures in several of the areas50.

3.1. Attractive careers and working conditions

Teacher agency, professional autonomy and academic freedom

The consultations underscored the primacy of professional autonomy and academic freedom.

Professional autonomy is central to what makes teaching both effective and attractive.

Teachers who are afforded the trust and authority to exert influence over how their work is

structured, organised, and practised perceive their profession as one of higher status (Arnold

and Rahimi, 2024). When teachers have professional autonomy, their professional authority

also increases51. This can have a positive impact on disciplinary and behavioural issues in the

classroom, which are prevalent and have become more prominent since 201852.

The 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers recognises that

‘the teaching profession should enjoy academic freedom in the discharge of professional

duties’ (ILO, 2016). The Recommendation outlines that teachers must have professional

autonomy and space for professional judgement to make key pedagogical decisions about

teaching and learning materials, methods, and assessment. It also stipulates that teachers and

their organisations should participate in the development of curriculum, be involved in

decisions affecting their professional practice, and be consulted on matters of education

policy.

Teachers with more instructional autonomy more often report being able to adapt their

teaching to respond to students’ needs, vary instructional strategies in their classroom, and

reduce achievement gaps between students (OECD, 2025). Higher levels of instructional

autonomy are also associated with less work-related stress and higher levels of job

satisfaction. Teacher professional autonomy and the ability to influence decision-making in

their school has also been shown to positively impact teacher well-being (OECD, 2025a),

which in turn can impact student well-being.

Teachers in schools that provide opportunities to be actively involved in school decision-

making and lead initiatives also report higher levels of satisfaction (European Commission,

50 European Commission, 2023 and Cedefop, 2026. 51 Teachers with higher instructional autonomy report to a larger extent being able to get students to follow

classroom rules (OECD, 2025b). 52 European Commission, 2026a suggests that about 20.8% of teachers in the EU report experiencing

significant disruptive noise and disorder in their classrooms and losing time because students interrupt the

lesson (Table 3.35, OECD, 2025b). Maintaining classroom discipline has become more difficult since

2018, as teachers report using classroom management practices more frequently. This is the case for all

four indicators of classroom practices regarding classroom management, i.e. calming students who are

disruptive (+7.6 percentage points), having to tell students to follow classroom rules (+5.8 percentage

points) or to listen (+5.8 percentage points), and to quieten down when the lesson begins (+4.1 percentage

points) (OECD, 2025b, Table 1.35).

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2026a). The consultations stressed that overall, teachers are more likely to remain motivated

and committed when their expertise is recognised and when they can contribute meaningfully

to decisions affecting their professional practice. Pre-service teachers place great importance

on having autonomy over their curriculum; this preference is strongest among the highest-

performing pre-service teachers (de Cort and de Witte, 2026a).

Supporting teachers to exercise agency in their work, as well as reducing unnecessary

administrative burden, emerged as a shared priority. Noting that teachers are particularly

qualified to determine the needs of their students and make judgements on the teaching and

learning materials most suitable for their pupils, the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation

also stipulates that teachers and their organisations should participate in the development of

curriculum, be involved in decisions affecting their professional practice, and be consulted on

matters of education policy.

Education reforms, with limited or no teacher involvement in their development, have an

impact on teachers’ work, and school organisational culture and leadership can have a

significant impact on how policies are experienced by teachers (Stevenson and Milner, 2023).

ETUCE recommends promoting governance models that balance accountability with

professional trust and ensuring meaningful teacher participation in educational governance at

the level of the school, as well as at the local, regional, national and EU level.

Competitive salaries and terms of employment

“Teachers are workers, teaching is work, and the school is a workplace” Connell, R. W.

(1985).

Pay, contractual terms and other working conditions are central to the quality of working life

and play a critical role in the recruitment and retention of teachers. The decision to become a

teacher is influenced by financial rewards, as well as expectations on what the work entails in

terms of career opportunities or social status. Competitive salaries that are on par with the

remuneration paid to adults with similar education levels working in comparable occupations

enhance the ability of school systems to attract and retain teachers, and all other things being

equal, the higher teachers’ relative salaries, the more attractive the profession (European

Commission, 2022). A suggestion from the consultations was to give more attention to how

the teaching profession evolves relative to other professions requiring similar levels of

qualifications.

TALIS results also suggest that teachers who are satisfied with their salaries are 25% more

likely to remain in the profession within the next five years, on average (OECD, 2025a).

Teachers satisfied with their salary are about 7 percentage points more likely to choose the

profession again, while positive perceptions of the work environment and of the profession’s

value increase this likelihood by around 4 percentage points.

Pay is traditionally considered an extrinsic motivator, as job security. It is not usually

considered a significant factor in teachers’ decisions to enter the profession, and does not

intrinsically contribute to job satisfaction, but its absence can lead to job dissatisfaction and

increased teacher attrition. Indeed, teachers report high job satisfaction overall, at the same

time as they report low satisfaction with salaries.

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Numerous studies focus on the altruistic motivations of teachers, such as the desire to help

children or a passion for teaching. The COVID-19 pandemic also refocused discussions on

professional concepts such as the altruistic motivation, commitment to public interest and

wide-ranging impact of teachers’ public service work (Arnold and Rahimi, 2024). TALIS

results suggest that the motivations for entering the teaching profession, rated as of high

importance by teachers, are making a worthwhile social contribution (65.8%) and influencing

the next generation (58.0%), followed by working hours that are compatible with family

responsibilities (European Commission, 2026a).

This perspective on altruistic motivations is valuable but overlooks a fundamental trade-offs

students make between teaching and other careers. Perceptions of the value and conditions of

the teaching profession also impact graduates’ motivation to enter the profession. Evidence

suggests that, when pre-service teachers choose between teaching and other job opportunities,

expectations about working conditions, career advancement opportunities and teacher

autonomy are as important as intrinsic motivations (De Cort and De Witte, 2026a). In career

choice, salary, workload, and opportunities for advancement prove to be at least as important

as more idealistic motives such as working with young people. About seven out of ten pre-

service teachers perceive fewer opportunities for career advancement in teaching than in

alternative occupations, and this is especially discouraging for the highest-performing pre-

service teachers. The consultations linked attraction and retention to VET teaching careers to

salary competitiveness with industry, particularly in STEM and IT, and to disparities between

urban and rural areas.

In a background paper on costing and financing the teaching profession, which informed the

recent UNESCO World Summit on Teachers, it is acknowledged that financing the teaching

profession accounts for the largest proportion of educational spending in most countries.

However, the report author argues that adequate compensation is essential for teacher

recruitment and retention. Overall, in the context of inflation and rising living costs, which

erode the real value of teacher salaries, the report highlights the need for inflation-indexed

salary adjustments and non-monetary benefits such as support for housing and transport

costs. Broad financial factors shape the attractiveness of the profession: salary levels relative

to comparable graduate occupations, but also adequate funding for education systems

(Sorensen, 2026).

Recruitment financial incentives can work if they are well-designed and targeted precisely,

and if they include requirements to stay in a specific school or area for a certain period

(European Commission, 2022). Some stakeholders urged careful consideration to

differentiated pay/bonuses by subject or geographical area and the extent to which they could

harm collegiality and be ineffective if other elements such as workload or collaborative

leadership are not addressed.

Job security is a key indicator of job quality, and it matters to teachers themselves: about

half report that it is of high importance to them. Precarious employment53 affects teachers’

53 Amitai and Van Houtte (2022) found that in the Flemish community of Belgium, 44% of novice teachers on

temporary contracts left the profession within the first five years. These teachers reported that the long road

to a tenured position was the biggest obstacle for young people entering and remaining in the profession.

Some teachers still lacked tenured positions after ten years of temporary employment education,

highlighting the long-term nature of employment precarity.

34

entitlement to leave and social protection, and limits opportunities for professional and career

development. The consultations noted that teachers on precarious contracts might be more

reluctant to report educational, organisational or employment issues. At the same time, fixed-

term contracts can serve a function in managing teacher supply, offering employers flexibility

to adjust staffing to shifting enrolment and demand. A risk for teacher supply is that teachers

might have a weaker attachment to the profession and seek employment elsewhere

(Stevenson and Milner, 2023). The tension between these two realities, precarity as a lived

experience for a significant share of the workforce on one hand, and a staffing tool on the

other, is central to the policy debate on contractual arrangements in the profession.

During the consultations, stakeholders highlighted the importance of stable and predictable

employment for a sense of professional belonging, access to professional development and

career opportunities, and teacher professionalism, and that permanent contracts reduce

precarity, uncertainty and stress. Consultations also highlighted that an increasing recourse to

temporary, fixed-term and precarious employment contracts, particularly among early-career

teachers, weakens the attractiveness and stability of the profession. Evidence for Flanders54

suggests that early-career teacher attrition is an important contributor to teacher shortages,

and that short-term contracts are strongly associated with early attrition (De Cort and De

Witte, 2026c).

Workloads

“We need less pressure to produce good grades, less bureaucracy and more time to focus on

the work with children”. Teacher, Germany.

Education International (2026) reports that workload is a primary driver of teacher shortages

and attrition, as well as salary levels which have stagnated in many countries, and a perceived

decline in the status of the profession. Workplace stress reduces the probability of choosing

teaching again by about 5 percentage points (European Commission, 2026b).

During the consultations, stakeholders underlined the importance of defining teachers’

working time in a comprehensive manner, specifying contact and non-contact time, teaching-

related duties (e.g. lesson planning, assessment, grading), non-teaching duties (e.g.

administration, communication with parents) and extra-curricular activities that take place

outside school hours. Current calculation methods were noted to be inconsistent and often

based on statutory rather than actual hours worked. Additional bureaucratic demands

unrelated to core teaching work were identified as a further burden meriting attention.

Class size is a key aspect that affects teachers’ working conditions. The number of students

with special education needs and intensive support needs in the class, the class size, and the

lack of available support by teaching assistants are among the factors contributing to teacher

burnout (European Commission, 2022). Many countries have maintained stable or increasing

numbers of classes to reduce the number of students per teacher, reflecting efforts to preserve

smaller classes, maintain geographical access to education or increase inclusion (OECD,

2026b).

54 A first-year teacher’s average contract lasts around four months. Fewer than 7.5% of starters work only

with contracts covering a full school year.

35

Around half of the studies on the link between class size and student outcomes in the EU find

a beneficial impact of smaller classes on education outcomes. Smaller classes improve

academic performance for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds as well as those

with special education needs. They allow for increased instructional time, due to fewer

disruptions and less classroom management time, more intensive teacher-student and student-

student interactions, higher personal and academic support as well as better emotional

connections and identification of students with the class and the school community. In

contrast, larger classes might lead to poorer class management, instruction and teaching

strategies among early-career teachers.

Smaller classes might improve student performance if teachers can adapt their pedagogical

approaches to the size of the class. At the same time, reducing class size tends to come at a

relatively high cost, calling for careful cost-benefit considerations. Targeting class size

reduction in schools with more complex educational needs, where the evidence suggests the

benefits are larger, and underpinning the measure with pedagogic training for teachers so they

can adapt their pedagogical practice to the smaller class would enhance the efficiency of the

investments. Larger class sizes intensify the challenges of responding to increasingly

complex and diverse learning needs while also raising demands related to lesson preparation,

assessment, feedback, reporting, communication and student support. Workload may further

increase when teachers are assigned classes across different subjects and grades, or when they

have less experience.

Teaching professionals rely on continuous social interaction as a core component of their

roles. As a result of a unique combination of social, emotional and intellectual demands, the

nature of work in the education sector differs significantly from that of many other

professions (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2026). Psychosocial risks in

education remain underestimated and are usually inadequately managed because of resource,

legal and expertise constraints. Investing in reducing class sizes and improving student–

teacher ratios could ease cognitive and emotional burdens.

In the early childhood education and care context, a sense of imbalance between the poor

working conditions offered to staff and their strong commitment to their work has been

highlighted, as well as high workloads, and high levels of responsibility for low financial

compensation and limited career opportunities, particularly when compared with those of

primary school teachers (Eurofound, 2025). Early childhood education and care staff often

report experiences of burnout, substantial physical exertion during work, a high incidence of

musculoskeletal pain and a high rate of sickness absence due to the physical activities

required at work, e.g. lifting, carrying and supporting children, sitting on the floor when

interacting with children, or other demanding body postures and movements (Eurofound,

2025).

Teacher well-being

A conclusion of the Working Group Schools is that student well-being is not possible without

teacher well-being (European Commission, 2026c). The final report of the Working Group

finds that this link is not incidental but structural: teachers with higher well-being report

greater job satisfaction, employ more effective instructional strategies and create healthier

classroom environments, while the converse also holds, as high stress leads to attrition and

those who remain experience burnout that compromises their capacity to support diverse

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learners. Policies must support the mental health and resilience of educators, including by

reducing administrative burdens, which the report consistently identifies as a primary stressor

rather than the demands of teaching itself. There is a need to focus on supporting well-being

at a system level, as well-being cannot be addressed through isolated wellness programmes or

stress-management training, and instead requires structural change: reducing administrative

workload, increasing professional autonomy, fostering collaborative working environments,

and improving both pay and the broader status of the profession.

Career progression

Teachers who engage in continuing professional development sometimes lament their limited

capacity to fully leverage their abilities and skills, for example conducting educational

research, linking practice with educational theories, or exercising leadership in their schools

(Madalińska-Michalak, 2023). Career structures that allow both vertical progression and

horizontal professional growth are vital (Sorensen, 2026). Consultations also underlined the

benefits of horizontal career paths that allow broadening the scope of responsibility and

‘growing’ of teachers’ professionalism, while retaining the possibility of mid- and late-career

teachers to continue to teach students. Clear career guidance from early stages is essential to

these efforts.

The 2020 European Commission report Supporting teacher and school leader careers, created

with members of a Working Group of ministry and other stakeholder representatives,

described the various directions that teachers’ and school leaders’ careers can take as career

paths. The report highlighted that diversifying teacher career paths can positively influence

teachers to stay and improve their practice. This is supported by UNESCO research on the

organisation and management of teacher careers in ten systems (Tournier, B. et al., 2019).

They found that horizontal opportunities for professional growth had a positive influence on

teacher retention.

School leadership

Leadership is a multi-faceted role and a career path with specific competences that need to be

fully supported with preparatory and ongoing professional learning, and with shared

leadership approaches. It is recognised that leadership education would need to go beyond

administration competence to include democratic governance and pedagogical leadership and

attend to the various needs of leaders. Stakeholders also reported a lack of education

programmes for VET school leaders who need to balance pedagogical leadership and

managerial roles with industry understanding. VET leadership was seen as demanding but

undervalued, with interest in leadership roles reduced by workload and salary levels.

Research has shown that when principals provide teachers with opportunities to participate in

meaningful decision-making opportunities, it leads to teachers’ feeling a greater sense of

ownership and commitment to their profession and school. These positive feelings may in

turn improve teachers’ job satisfaction. Brezicha K. et al. (2020) show that though principals

believe they are providing teachers with increased decision-making opportunities, teachers

report that they still do not feel included in decision-making opportunities. The consultations

also identified a persistent gap between how teachers and school leaders perceive teachers'

involvement in, and influence over, school and education policy. These results lend empirical

support to the call for policies that support greater opportunities for shared decision-making

37

as a policy lever that can be used to improve teacher job satisfaction. Consultations were

consistent with these empirical findings and also highlighted it is a low-cost intervention.

Collaborative practices, multidisciplinary support

“In all, I have four classes. So, in each of these four classes, I have at least one

student with special educational needs and nobody helps me…I need to take courses

by myself. I need to look for courses by myself. I need to talk to the other teachers

who teach that particular student… I live in a town, a rather big town. Nobody in my

school is a support teacher.” Teacher, Romania.

"I wish I could help all students equally and make sure everyone gets the support they

need." Student teacher, Sweden.

Multi-professional teams bringing together teachers, psychologists, social workers,

intercultural mediators and counsellors in schools allow provision of comprehensive support,

without placing the entire burden on teachers. Such collaboration can also reduce the

isolation experienced by individual teachers in managing these challenges. Similarly, support

teams and cross-sectoral cooperation to deal with administrative tasks, and non-pedagogic

issues can also alleviate the administrative burden on teachers.

Establishment of a professional support system for teachers (national project)

Country: Latvia

Fund: ESF+

Main topic: The project's goal is to create and develop a unified and coordinated professional support system at

the state, municipal, and educational institution levels to improve the quality of general and vocational

education, promote student learning outcomes, and provide methodological support materials for teachers. The

project, implemented by the State Education Development Agency (VIAA), offers online seminars,

consultations, thematic workshops, and other professional development opportunities.

The project involves the Ministry of Education and Science, state city and district municipalities and their

associations, vocational education and training institutions.

Link: Establishment of a professional support system for teachers | State Education Development Agency

Total budget of approximately EUR 77 million for 2024-2029.

Collaboration with parents, legal guardians, foster carers and other caregivers

Education systems acknowledge the importance of engaging parents and guardians in

child/student learning, with several systems embedding expectations in quality frameworks.

Teachers often find it challenging to maintain effective communication with parents

(European Commission, 2026c). Teachers need to communicate effectively, also with parents

who may be less trusting of the school or early childhood education and care setting, as well

as with families where the language at home is different to the one(s) used at school or in the

ECEC setting (OECD, 2025b). This challenges the interpersonal skills of staff. Cooperation

with cultural mediators can help better support learners with a refugee or migrant

background, for example developing activities for and with parents and easing the inclusion

of children. This can also help parents to better understand education in the host country55.

55 SWD (2022)185.

38

Public status and social recognition

“Media coverage focuses on deficits”. Teacher, Germany

Teachers tend to feel considerably less valued by the broader community, including the media

and policymakers than by their immediate school community, pointing to a role for public

communication and policy signalling. Moreover, media coverage of problems in the

education system can diminish perceptions of the teaching profession’s social status and

exacerbate teacher shortages. Both media coverage of education and information about

teachers’ social standing affect students’ aspirations to become teachers (De Cort and De

Witte, 2026b). Negative media coverage of educational quality reduces students’ interest in

teaching, particularly among women. The negative news seemed to further motivate a

minority of students who are already inclined towards the profession. Positive information

about teachers’ social status increases students’ teaching intentions. Together, these findings

underscore the complex role of public narratives in shaping teaching aspirations and suggest

that accurate, nuanced and credible communication could be an effective tool for

policymakers and teacher educators to counteract the impact of negative media coverage.

Professional entry standards also shape perceived status and attractiveness. Higher entry

requirements for professional education are generally associated with higher status and

rewards. Reducing entry requirements to increase teacher supply may therefore have the

opposite effect (Stevenson and Milner, 2023). There is a strong trend towards initial teacher

education at Master's level at EU level, and qualified teachers are important for education

quality and equity and for the status of the profession (Sorensen, 2026). The consultations

emphasised that it is vital that teacher qualifications are of a high standard, including a

Master's degree as a minimum requirement. Raising ITE standards, including the selection of

candidates led to increases in the number of applications. In contrast, lowering standards

undermined the status of the profession and teacher retention.

Workforce diversity

During the consultations, it was observed that the underrepresentation of certain groups in the

teaching workforce had received limited attention, despite its salience. The

"InclEdu4AllNeeds" project56, co-funded by the EU and run by EFEE and ETUCE, looked at

how to include students and education personnel with disabilities in education through social

dialogue. It found that barriers to inclusion include exclusionary admissions, poor workplace

accessibility, low rates of disability disclosure, and limited access to leadership roles and

professional development (Milner et al, 2026). Based on this, it recommends developing

inclusive teacher policies together with social partners, aligning recruitment and employment

practices with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ensuring stable

and transparent funding for inclusive education, building professional development into

collective agreements, reducing administrative burden on teachers, and giving people with

disabilities a real say in social dialogue at every level.

In response to gender imbalances in the teaching profession, it is also important to attract

more men to the teaching profession such as through the promotion of a “Boys in HEAL”

56 https://www.csee-etuce.org/en/projects/136:incledu4allneeds

39

approach57. Further attention needs to be paid to attract underrepresented groups into the

profession, including teachers and school mediators from groups facing inequalities, for

example Roma. Research of the Erasmus+ Teacher Academy project TUTOR58 found that

recognition of LGBTIQ+-specific training needs varies sharply by country. To address this,

TUTOR calls for embedding LGBTIQ+ inclusion in initial teacher education and continuing

professional development, covering support for staff as well as pupils, building on the joint

curriculum and specialisation course it piloted across its partner countries (Grummell and

Matson, 2025).

3.2. Strong initial teacher education and continuing professional development

“Education is Europe’s democracy shield”. Employer representative, the Netherlands.

Initial Teacher Education

High-quality teaching combines strong subject knowledge, effective pedagogy, good

classroom management, and responsiveness to students’ diverse learning needs. Teachers

need support to update their practice and competences to meet student needs, a pressure

intensified by rapid technological and labour market changes. As the expectations for student

competences widen, so too become the demands placed on their teachers since schools are

the core source for the development of these competences. The consultations underlined the

importance of high-quality, practice-based initial teacher education, together with structured

mentorship for those entering the profession, as key levers for improving both recruitment

and retention.

Aside from the TALIS 2024 data recording what teachers report as important, stakeholders

have called for an emphasis on literacy and numeracy, STEM education, citizenship,

environmental sustainability and critical thinking. The consultations noted the need for ITE

content to balance preparing teachers to cover subject curricula, guiding them to develop their

own pedagogy and classroom management based on educational theory, and supporting them

to address contemporary issues in the classroom, including citizenship education, digital and

AI competences, inclusion, well-being and additional learning needs.

The consultations also discussed the usefulness of guidance to fully prepare ITE graduates for

employment, and the reality of classrooms, and of tasks beyond the classroom, such as

fostering collaboration with parents and among colleagues and offering comprehensive

support to their students. The expectations for the teaching profession to innovate after ITE

would require additional competences in critical reflection and research methodologies to be

developed within ITE. The consultations underlined that teachers themselves are well placed

to be actively involved in research and the training of newcomers to the profession.

The consultations highlighted the importance of ensuring sufficient school-based training

during ITE. Most student teachers have a structured and supervised practical experience in

schools or early years settings prior to entering full employment. However, the timing (point

in the academic year) and length (number of weeks) varies greatly (European Commission /

57 In the framework of the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030, the Commission will promote a “Boys in

HEAL” (Health, Education, Administration, Literacy) approach, which aims to reduce gender-based

disparities in study choices and educational outcomes, and to help attract more boys and men into these

study fields and sectors. 58 https://tutor-project.eu/

40

EACEA / Eurydice, 2021). Research literature and consultations advocate for a structured and

supervised experience of school/learning settings to be embedded in ITE. A common

understanding is that spending more time in learning settings as a student – for observing,

being mentored, teaching and co-teaching – results in greater opportunities to address

satisfactorily the realities of the profession. ITE programmes may include a second placement

to give students a sense of the variety of practice across different institutions and a clearer

idea of their first employment.

The success of initial teacher education requires its own quality assurance mechanisms. In

many systems, universities may assume sole responsibility or accountability for ITE

programmes but are no longer involved in preparing students entering the profession after

ITE. Other actors - administrators and leaders within schools, local authorities, school boards,

national agencies - may take their place in guiding new teachers. The support to teachers in

their first years will depend on the communication and collaboration of these actors.

Support for undergraduate preparation of future teachers (open call)

Country: Czechia

Fund: ESF+

Main topic: development/reform/quality improvement of ITE

The aim of the open call was to improve the quality of undergraduate/pre-service preparation of future teachers

and to support the implementation of the reform of Teacher Education. The call also focused on developing the

professional competences of student teachers, academic staff and teachers involved in the preparation of future

teachers.

An important part of the call was also networking and cooperation between faculties, departments, schools and

school facilities, in order to better connect the theoretical and practical preparation of future teachers.

Eligible applicants were public higher education institutions offering accredited bachelor’s or master’s

programmes leading to a teaching qualification.

In total, 15 applications were submitted, and 14 projects were supported, with a total budget of approximately

CZK 449 million.

Professional standards can usefully inform the content and assessment in ITE to ensure that

graduates are well-prepared to enter the profession and continue to develop the same

competences throughout their career. Professional standards provide clear and coherent

expectations of new teachers and their mentors. The provision of career guidance during ITE

can also contribute to this endeavour.

The consultations highlighted the limited extent of mobility opportunities within ITE and

stressed that mobility during the early career phase could serve as a motivating factor,

exposing new teachers to different education systems and pedagogical approaches.

Alternative routes to enter the profession

Alternative routes to full teacher qualifications (e.g. employment-based) can be effective

ways to attract and retain teachers, when underpinned by appropriate support in the form of

induction, mentoring, professional development and career opportunities (European

Commission, 2022). A more flexible entry can improve the diversity of entrants and

contribute to teacher supply. During the consultations, employer representatives supported

second career and hybrid teachers, provided structured pedagogical formation and ongoing

mentoring are in place. They highlighted that experience in fields such as IT, construction or

engineering brings specific value to VET teachers. Teacher profession representatives called

41

for careful design of alternative routes to full teacher qualifications, and for second-career

teachers to complete qualification and pedagogical training and meet recognised, profession-

led standards. They highlighted the importance of induction to prevent a "two-tier"

workforce. They also called for their independent regulation and evaluation to establish their

long-term impacts. Teach for All/ Belgium explained that alternative routes require clear

standards for pedagogical preparation, structured induction and ongoing support, alongside a

transparent pathway to a recognised teaching qualification and stressed the complementary

nature of the role they can play. Expanding entry routes is not likely to lead to long-term

retention unless the underlying sources of low retention are also addressed, in particular

workload.

During the consultations, several participants cautioned against describing VET as a "second

choice," noting that perceptions vary across Member States, and supported profession-led

standards for flexible entry routes to prevent a two-tier system between differently paid or

inducted teachers.

NEWTT – A New Way for New Talents in Teaching

Fund: Erasmus+ Key Action 3

The project piloted and evaluated a framework covering selective recruitment, intensive practical preparation

and continuous workplace support across five education systems (Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania and Spain)

between 2016 and 2019. The evaluation showed that flexible, high-quality diverse pathways can help attract

new entrants and career changers into teaching, especially people who had not followed university-based initial

teacher education Alternatively trained teachers increased their teaching competences and pedagogical

knowledge over the two-year period.

Induction

The importance of the first years of teaching is well known. Experiences during the early

career of teachers influence their motivation for staying in the profession, and for developing

a high level of competence and for innovating practices. The first years of teaching can be

seen as laying positive foundations for a teacher’s whole career.

Defined phases of the early careers of teachers can help to establish clear expectations and

targeted support. Having a coherent continuum of teacher education avoids that ITE is

separate to beginning employment and this coherence promotes a sense of ongoing

professional development. Research and system approaches are broadly aligned to an

understanding of an “early career” phase of 5 years following ITE, where the first 1-2 years

require familiarisation and additional support, and the subsequent 3-4 years invite teachers to

take more responsibility, considering extra areas of expertise or paths to leadership.

Induction creates an important transition point, or ‘bridge’, from ITE. The induction period

gives an opportunity to explore pedagogic practice and learn from each other. Novice

teachers have new knowledge and ideas and can be agents of change, but they need to be

supported in the community of practice in their school or early childhood education and care

setting. The TeacherEd project, led by the European Federation of Education Employers and

co-funded under the EU's Social Prerogatives and Specific Competencies Lines, developed a

42

guide and evidence base to help education employers build a collaborative, effective

induction process for new teachers59.

There are many ways to support new teachers in an induction period, including: mentoring

and coaching; in-school or external offers of courses and seminars; self-reflection activities

(portfolios, diaries, journals); networking, peer groups, and informal conversations; an

adjusted teaching load; collaborative lesson design and team teaching; and formal appraisal at

the end of induction. The popularity of certain practices can depend on whether systems

require them (within a formal programme) but also on the personal preferences or expertise

of individuals that are giving support, and the time that they have in addition to their other

work. The consultations considered how the formalisation of induction and mentorship

arrangements might function within the early childhood education and care sector. For

example, professionals often must work alone with children, without the necessary staff to

cover absence from the classroom in order to mentor other staff members or complete CPD.

Many systems are focusing on mentoring and coaching, recognising the benefits of this type

of support within both ITE practicum and the first years of teaching including as part of

structured induction. System approaches lie along a broad spectrum from formal requirement

and support for the training of mentors to an ad-hoc offer by some schools. There is a concern

for the quality of mentoring that is highly influential during the first year of teaching and a

concern for the extra demand that this places on experienced teachers. Mentors require

certain competences and conditions to ensure that the practice is mutually beneficial.

Moreover, education stakeholders believe that the effectiveness and impact of induction and

mentoring can vary substantially depending on the nature, scope, quality and time allocation

of the programmes.

Initial Teaching Residency Programme SENSEI (pilot) (national project)

Country: Spain (Catalonia)

Fund: ESF+

Main topics: The SENSEI programme aims to support the transition of newly qualified teachers into the

profession through a one-year, school-based induction programme combining individual mentoring, co-

teaching, classroom observation and structured professional development. It seeks to strengthen teachers'

practical competences, professional autonomy and reflective teaching practices, while fostering collaboration

and peer learning within schools.

Results: Launched in 2023/24, the programme initially trained 250 novice teachers annually, reaching 500

teachers by December 2025. It was extended in 2025/26 to 98 schools, involving both established mentoring

schools and new participating schools. An evaluation of the first year of implementation published by Ivàlua in

March 2025 found very positive results, with novice teachers particularly valuing mentoring and co-teaching for

their professional development. A final evaluation is expected in 2026, assessing the programme's

implementation and impact on teachers' professional competences and student learning outcomes.S ENSEI’s

potential wider rollout and long-term sustainability remain to be determined.

Total budget: EUR 11.2 million, including EUR 10.6 million from ESF+ for the two-year pilot (2023/24 and

2024/25); EUR 5.4 million for the extension to 2025/26, of which 2.2 from the ESF+.

Link: https://educacio.gencat.cat/ca/arees-actuacio/professors/formacio/programa-sensei/inici/coneix-sensei/

Time for new teachers to adjust, and for others to support them, is reported as a key enabler

and a reported deficiency. This is particularly problematic in the first year of employment.

Teachers are needed, and willing, to be fully immersed into their new work but some systems

59 Project webpage accessible at https://educationemployers.eu/teachered-page.

43

have found it beneficial to reduce teaching load in favour of more preparation and reflection.

Teachers do not always experience this, especially in early years and primary school settings

where classroom presence is more continuous, and in general where there are staff shortages

and absences. This is also true for mentors and other teachers who are required to support

new teachers, but who are instead moved to other duties (Grainger Clemson and Fernandes,

2024).

Participants to the consultations called for structured orientation and protected mentoring to

help new teachers develop a professional identity and avoid being used as unsupervised cover

for staff shortages, and identified gaps in classroom management, inclusive pedagogy, and

digital and AI literacy. Hybrid and external trainers brought in to address shortages were said

to often lack equal access to induction and CPD.

Continuing professional development

The TALIS 2024 data suggest that some professional learning opportunities – but not all –

have been useful to teachers. This affirms the importance of high quality and relevant

professional learning. Research literature suggests that teachers pre-judge the usefulness of

professional learning courses and seminars and potentially avoid them if there is no

guaranteed improvement to their students’ learning.

Demand for support in teaching students with additional learning needs remains high, as it

was in TALIS 2018. Education reforms, including new curricula, need to include the creation

of guidance and support to teachers on the proposed changes (Haug & Mork, 2021) and this

may be of prime interest to mid- and late-career teachers in positions of subject curriculum

leadership. The consultations highlighted that professional development needs are different,

as is the diversity of challenges that teachers face, for example those related to inclusion in

large urban areas, or to the need to take on multiple responsibilities in small and rural

communities. Mid-career teachers have varying professional development needs, based on

their career trajectories and ambitions, their expertise, and wider personal and professional

priorities and contexts. (Booth et al., 2021)

The consultations also stressed that CPD should be topically relevant and delivered by

practitioners with a genuine, current connection to the classroom, noting that CPD provision

is often led by individuals not engaged in teaching. Professional development that is

collaborative, includes feedback and reflection and has a sustained duration enhances impact

on teaching practices. Recurring concerns included the absence of dedicated time and

resources for CPD, with participants noting that teachers in some systems must use personal

time or bear costs themselves; the necessity of stable, permanent contracts as a precondition

for meaningful career-long development, and the case for CPD to be free of charge.

Respondents to the survey on building attractive teaching careers generally considered CPD

essential to the profession but often by a lack of time within working hours, with participants

calling for it to be funded and scheduled during working time. Most participants also reported

valuing supportive leadership and management (87%) and peer collaboration within their

institution (84%) as factors of professional support.

Lack of time and competing priorities are major barriers to teacher professional development.

In some countries, teachers are entitled or required, to devote a minimum amount of time to

their professional development. Finding time for CPD or engaging in suitable learning

44

activities may be challenging when participation is not possible during teaching hours or

when teachers cannot be replaced. This is especially relevant for early childhood education

and care staff. Additionally, although some CPD is generally available free of charge, costs

may still constitute an obstacle for teachers to undertake specific activities not covered by the

free offer (including for instance further formal education and learning experiences abroad).

Individual learning accounts based on time or financial credits may be used to mitigate these

barriers. An example60 illustrates the possibility to extend of individual learning accounts to

teachers to facilitate the exercise of the right to CPD.

One way for a teacher to increase their professional knowledge, and for teachers to contribute

to their professional community, is to engage in action research within their learning setting.

Participation in research has shown positive benefits to teachers but also highlights the need

for teachers to have a positive attitude towards action research and be competent in the

demands of a research project (Cortes et al., 2025). School-university partnership projects can

help support teachers to research and innovate within their own context and practices

(Bergmark et al., 2025).

Preparing and developing teachers for new content and forms of teaching (national project)

Country: Slovakia

Fund: RRF

Main topics: The reform aimed to modernise initial teacher education and strengthen continuous professional

development, focusing particularly on competence-based curricula, inclusive education and digital skills. It

provided grants to universities to update initial teacher education programmes, including to better prepare future

teachers for inclusive teaching, linguistic diversity and the pedagogical use of digital technologies. It also

introduced financial allowances to encourage teachers to engage in continuous professional development and

revised the regulatory framework governing training providers, professional qualifications and the accreditation

of training programmes. The reform targeted training at least 55% of teaching and professional staff by the end

of 2023, and its implementation was completed in 2025.

Link: https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/recovery-and-resilience-facility-1/country-pages/slovakias-

recovery-and-resilience-plan_en

The Working Group schools highlights the limited impact that one-off training sessions and

generic theoretical content may have on teachers’ competences and teaching practices

(European Commission, 2026c). It recommends sustained, collaborative, and practically

oriented professional learning, covering areas such as teaching reading comprehension,

differentiating class levels and content for diverse learners, training in recognising signs of

mental health difficulty, and building relationships with families from varied backgrounds. It

further recommends professional learning communities in which teachers can refine their

practice, along with access to specialist expertise. Frequent interaction with peers also

establishes healthy community expectations and bolsters what teachers believe they know

and can do in their educational practice (O'Dowd, R. and Vinagre, M., 2024). Teachers also

value online collaboration and participating in an international teaching community. When

teachers become more aware that their struggles are shared globally and not the result of a

personal failure, their self- efficacy increases.

60 https://www.education.gouv.fr/la-formation-continue-des-personnels-de-l-education-nationale-de-la-

jeunesse-et-des-sports-340496.

45

Teacher professional standards and competence frameworks define what teachers are

expected to know and be able to do (pedagogic skills). They can help teachers reflect on their

practice and identify professional development needs. They can also serve as reference points

to initiation teacher education and continuous professional development, guiding education

and training providers, school development planning and evaluations. More generally, they

can support and incentivise quality teaching. They need to be grounded in evidence on

effective teaching practice and designed with broad stakeholder involvement (Halász, G. and

Looney, J., 2019).

The teaching of key competences such as citizenship, entrepreneurship or green competences

could be better supported if these were more systematically embedded into teacher

competences frameworks, which is still limited across Member States (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2024; European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2025b;

European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, forthcoming). Other important areas such as

inclusive education, socio-emotional and intercultural competences could also be better

reflected in these frameworks. The Commission is developing guidance on citizenship

education and an EU competence framework, to be finalised in Q1 2027. Guidelines on

preparedness education in pre-primary and primary education are also available.

Micro-credentials can allow teachers to certify their competences and proficiency levels even

when not developed in traditionally certified courses (for instance, when acquired through

experience, peer learning or individualised learning paths).

Professionalisation of the teaching career (PROF) (national project)

Country: Romania

Fund: ESF+

Main topics: The project seeks to ensure teachers receive professional mentorship throughout their career by

creating a coherent and reliable national system of professional training and development of teaching

competences, including for digital education. The project includes providing training to over 28 000 teachers,

focusing on the upskilling needed for digitalisation in education and teaching students from vulnerable groups,

including Roma and children with special educational needs.

The project run between 2021 and 2023 and established a national institution for mentoring and network. By

2023, 28000 teachers participated in CDP developed within the project.

Total budget: EUR 26 million, of which EUR 22 million from the European Social Fund+Link:

https://www.eprof.ro/

3.3. Teachers’ agency in the age of Artificial Intelligence

"AI" is used generically to refer to all forms of artificial intelligence used in education. As AI

and digital technologies increasingly shape the environment in which young people learn,

communicate and form opinions, teachers and school leaders need digital and AI-related

competences, and the pedagogical tools to promote digital literacy, address disinformation

and digital well-being, and support critical thinking. The Santiago Consensus61 adopted on 29

August 2025 established a priority action to strengthen teachers’ digital and AI competences

“so that education technologies may be co-created and utilised by teachers to amplify the

61 Available here: https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2025/08/world-summit-teachers-

santiago-consensus-en_1.pdf

46

relational and affective dimension of learning without replacing the creativity, core

competences and pedagogical knowledge of teachers”.

During the focus groups, educators reported that they use AI predominantly for

administrative tasks and lesson preparation. The main barriers to using AI include lack of

preparation and concerns that it may erode their creativity and professional identity. As

regards the use of AI by students, academic integrity is a major and recurring worry, and

some teachers have shifted to oral presentations and handwritten assessments and to revisit

traditional homework. A deeper concern is that students are bypassing critical thinking

processes. As one teacher put it, "writing is thinking, not just producing text". The panel

identified critical gaps in support, including the absence of clear national or institutional

guidelines, frameworks for ethical use, and structured AI-focused CPD, alongside an urgent

need to foster student AI literacy, prioritising critical and responsible use over unquestioning

reliance. Teachers recognise that the bigger pedagogical shift is still ahead: "the phase of

changing pedagogies is probably ahead of us".

While education authorities are progressively issuing guidance on the use of AI in education,

teachers continue to report insufficient preparation. In 2024, two out of three teachers had not

used AI yet for teaching, and among those, the most frequently cited obstacle is a lack of

knowledge and skills (74.3%) (European Commission, 2026b). Teachers hold a cautious, but

nuanced view on the use of AI in the classroom, and need support to understand the

capabilities and limitations, so they can use it to strengthen and enhance learning.

National governments can also support large-scale initiatives aiming to deploy AI-enabled

tools or platforms, strengthen teacher capacity to use AI, participate in European partnerships

or test innovative approaches linked to broader digital transformation agendas, ensuring

collaboration between educators, researchers, technology experts, companies and non-

governmental organisations (European Commission, EACEA, Eurydice, 2026a).

Digital competences are increasingly integrated into national frameworks for initial teacher

education and continuing professional development in EU countries. However, competence

frameworks for initial teacher education could give greater attention to key areas such as

using digital technology for personalised learning and assessment, managing social problems

arising from digital communication, supporting students’ capacity to assess the reliability of

online information and the effective, safe and ethical use of AI. More generally, national

teacher competence frameworks, which usually draw on the European Framework for the

Digital Competence of Educators62, will need to be upgraded accordingly to cover

underdeveloped core areas such as wellbeing and teacher agency.

Teachers are best placed to make the most of digital technology when they have access to

relevant professional development opportunities, time to develop their expertise and prepare

lessons, reliable infrastructure and devices, technical and pedagogical support, and clear,

evidence-based guidance on whether and how to use digital technology and AI (European

Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2026a).

62 The European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators captures the variety of teacher practice

in the classroom and wider school community. Teachers are invited to reflect and describe certain areas of

their own practice, acknowledging that various areas of practice could be at multiple levels. DigCompEdu

is currently undergoing a revision to update it to recent developments and emerging challenges.

47

Self-assessment tools such as the European Union’s SELFIE for Teachers help teachers track

their progress and identify areas to develop. These tools work best when paired with follow-

up support, locally relevant feedback, and close integration of follow up training into school-

level planning, acting as a starting point for development rather than a one-off exercise. AI

and computational thinking have emerged in national exercises as the areas with most room

for development. Teacher appraisals can help evaluate teacher digital competences and

facilitate appropriate professional development when needed. At the same time, the

evaluation and update of CPD plans and schemes should consider teachers’ needs, views and

experiences.

The provision of personalised learning paths can complement teachers’ assessment allowing

them to develop their digital competences according to their prior knowledge, skills and

experiences and at their own pace. Accreditation with badges or micro-credentials can certify

the completion of learning paths and proficiency levels.

Schools can further benefit from support in assessing their digital capacity, plan strategically

and embed innovation in teaching, learning and assessment. Requirements and guidelines for

the integration of digital education into school development plans and quality assurance

frameworks could contribute to this endeavour (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice,

2026a). Recommendations by education authorities on the use of digital technologies at

school could also target and promote collaboration with universities, trade unions, non-

governmental organisations, companies, and local stakeholders. In this context, school

leaders play a central role in shaping vision, creating the conditions for effective use of digital

technologies, supporting staff development, and ensuring that digital education is aligned

with broader school priorities.

4. Teacher voice and social dialogue

“Social dialogue between governments (at the appropriate level) and representative

teachers’ organisations and relevant employer organisations should be the principal

means for developing policies on education, teaching and the teaching profession”.

UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession (ILO /

UNESCO, 2024).

Social dialogue is recognised as a European Union objective in Article 151 of the Treaty on

the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Social dialogue encompasses formal and

informal processes, which can take place at multiple levels: information exchange,

consultations, negotiations or collective bargaining and joint actions (European Commission,

2016). Social dialogue provides teachers with formal mechanisms to exercise “voice” in their

professional work. Social dialogue can be bipartite, between employer organisations and

trade unions, or tripartite, also including public authorities. The European Union supports

social partner capacity building and the development of sectoral social dialogue at the

European level through committees and work programmes. A European Sectoral Social

Dialogue in Education is in operation since 2010.

The Council Recommendation of 12 June 2023 on strengthening social dialogue in the

European Union recognises that social dialogue arrangements and processes vary between

Member States, reflecting their respective histories, institutions, and economic and political

situations. It outlines that an effective social dialogue implies, among other things, the

48

existence of industrial relations models in which the social partners can negotiate in good

faith and exercise autonomously their practices of collective bargaining and employee

participation.

International organisations have long advocated for greater teacher engagement in the design

and development of professional and educational reforms63 (Schleicher, 2011; UNESCO,

2021; UNESCO, 2025). Beyond pay and working conditions, it is suggested that the social

dialogue agenda includes broader professional and education policy issues, such as the

development of professional standards, digital technologies, the regulation of private sector

providers and the transformation of education for the world of work (ILO, UN and UNESCO,

2024; Stevenson and Milner, 2023).

Social dialogue can take place at multiple levels of the education system: national, regional,

local or at school level. Social dialogue, which engages all key stakeholders and considers all

stakeholder concerns, is identified as the most effective mechanism to address occupational

tensions and achieve complex goals and, to achieve its objectives, social dialogue must take

place at the level at which decisions are being made (Stevenson and Milner, 2023). Despite

its potential, social dialogue in education at the national level is uneven. Social dialogue was

weakened during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, when policies

governing school closures and remote and distance teaching were not always made in

consultation with teachers and their representatives (ILO, UN, and UNESCO, 2024).

Education trade unions can face challenges in representing teachers’ professional needs.

Social dialogue on professional issues tends to take place at the national level, rather than at

the level of the educational institution where teachers experience these issues. Ultimately,

teachers can be excluded from broader policy debates and discussions on education (ILO, UN

and UNESCO, 2024; UNESCO, 2021). For example, teacher unions in Europe did not

consider current retention strategies effective and reported that government authorities do not

consult teacher organisations about the reasons for teacher attrition (Arnold and Rahimi,

2024).

This is significant as TALIS 2024 suggests that teacher involvement in school and system-

level decision-making processes can have a positive impact on job satisfaction. In some

countries, wages and terms of employment are unilaterally set by the state for the public

sector. In other countries, collective bargaining takes place between the trade unions and

representatives of the ministry of education, in some cases also involving the ministry of

finance. In most countries, such agreements apply to the public sector as a whole; however,

depending on the nature of the organisation of the education sector, the local and regional

authorities are sometimes responsible for collective bargaining. In the private sector, single-

employer bargaining is more common, although multi-employer bargaining also takes place”

(Eurofound, 2020). Among employer organisations, there is a significant degree of

fragmentation, largely because many organisations represent only one of the subsectors of

education, or they represent funding organisations (ministries, local authorities) or individual

school heads. In most countries where the relevant ministries (usually the ministry of

education) are the main or only employer in the sector, they are not seen as employer

63 The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation of 5 October 1966 concerning the Status of Teachers contains

numerous recommendations for teachers’ participation in educational decisions through consultation and

negotiation with educational authorities.

49

organisations even if they often perform the main role in setting both wages and the terms

and conditions of teaching staff in the public sector. The largest trade unions in all countries

are members of ETUCE64.

Discussion of collaborative governance raised the case for representation of parents, students,

and staff, including teachers specifically, in school governance structures, the involvement of

community actors such as NGOs, and safeguards to prevent undue influence of commercial

or for-profit interests over public education.

The low comparative attractiveness of the profession can also be understood in the context of

broad changes to the teacher role and wide education policies that, with little to no teacher

involvement in their development, are redefining teachers’ work (Stevenson, H. and Milner,

A.L., 2023). Social dialogue processes are therefore needed at all levels of the system.

The Santiago Consensus, adopted at the UNESCO World Summit on Teachers in 2025, calls

on governments to establish permanent, inclusive and transparent mechanisms for social

dialogue between governments and democratically elected representatives of teachers,

including trade unions, in order to promote a genuine participatory and constructive decision-

making process at all stages of policy making and implementation affecting the teaching

profession and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4. The UNESCO/ILO

Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966) and ILO Workers'

Representatives Convention No. 135 (1971) Page 4 of 22 provide foundational international

standards for the rights and professional conditions of teachers and their representatives. It is

appropriate for the Union and its Member States to apply these principles and standards in

their teacher policies.

The results of the survey on attractive teaching careers suggest that, when it comes to

professional autonomy, recognition of professional expertise (91%) and involvement in

educational decision-making processes (88%) are the main priorities. This indicates a

widespread desire for participatory governance and a professional voice.

5. EU support to the teaching profession

Long-standing and ongoing policy cooperation helped to bring about consensual policy

guidance on teachers and early childhood education and care staff. Further to the Council's

identification of teacher education as a key issue, the Commission established a working

group to reflect on improving the education of teachers and trainers in 2002, as part of the

'Education and Training 2010' Work Programme. It led to the development of a set of

Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications65: teaching is a

well-qualified profession; it is a profession of lifelong learners; it is a mobile profession; it is

a profession based on partnership.

This paved the way for “support for educators” becoming one of the six priorities in the

‘Education and Training 2020’ framework for cooperation, focusing on improved

recruitment, selection and training processes as well as continuing professional development.

64 Eurofound, 2020. Of the 202 national education sector trade unions in the EU, 89 are affiliated to ETUCE

(44%). At least one trade union in every EU Member State is affiliated to ETUCE, and in all countries the

largest union in the sector is affiliated to ETUCE. 65 COM(2007) 392 final.

50

The Education and Training 2020 working group on schools addressed the question of

establishing and maintaining quality in the teacher profession during its 2014-15 mandate.

Later, it prepared guidance to develop national career frameworks (European Commission,

2020b). It explored possibilities to diversify teaching careers and develop national career

frameworks to help fulfil the career aspirations, motivations, and learning needs of teachers,

with the understanding that the perception of a long-term career solely in the core role of

teaching, year after year in the same or a similar school setting, may not be attractive to

young graduates. It outlines new opportunities that may arise in the classroom or include

roles such as being a curriculum expert, involvement in curriculum development, in

mentoring less experienced colleagues, or moving to senior management roles. A peer-

learning project was set up to develop national career frameworks, using the guidance

developed by the working group. Six countries66 adapted the European framework based on

their needs, co-writing a guide for career frameworks67.

The 2020 Council conclusions on European teachers and trainers for the future68 shed light on

the main challenges to address. The Council invited Member States to improve the

attractiveness and status of the teaching profession, to invest in measures related to improving

teachers’ initial education and continuous professional development, working conditions and

career prospects, as well as to further enhance their resilience and well-being, to support them

in addressing stressful aspects of their work. The Council conclusions also briefly refer to the

challenges of working in environments transformed by technology, digitalisation and

artificial intelligence, paying attention to their pedagogical potential, as well to ethical, safe

and responsible use.

The Council Conclusions of 5 April 2022 on enhancing teachers’ and trainers’ mobility

during their initial and in-service education and training69 emphasised that the mobility of

teachers and trainers (in particular European mobility) contributes to the attractiveness of the

teaching profession. The Conclusions recognised mobility as one of the key elements for both

practising and prospective teachers and trainers. Exchanges of views and experiences among

peers and close cooperation between teachers and trainers contribute significantly to their

professional development. The Council conclusions invited Member States to motivate

education and training institutions to embed teachers’ and trainers’ mobility in their learning,

development and internationalisation strategies.

The Council Conclusions of 11 May 2026 on teachers in the era of artificial intelligence70

stressed that teachers play a decisive role in shaping how AI is introduced, interpreted and

used in the classroom, and that integrating AI in education requires building on teachers’

existing digital skills and supporting their continuous development, and that professional

judgment, pedagogical autonomy and responsibility are essential.

66 Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, and Romania participated. 67 Teachers and school leaders: How to create a profession that is attractive, motivating and fulfilling? A

guide for career frameworks. https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-02/Guide-to-career-

frameworks.pdf 68 2020/C 193/04 69 OJ C 167, 21.4.2022. 70 OJ C, C/2826, 26.5.2026

51

The Council Conclusions of 19 October 2026 on equality as a driver for economic growth

and competitiveness stressed the need take an inclusive and gender-responsive approach,

such as attracting more men to the teaching profession.

5.1. European Education Area

Teachers and trainers are one of the main priorities of the EEA and the strategic framework

for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and

beyond (2021-2030)'. Already in the first cycle, the Communication71 on achieving the

European Education Area by 2025 stressed the need to valorise and recognise the education

profession. This was reiterated in the 2021 Council Resolution72 that also included a list of

specific issues and actions. The 2023 Council resolution on the European Education Area73

gave a particular focus to enhancing the teaching profession and addressing teacher

shortages; promoting the professional development, mobility opportunities, working

conditions and well-being of teachers as key factors in increasing the attractiveness.

The teachers’ role has been highlighted in many EEA initiatives such as the Council

recommendations on blended learning (2021), on learning for the green transition and

sustainable development (2022), on pathways to school success (2022), the two digital

education and skills Council recommendations (both from 2023), as well as in the Digital

Education Action Plan (2020). This included also ongoing support for teachers and educators,

with practical guidance on key challenges, including four sets of guidelines on i) the ethical

use of AI and data in education, ii) tackling disinformation and promoting digital literacy, iii)

creating and leveraging digital education content, and iv) delivering high-quality teaching of

informatics, as well as guidelines to address well-being and mental health at school.

Still, the interim evaluation of the 2021-2030 European Education Area strategic framework20

identified, inter alia, teacher shortages among the remaining significant challenges, as well as

the need to further support Member States in adapting their education systems for students

and teachers to thrive. The evaluation found less progress to enhance the competences and

motivation in the education profession, relative to other strategic priorities. This is partly due

to the lack of complementary policy frameworks and the fact that, unlike for the other

strategic priorities, there were no EU initiatives (in the form of a Council Recommendation)

specifically on teachers and trainers. It concluded that the breadth of challenges across all EU

Member States in this area, in particular teacher shortages, attractiveness of the profession,

and working conditions, underline the need to strengthen efforts.

Consequently, the 2026 Council Resolution on the second cycle of the strategic framework

for the European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area

(2026-2030)74 reconfirms ‘Enhancing attractiveness, competences and motivation in the

education and training profession’ as one of the six priority areas for the coming years.

Most recently, at the informal meeting of Education Ministers on 29-30 January 2026 in

Cyprus, Ministers held discussions on the theme 'Investing in teachers: professional

development, attractiveness and retention.'

71 COM/2020/625 final 72 2021/C 66/01 73 2023/C 185/08 74 OJ C, C/2026/3720, 10.7.2026.

52

EU-level guidance is converging with the long-standing focus on the attractiveness of the teaching

profession at international level. Most recently, in 2024, ILO/UN/UNESCO published

recommendations on the teaching profession, setting out a roadmap for transforming the teaching

profession into a high-status, highly respected profession for highly qualified, well-supported,

adequately remunerated professionals, capable of delivering quality and relevant education to new

generations.

European cooperation among relevant authorities has inspired national reforms. In the field of

early childhood education and care, examples are manifold on how working groups at

European level have prepared the ground for solid policy guidance and inspired reforms

across Europe:

• The ET2020 working group prepared a 2014 European Quality Framework (including

staff) which was embedded in the 2019 Council Recommendation on High-Quality

ECEC Systems. This inspired reforms across Europe75.

• The ET2020 working group on ECEC prepared in 2014 a European Quality

Framework which includes five pillars for quality, one of them being staff. The group

later reflected on how to implement the EU Quality Framework which had been

embedded in the 2019 Council Recommendation on High-Quality ECEC Systems. As

a result, the working group gives policy guidance76, based on research findings and

policy and practice examples, concluded with a set of policy pointers for Member

States. This report was an inspiration to develop the 2022 Council recommendation

on ECEC, in the context of the Barcelona targets and the Care strategy. It was also

instrumental to reforms addressing ECEC staff shortages and improving their working

conditions in Austria, Belgium-fr, Ireland, and Romania.

• The EEA working group on ECEC emphasised the role of staff in monitoring and

evaluation of quality in ECEC (2023), published a policy brief on staff shortages77 to

highlight the causes, impact and possible solutions to this increasing problem. This

helped addressing staff shortages in Slovenia and encouraged reflections on strategic

leadership in Malta, for example. The working group has also worked on leadership,

reviewing models and practices, assessing the competences required and training and

career pathways needed, and preparing three reports78 and a reflection tool79.

75 European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, PPMI, Hulpia, H.,

Sharmahd, N., Bergeron-Morin, L. et al., Quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) – State of

play in the EU Member States based on the European Quality Framework – Executive summary,

Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/18383. 76 European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Early childhood

education and care – How to recruit, train and motivate well-qualified staff – Final report, Publications

Office, 2021, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/489043. 77 European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Staff shortages in

early childhood education and care (ECEC) – Policy brief, Publications Office of the European Union,

2023, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/385. 78 Leadership in ECEC: an overview of models and practices in Europe; Leadership in ECEC: Competences

and training; and Leadership for inclusion: Building capacity to strengthen a whole-system approach to

early childhood education and development. 79 https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2026-05/Reflection-tool-to-organise-leadership-in-

ECEC.pdf

53

5.2. European Semester

Funding was mobilised under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Cohesion

Policy Funds to support Member States’ reforms and investments in teacher professional

development. 19 Member States have included dedicated measures in this area in their

national recovery and resilience plans.

In 2026, country-specific recommendations linked to the teaching profession were

addressed to 17 countries. The recommendations refer to flexible and attractive career paths

(Belgium), stepping up and/improving the quality of teacher education/training (Belgium,

Bulgaria, Greece, France, Malta, Poland, Slovakia), and teacher evaluation (Greece),

improving working conditions (France, Slovenia), tackling teacher shortages (Croatia,

Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden) and more generally to

increasing the attractiveness of the profession (Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands).

In addition, the Council Recommendation of 9 March 2026 on human capital in the European

Union recommends that Member States act, in the period 2026-2027, to strengthen basic

skills through ensuring adequate incentives to increase the attractiveness of the teaching

profession, especially for STEM subjects, and supporting initial and continuous professional

development at all levels, including inclusive and gender-sensitive teaching approaches. It

also recommends strengthening VET by promoting a sufficient supply, in particular of STEM

teachers and trainers.

Among various EU cooperation and funding instruments dedicated to support addressing

structural policy challenges and the corresponding country specific recommendations adopted

in the context of the European Semester., the EU’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI) has

provided technical expertise to Member States implementing reforms in teacher workforce

planning. The reforms in Austria, Ireland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Italy point the same way:

without adequate forecasting data and long-term planning, countries end up managing

shortages reactively. The project on Strategic Workforce Planning for Teachers in Ireland

(24IE16)80 shows that technical support can provide vital evidence in forecasting and

workforce planning for the future of the teaching profession and enhance consensus among

national stakeholders regarding challenges to the teaching profession and measures to

improve the teacher workforce planning. It has produced concrete recommendations tailored

to the local context which can be used by policymakers to improve teacher workforce

planning. Continuing Professional Development is another recurring theme in the TSI

projects. The induction work in Flanders and the digital-transition project with Belgium and

the Netherlands both found that Continuing Professional Development is most effective when

it is targeted at a specific career stage and school context that closely addresses the actual

needs of teachers.

AI and digital readiness were also supported via TSI, the latest reforms were built around

providing teachers and school leaders with ready-to-use AI toolkits. This points to teachers'

need for concrete and practical assistance in adapting to this quickly developing technology.

Futureproof Education: Supporting Schools in the AI Evolution is an ongoing project focused

on building the toolkits and CPD resources for teachers and school leaders that TALIS 2024

suggests are still missing (Q3-2025–Q3-2027). The experiences from TSI projects, as well as

80 https://www.unesco.org/en/teachers/strategic-workforce-planning

54

from peer learning activities within EEA working groups and peer counselling actions,

suggest that national authorities and stakeholders value knowledge sharing and capacity

building from EU peers.

5.3. Strengthening the EU-wide evidence base

Monitoring the state of the teaching profession is improved based on availability of data. A

Teacher Dashboard was developed to support EU countries’ debates on the teaching

profession, in response to the Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European

cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond

(2021-2030) of 26 February 2021 that invited the Commission to propose indicators on the

teaching profession. The Teacher Dashboard, as part of the Education and Training Monitor

toolbox for tracking progress towards EU-level targets81 and priorities, brings together

evidence and data on key aspects of the profession, such as perceived autonomy, societal

appreciation, as well as alternative pathways to becoming a teacher and salary progression.,

helping to identify and contextualise challenges facing the teacher workforce. In 2026, the

Commission has updated the Teacher Dashboard, drawing on the Job Demands-Resources

framework to capture a rich variety of aspects relevant to the attractiveness of the teaching

profession, and expanding its data sources to include Eurydice, PISA, the EU Labour Force

Survey (EU-LFS) and other Eurostat data, and trend data, allowing broader coverage of

countries and topics.

The data presented in the toolbox and teacher dashboard feeds into the preparation of the

annual country reports under the European Semester reports, as well as the Education and

Training Monitor publication.

The OECD TALIS is the source of many indicators of the dashboard. Erasmus+ supports the

participation of countries in TALIS and TALIS Starting Strong. Nevertheless, coverage issues

remain, as 23 Member States participated in 2024 at lower secondary level82, and fewer took

part at primary and upper secondary level, and in TALIS Starting Strong.

Two EU-level reports based on TALIS data were published in 2026, one on the teaching

profession and another on school principals. These analyses are complemented by the annual

Investing in Education report, whose 2026 edition focused on the attractiveness of the

teaching profession. Two reports from ENESET, Leading through uncertainty: A model for

effective school leadership in times of crisis (European Commission, ENESET, 2026) and

Supporting teachers across career stages to promote well-being, prevent burnout, and

enhance retention83 informed this Staff Working Document. The 2021 Eurydice report on

teachers careers, development and well-being (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice,

2021), and the annual reports on teachers’ and school heads’ salaries and structural indicators

supported the analysis, and a Eurydice report on teachers and school leaders is planned for

81 While there is no specific EU-level target on the teaching profession, supporting teachers and trainers is

one of the priorities of the Council Resolution of 29 June 2026 on the second cycle of the strategic

framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area

(2026-2030). 82 Austria, Belgium (Flemish and French Communities), Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark,

Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands (though not meeting the

technical standards), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Germany, Greece,

Ireland and Luxembourg did not participate at lower secondary level. 83 Report forthcoming.

55

2027. Eurydice, Eurostat and the OECD offer a range of information related to qualifications,

working conditions and salaries of ECEC staff. An ECEC observatory will be set up in 2027,

funded under Erasmus+, strategically bringing together all the data about ECEC staff in a

user-friendly tool, to support decision-making and research. A new European Vocational

Teachers and Trainers Survey (EVTS) coordinated by Cedefop is being prepared, examining

experiences, working conditions and professional development of teachers in initial

vocational education and training. This Staff Working Document presents preliminary

evidence from the pilot phase of the Survey. The EVTS will provide comparable data of

representative samples84 of teachers working in initial VET schools, at ISCED level 3, across

23 EU Member States. It is expected in 2027. It will examine critical challenges, including

effectiveness of teachers’ professional development and relevant barriers, digital and green

technology skills gaps, inclusive classroom management, job satisfaction and working

conditions, factors influencing career attractiveness. Ongoing monitoring will play a key role

in the outcome of any new measures.

Research fundingunder the Horizon Europe programme supports research on the impact of

professional development for preschool teachers and in secondary education.

5.4. Support to candidate and potential candidate countries

The Commission supports teacher involvement, teacher governance and teacher support and

development also within candidate and potential candidate countries, supported by the

expertise of the European Training Foundation (ETF). It holds specific expertise on teacher

professional development and data collection, including communities of practices and peer-

learning activities, on-demand policy advice and guidance on teacher management and

professional education and development as well as strengthening evidence and dissemination

on teacher shortages and attractiveness, including analysis of teacher well-being, workload,

and retention.

The ETF supports neighbouring and enlargement countries to improve teacher policies and

practice by helping governments use evidence to design, implement and monitor reforms. Its

work covers key issues such as teacher recruitment and deployment, professional

development, digital competence, inclusion, labour-market relevance and governance. Across

countries, ETF analysis points to common challenges, including teacher shortages, ageing

workforces, fragmented continuing professional development systems, and growing demands

linked to digital, green and learner-centred teaching. To address these, the ETF provides

policy advice, diagnostic tools, country studies and data that help identify reform priorities

and shape national discussions on how to better support the teaching profession.

A series of teacher management system studies map workforce data, identify systemic

challenges and provide evidence-based policy options on teacher recruitment, career

structures, deployment, professional learning, appraisal and retention85. Alongside policy

84 It will gather data from approximately 14 000 randomly selected teachers in initial VET schools (ISCED

level 3) in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia,

Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia,

Finland and Sweden. 85 Conducted under the EU-funded Supporting Education Reforms and Skills in Eastern Partnership (EaP)

Programme.

56

support, the ETF offers practical tools and learning opportunities for teachers and teacher

educators in neighbouring countries. These include models and resources on competence-

based teaching, formative assessment, digital self-reflection and professional development, as

well as support for innovation, green skills and vocational excellence. The ETF has also

helped countries apply these tools in practice, for example through support for digital

competence studies, micro-credential courses for teachers in Ukraine, and regional work in

Central Asia using the Scaffold tool to strengthen key competences teaching. It also promotes

peer learning and exchange through its community of innovative educators, which connects

practitioners across countries and helps spread good practice.

Country example: Ukraine

Digital competence data informing national policy

In 2025-2026, the ETF conducted a study on the digital competence of general secondary school

teachers in Ukraine, using SELFIE for Teachers. The findings gave the Ministry of Education and

Science evidence-based insights into teachers' self-perceived digital skills, per region of the

country. The results will inform the national policy dialogue on teacher professional development

for digital education. The results also contribute to the online Dashboard on Teachers' Digital

Competence, giving dynamic access to national-level intelligence.

5.5. EU-level programmes and actions that directly benefit teachers

Staff learning mobility and cooperation partnerships under the Erasmus+ programme

support Member States’ efforts by providing professional development opportunities to all

educational staff. These are organised as learning mobility activities in another country in a

variety of formats: job shadowing, teaching or training assignments, courses and training.

Other activities target teachers or future teachers and invited experts who can help improve

the teaching and learning at the receiving school or hosting teachers in training who want to

spend a traineeship period abroad. The Council Recommendation of 13 May 2024 ‘Europe on

the Move’ - learning mobility opportunities for everyone, aims to increase learning mobility

opportunities for everyone, including educators and staff in all education and training sectors.

It places a strong emphasis on boosting learning mobility for teachers through a dedicated

policy framework.

Since their launch as a pilot in 2021, Erasmus+ Teacher Academies have been set up as

European partnerships of teacher education and training providers, schools and school

authorities. They have been designed to address the gaps in education and training of student

teachers and teachers and enhance the European dimension of teacher education. They

support high-quality initial teacher education for future teachers and continuous professional

development for teachers by creating courses, modules, and other learning opportunities.

Until now, Academies have focused on one topic that is aligned with EU priorities, such as

inclusion and equity, democracy and European values, digital education, sustainable

development, well-being and STE(A)M. For example, the Teacher Academy 'ContinueUp'86

supports the development of teachers' digital competences based on DigCompEdu through a

86 https://continueup.eun.org.

57

MOOC module, while 'acaSTEMy'87 develops a systemic support structure for high-quality,

research-based STEM teacher education.

Erasmus+ Teacher Academies have seen an increasing number of applications. The initiative

has exceeded initial targets, with 61 Academies co-financed to date. A further 17 new

Academies were selected in 2025. Each project can count on up to EUR 1,500,000 for three

years, encouraging networks, mobility, and collaboration among teacher education providers.

An assessment of the first two generations of the Academies (2021 and 2022 calls) was

carried out to assess early results, identify good practices and develop actionable

recommendations for the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies, including how to address

weaknesses, build on strengths, and upscale the initiative (European Commission and PPMI

Group, 2026).

Participants have expressed high satisfaction, with 84% of participants reporting a direct

influence on their teaching methods. Furthermore, participation in Academies influenced 57%

of respondents to continue their careers in teaching. Still, the Academies have faced barriers

in recruiting teachers, time constraints for teachers to attend courses, inconsistent recognition

of teacher participation, lack of institutional recognition for the Academies’ courses and

limited collaborations with Ministries of Education. Over a quarter of respondents found it

difficult to translate their learning into wider organisational change within their schools. For

some it was difficult to translate abstract themes into practical classroom activities, and many

struggled with receiving formal recognition of participation. The Academies found it

challenging to continue their activities after the projects ended.

Recommendations stemming from the assessment are to look into strengthening national-

level policy alignment and formal recognition of participation, remove barriers to learning

mobility, strengthen the community between the Academies, engage school leaders more

strategically to ensure effective implementation at the school level, improve the practical

relevance of resources through co-design with educators and strengthen funding continuity. A

community of practice has already been established in 2025.

Following on the lessons learnt, new Teacher Academies 2.0 will move away from a project

logic towards better supporting the design of national ecosystems that include stakeholders

relevant for strengthening high-quality teacher education in each participating country (HEIs

providing ITE, schools, authorities responsible for teacher education, CPD providers and

social partners). At the European level, bringing together these national ecosystems into

broader transnational partnerships will support excellence in teacher education. Grounding

the Academies on a co-creation process that involves schools can better and they will tackle

emerging classroom challenges to support student teachers, novice teachers, teachers and

school leaders.

The online community of the European School Education Platform enables the EU, and

early childhood education and care, school and VET stakeholders, to quickly access a wealth

of resources, including professional development courses and spaces for collaboration on EU

policy priorities. It currently reaches over 400,000 people. It includes eTwinning, a

community set up in 2005 and open exclusively to teachers/educators and other school staff

in Initial Vocational Education and Training, and education from early childhood education

87 https://www.acastemy.eu.

58

and care to upper secondary schools from 45 countries. 295,000 schools and 1.2 million

educators have been involved in eTwinning projects and events over the past 20 years,

reaching over 3 million pupils through more than 160,000 eTwinning projects. eTwinning has

shown significant potential to motivate participating teachers in their job88, by enabling

exchange with peers and professional growth. The eTwinning for Future Teachers initiative

aims to raise awareness of eTwinning to initial teacher educators and their students and

to involve student teachers in short eTwinning projects while still in teacher training. Models

to introduce eTwinning vary by country and institution.

The European Innovative Teaching Award, launched in 2021 to celebrate the achievements

of teachers and schools, and to identify and promote outstanding teaching and learning

practices, developed through collaboration between schools within the Erasmus+ programme.

More than 500 projects have been awarded since 2021.

The European Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu) sets out

what it means for educators to be digitally competent and was developed by the Joint

Research Centre of the European Commission in 2017. Users of the framework include

government authorities, higher education institutions and public or private professional

training providers. The framework is also used extensively in Erasmus+ and other European-

funded projects on teacher digital competence. The European Commission has started

updating the DigCompEdu to reflect the rapid changes impacting education today. The

publication of the final version is planned in 2027.

The self-assessment tool ‘SELFIE for Teachers’ was launched in all EU languages in 2022.

Based on DigCompEdu, this free online self-assessment tool helps primary and secondary

teachers reflect on and review how they use technology in their professional practice and

identify areas where they can further improve their digital competence. A version of the tool

tailored for Early Childhood Education and Care was launched in October 2024. To date

more than 350 000 teachers have used the tool to reflect on how they are using digital

technologies in their professional practice89. First launched in October 2021 for school

teachers, a second version for Early Childhood Education and Care educators was released on

World Teacher’s Day 2024. This approach inspired a new self-assessment tool on well-being

and inclusion, launched in 2025. Similarly, SELFIE for work-based learning is adapted from

the SELFIE tool to match the requirements of work-based learning, that supports vocational

education and training (VET) schools and companies in using digital technologies effectively

for teaching, learning and training in a work-based learning setting.

5.6. Testing teacher policy reforms: Erasmus+ policy experimentation

The EU also helps Member States design and test reforms of teacher policy through

Erasmus+ policy experimentation. These transnational projects test whether a policy measure

works in real school settings, and whether it can be scaled up. Many of these projects have

focused on teachers, including the below examples which were selected in 2020, and each ran

from 2021 to 2024. Some tested ways to support teachers at different stages of their careers.

88 Yearly monitoring reports on eTwinning show, for example, the impact of eTwinning on teachers’ well-

being. 89 https://selfie-in-

education.ec.europa.eu/educators/?pk_source=website&pk_medium=link&pk_campaign=s4t-

login&pk_content=hero-log (data as of October 2026).

59

The LOOP project90 for example, developed an induction programme for new teachers and a

training programme for the experienced teachers who mentor them. It tested both in schools

and made recommendations on including induction and mentoring in national policies. Other

projects looked at teacher well-being. Teaching to Be, led by several Ministries of Education,

developed an online course on teachers' professional well-being and a guide to help school

communities work together to improve it. Both were tested through randomised controlled

trials and qualitative research in schools. HAND IN HAND91 tested a whole-school support

system to develop teachers' social, emotional and diversity competences. Further projects

covered school leadership, teachers learning together, and teachers' digital and AI

competences, as in the project Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers92.

Projects under the 2024 call are still running. Many of them aim at teacher professional

development, e.g. on digital well-being, data literacy and gender-sensitive teaching in ICT.

Many projects selected under the 2026 call will focus on reversing the decline in basic skills

and include professional development for teachers, too. They will, inter alia, set out to test

professional development on teaching literacy, identifying pupils' learning needs early,

inquiry-based STEM teaching and using AI to personalise learning. Some will also involve

teachers in deciding how AI is used in schools.

90 LOOP: Empowering teachers personal, professional and social continuous development through innovative

peer-induction programmes (2021–2024), https://empowering-teachers.eu/loop-project-white-paper-

empowering-teachers-enhancing-teacher-induction-through-mentoring-activities/. Erasmus+ project

number 626148-EPP-1-2020-2-PT-EPPKA3-PI-POLICY 91 HAND IN HAND: Empowering teachers across Europe to deal with social, emotional and diversity related

career challenges (2021–2024), https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/project-result-

content/1c4534f8-653c-4043-a61f-4ce414e2893e/HiH_Policy_Guidelines_ENG.pdf. Erasmus+ project

number 626137-EPP-1-2020-2-SI-EPPKA3-PI-POLICY 92 Artificial Intelligence for and by Teachers (AI4T) (2021–2024). Erasmus+ project number 626154-EPP-1-

2020-2-FR-EPPKA3-PI-POLICY

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6. Annex 1: consultation inputs

This annex provides an overview of key inputs from the consultation meetings of the

Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sports and Culture during the period between 16

June 2025 and 22 September 2026.

6.1. Consultation strategy

The stakeholder consultations were mainly conducted in a virtual manner, with a few

meetings in person. The stakeholders consulted included representatives from local (either

European umbrella associations or sectoral ones), regional, and national levels. The

stakeholders represented different geographical areas of the European Union.

On 26 June 2026, the European Commission held its first-ever hearing of the education

sector social partners, dedicatedto gather views on how the EU can best support Member

States, education authorities and Social Partners in addressing the challenges faced by the

teaching profession.

On 11 June 2026, Executive Vice-President Mînzatu convened an Implementation Dialogue

on Supporting the Teaching Profession93 to discuss European support to the teaching

profession. The dialogue brought together social partners, European stakeholder associations,

civil society organisations, Ministries of Education from four Member States, international

organisations (including the OECD and UNESCO) and education practitioners, including

school leaders, teacher training bodies and Erasmus+ National Agencies.

On 12 June 2026, a Youth Check consultation was held, in which two groups of youth

representatives discussed support to teachers and what had made the best teachers effective.

Discussions at meetings within the European Education Area Strategic Framework were

carried out in autum and winter 2025-2026.

Targeted stakeholder consultations with education sector social partners, as well as civil

society organisations, researchers, international organisations and EU agencies, and teachers

and school leaders between October 2025 and January 2026. Focus group meetings with

teachers and other educators were held in January 2026, and a focus group with teacher

educators on 17 June 2025.

Targeted stakeholder consultations with teachers and policymakers during the review of the

Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) were carried out between 2024 and 2025 (see the

Staff Working Document Review of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 and

Outlook on Digital Education);

An online survey on building attractive teaching careers open to the public on the European

School Education Platform between September and November 2025;.

A call for evidence was open between 30 July and 8 September 2026.

6.2. Targeted Stakeholder Consultations: Key Insights

Attracting New Entrants to the Teaching Profession (Status, Diversity, Pathways and

Incentives)

93 https://education.ec.europa.eu/whats-new/events/implementation-dialogue-on-supporting-the-teaching-

profession-with-executive-vice-president-roxana-minzatu.

61

Stakeholders were clear that an attractive profession requires a coordinated, long-term

approach spanning recruitment, induction, retention, professional standards, working

conditions, respect for teacher autonomy, career development and the social recognition of

teachers. It cannot be built through isolated measures alone.

Competitive salaries and job security were described as essential foundations. It was also

noted that competitive salary levels for teacher educators in higher education can enhance

their capacity for research and high-quality teacher preparation. Some stakeholders urged

caution with differentiated pay or bonuses by subject or geographic area, warning of the risk

that these could damage collegiality and prove ineffective if underlying structural issues were

left unaddressed. Accelerated incremental pay progression in high-cost areas within existing

pay structures and differentiated investment, such as reduced class sizes in disadvantaged

areas, were suggested as more targeted alternatives. It was suggested to prioritise job security

and permanent employment contracts to strengthen retention. Several stakeholders proposed

sustained investment in the teacher workforce and union representatives called for stronger

engagement of education trade unions in collective bargaining.

Some stakeholders pointed to the need to build the image of teaching as a prestigious,

intellectually attractive profession, and stressed that teachers should be active participants in

decisions about their profession. The need to raise the attractiveness and status of initial

teacher education across Europe was also highlighted. This could be done for example by

developing joint postgraduate (consecutive) initial teacher education programmes, improving

mobility opportunities and embedding research more fully in initial teacher education. Union

representatives called for the teaching profession to lead the development of standards and

quality assurance for initial teacher education, through trade unions and professional

associations.

Structural barriers continue to limit diversity in the profession, including inadequate

accommodations, insufficient support for qualification recognition and host-country language

development, and a lack of inclusive teacher competence frameworks. Stakeholders argued

for diversity, equity and inclusion to be embedded by design in teacher preparation,

recruitment and employment, across initial teacher education, continuing professional

development and employment practice alike, with attention to differing professional

motivations (for example among male teachers). Addressing the lack of diversity in the

profession also requires removing structural barriers that limit access to minorities or

marginalised groups subject to discrimination such as Roma.

Collaboration, collegial leadership and a positive school climate were framed as essential

to both recruitment and retention,. Practical school-level arrangements were seen as

necessary to structure cooperation among teachers, between schools, and with social partners

and policymakers. Gaps persist across initial teacher education, induction and CPD, with

insufficient preparation and practice for co-teaching and multi-professional collaboration, and

limited time available for professional development and collaboration more broadly.

Stakeholders suggested that national self-assessments are carried out on the attractiveness of

the profession. They also suggested to better align policies addressing teacher shortages to

local or regional needs, for instance strengthening the cooperation between ministries, higher

education institutions, schools and local or regional networks. Another proposal was to

develop peer learning activities to share practices in teacher recruitment and retention,

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including financial, career and workplace incentives. It was also suggested to consider

piloting regional standards to assess the portability and mutual recognition of teacher

competences across Member States.

Several participants supported flexible pathways into the profession to diversify entrants

and address workforce gaps but stressed these must be carefully designed, meet recognised

professional standards, and include mandatory induction as well as mentoring to avoid

creating a ‘two-tier’ workforce. The need for independent evaluation for long-term impact

was also stressed. Alternative pathways, as well as financial recruitment incentives, need to

have clear objectives and be assessed for effectiveness, equity and impact on recruitment and

retention before being scaled up.

Early Career Support

Stakeholders examined the induction (years 1-2) and development (years 3-5) phases of a

teaching career. The main principles brought forward were that initial teacher education

should develop teachers' wider professional competences and prepare them to be active

members of their professional community, with quality and professional standards upheld

across three domains: content (subject knowledge and skills), teaching (pedagogy and

classroom management), and relationships (with colleagues, leadership, parents and

guardians). Stakeholders highlighted the importance of practical experience, introduced early

in studies, of sufficient length, and structured and designed for students to build professional

knowledge, skills and attitudes gradually.

Stakeholders discussed how financial and personal constraints during ITE can limit student

teachers' full engagement, affecting their capacity to commit mentally, emotionally and

physically to training. Differences in ITE and licensing systems across Member States create

obstacles to early-career mobility and may complicate the recognition of qualifications

gained in another country.

The vital importance to ensure equal access to high-quality induction support was

highlighted, at minimum during the first year of employment, with mentoring delivered by

colleagues having received training for mentoring, and underpinned by clear guidance for

schools, dedicated time, and recognition of the mentor role through certification, professional

status or remuneration. A reduced teaching load for new teachers and trainers was seen as

necessary to create space for preparation, observation, mentoring, feedback and reflection.

Improving the coherence between initial teacher education, induction and continuing

professional development is also necessary to nurture a professional learning culture based on

observation, feedback, reflection and improvement.

Mid-career teachers. Career Progression, Professional Learning and Mobility

Stakeholders considered continuing professional development, diversified career pathways

(leadership, mentorship, subject-expertise, research), the conditions needed to sustain

teachers throughout their careers, and the barriers limiting teacher mobility.

There was broad consensus that career development should allow teachers to grow

professionally without having to leave the classroom, and that mentoring should be

recognised as a formal career role with a defined status, given its importance for supporting

early-career colleagues. Leadership should be recognised as a career path (vertical

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progression), supported through structured preparation, induction and ongoing professional

learning. Investment in leadership development, including VET, was seen as an important

priority.

Participants called for clearer definition and better preparation for leadership roles,

including clearer role descriptions, suggesting micro-credentials and short courses for

aspiring leaders, and calling for stronger recognition, when recruiting school leaders, of

experienced teachers' competences in curriculum development, assessment, quality assurance

and mentoring.

Career progression needs differ across contexts: small schools, large schools, school clusters,

VET and early childhood education and care settings all offer different opportunities, so

frameworks need enough flexibility to recognise varied roles, including leadership,

secondments and temporary role changes. A declining interest in leadership roles was

reported in some contexts, driven by high workload, limited salary incentives and heavy

administrative responsibility.

Professional learning should be more relevant, practice-oriented and embedded in teachers'

daily work, combining discussion, reflection and community-building rather than being

replaced by online or AI-supported formats, which add flexibility but so not replace human

professional interaction. Teachers should be supported as professionals, innovators and

knowledge producers. Stakeholders called for adequate support to professional learning,

action research and innovation, to prevent the erosion of professionalism.

Lack of time remains the principal barrier to meaningful professional learning. Access is also

uneven: costs, family responsibilities, lack of substitute cover and limited institutional

support can all prevent participation. A varied offer of short, long, onsite, digital and blended

formats are needed. VET teachers and trainers have distinct professional learning needs tied

to the labour market, requiring industry-aligned, practice-oriented formats such as placements

and work-based learning to keep pace with technological and skills change. School-company

collaboration was seen as central to update teachers' sectoral expertise and support the

pedagogical preparation of in-company mentors.

Digital technologies including AI, were raised as an area for which more CPD should be

available. Digital technologies, digital literacy and AI are becoming core competence areas

for teachers, already used by some to reduce administrative workload, support assessment

and generate materials, but raising unresolved questions around authenticity of student work,

ethics, privacy, data protection and bias, with policy on AI in schools still fragmented.

Working with parents and the wider community was also highlighted as an important

professional competence, and especially central for ECEC educators.

The value of peer learning, observation and reflection depends on supportive conditions,

namely dedicated time, trust and a collaborative school climate, to strengthen professional

culture. Stakeholders considered that European professional learning and mobility

opportunities provided by Erasmus+ have strong potential to transform practice, but their

impact on career progression is limited where they go unrecognised by national or regional

authorities. They also highlighted the value of the eTwinning community providing

opportunities for digital and low-barrier internationalisation and mobility in schools. The

importance of sharing the benefits of international learning more broadly with colleagues was

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stressed, and the supportive role that of school leadership can play. Collaborative leadership

can strengthen school organisation and ease pressure on school leaders by distributing

administrative responsibility. Effective school leadership requires both pedagogical expertise

and management competence.

Class size and support for learners with special educational needs were flagged as major

pressure points, with teachers frequently reporting a lack of teaching assistants and support

staff. Multi-professional teams including psychologists, social workers and counsellors were

suggested as a possible response, though this would require additional resources. School

leaders play a key role throughout teachers' careers, supporting new entrants and in shaping

culture, collegiality and development opportunities throughout career stages. Suggested

measures include clearer role descriptions, short courses for aspiring leaders, and better

recognition of experienced teachers’ competences in areas such as curriculum development,

assessment, quality assurance and mentoring when recruiting school leaders. Personal

circumstances, including family commitments, can prevent teachers from taking up mobility

opportunities, so maintaining a varied offer of mobility duration and format (on-site, digital,

blended) is important.

Pay, Working Conditions and Governance

A key insight is that the attractiveness of the teaching profession depends on working

conditions as a whole: competitive salaries, stable contracts, manageable workloads,

professional respect and good working environments. Union representatives argued that

precarious contracts weaken the profession's stability. Permanent contracts are important for

access to career development. Stability needs to be paired with diverse career opportunities to

avoid professional stagnation.

In some areas, housing costs affect teacher recruitment and retention to the point that

nominal salary increases alone are insufficient, requiring coherent housing, transport, regional

development and employment policies. Some stakeholders suggested to consider developing

an EU teacher quality-of-work index in collaboration with education social partners, EACEA/

Eurydice, Eurofound, and Cedefop. They also suggested to run regular teacher barometers or

pulse surveys.

Stakeholders highlighted the need to define teachers' working time more clearly, covering

lesson preparation, assessment, grading, administration, parent communication,

extracurricular activities, school trips and other tasks.

Stakeholders agreed that the development of professional terminology requires broad

consultation and consensus. Clear terminology is essential to capture the complexity of

different education professions (e.g. teachers, school leaders, education support personnel)

across distinct sectors and settings (e.g. early childhood education and care, primary, lower

secondary, upper secondary, VET). General terms such as ‘educators’ do not always allow for

a nuanced understanding of different professional profiles or the design of targeted policy

responses to workforce supply issues.

Union representatives called for strengthening social dialogue, with education governance

better connecting public administrations, schools, VET providers, social partners, parents and

students, highlighting the distinct role for education trade unions and employers in

discussions on pay, working conditions and education reforms. They also highlighted that

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teachers often do not feel sufficiently involved in policy development especially as regards

workload, teaching hours, or class sizes.

A right to disconnect and stronger protection of private time were highlighted in view of

growing expectations and blurred boundaries between work and private life, as digital

platforms, frequent parent and student communication, social media and expectations of

constant availability extend the working day.

Class size and support for learners with special educational needs were again identified as

major pressure points, with teachers articulating need for support from teaching assistants or

special educators. Violence against teachers and social media abuse were flagged as growing

concerns that are not sufficiently addressed and affect both professional and private life.

Teachers, trainers and VET leaders in Vocational Education and Training

The early, non-representative findings from the Cedefop EVTS pilot survey of 735 VET

teachers across 23 Member States, pointed to low perceived status and salary adequacy,

heavy administrative burden, and limited school support for continuing professional

development.

Structural improvements remain more important than narrow incentives in VET as elsewhere,

but the sector makes the labour-market pressure behind this especially clear: isolated

incentives cannot substitute for systemic improvements to pay, workload, induction and

career development. VET attractiveness is influenced by direct competition with industry,

notably in STEM or IT, and by regional labour-market disparities. Stakeholders stressed the

importance of the context and urged to avoid generalisations, including on whether VET is a

"second choice." A recent Eurobarometer on the attractiveness of VET94 reveals positive

views about VET: it shows that 73% of Europeans see VET as offering high-quality learning,

delivered by competent teachers (79%) and supported by modern infrastructure (78%).

Stakeholders representing the VET sector stressed that the flexibility allowing industry

experts to enter teaching is highly valuable and necessary. Union representatives noted that

flexible entry routes need quality standards that are developed by or with the profession and

stressed that fragmented entry routes can undermine collegiality, retention and quality, a

particularly salient risk in VET, which often relies on second-career entrants, external or part-

time staff, and hybrid trainers. Structured induction is an essential safeguard: induction must

combine mentoring, peer support and protected early-career conditions such as reduced

teaching load, and prevent unsupervised cover for staff shortages. Workshop participants

identified a VET-specific need for orientation, including the school-workplace learning

interface and the expectations of multiple stakeholders at once.

ITE and early-career content gaps persist around inclusive practice, classroom management

and ‘contemporary literacies’ such as green, digital and AI skills, with renewed calls to

involve practising teachers directly in ITE design and delivery to keep training relevant.

CPD within working time remains the binding constraint, compounded in VET by the

sector's reliance on school-company reciprocity. School-company collaboration was again

seen as a way to refresh teachers' sectoral expertise while strengthening the pedagogical

preparation of in-company mentors. An integrated investment logic of "kit, training and time"

94 https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3367.

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should pair infrastructure modernisation with funded professional learning and protected

time, to avoid implementation failure and underused equipment.

VET school leaders are currently underserved by existing leadership education, needing to

balance pedagogical leadership, industry understanding and managerial responsibility

simultaneously, a combination that current systems can better support. Equipment investment

without funded staff time risks going to waste: upgrades introduced without corresponding

funded training or protected time were found to often lead to underused capacity rather than

improved teaching.

At EU level, participants suggested narratives on VET attractiveness stay context-sensitive,

explicitly recognising industry competition and regional variation, alongside building a

stronger evidence base on VET teachers' and trainers' pathways and conditions, including

hybrid and external roles, and supporting peer learning on induction models and school-

company partnerships. At national and system level, they suggested guaranteeing structured

induction and CPD access for all VET teachers and trainers, including external and hybrid

colleagues where mutually beneficial; transparent, supported routes to permanence where

temporary contracting is structural; CPD embedded in working time with planned cover; and,

where inclusion, behaviour or harassment pressures are acute, investment in multi-

professional support and practical staff training such as de-escalation and learner-family-

employer engagement.

Early childhood education and care staff

Stakeholders emphasised the care dimension of the profession, the complexity of career

progression in a sector where horizontal development is as significant as vertical

advancement, the qualification pathways, the need for professional development, especially

for supporting children with diverse needs, and the specific challenges around non-contact

time, meaning the paid time dedicated to tasks not involving children.

The structural challenges of the sector are long-standing and well documented, including

qualification differentials, salary differences relative to other education levels, and between

public and private early childhood education and care providers, and limited clarity on career

pathways. Stakeholders called for clear, formalised career pathways with corresponding

remuneration structures. Career progression frameworks that include both horizontal

pathways (specialisation, skills development) and vertical pathways (formal roles, increased

responsibility).

A proposal was to consider developing a consultative framework for quality in initial teacher

education and induction. Stakeholders also called for recognising care as a transversal

competence in initial teacher education frameworks. Digital competence, including AI

literacy, should also be integrated into ECEC initial teacher education. Stakeholders also

suggested policies to support non-teaching staff already at schools or staff in the ECEC sector

to gain teacher qualifications.

The OECD TALIS Starting Strong report suggests that children with special needs require the

involvement of more professionals. Induction and mentoring support could be usefully

extended to educators returning after long-term leave, not only new entrants, with mentoring

roles formally recognised within working time and linked to remuneration.

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Focus groups with teachers

Focus groups consulted around 50 teachers from different Member States, education levels

and roles (class teachers, subject teachers, school heads, ECEC leaders). There were four

sessions structured around three guiding questions: what most influences job satisfaction and

how; the current and likely future effects of AI in education; and what single change would

make the greatest difference to teachers' working lives.

On question 1, teachers were consistent: the main source of workload strain is not teaching

itself but the administrative, logistical (substitution cover), and relational demands

surrounding it, which take energy and resources. Class sizes and insufficient special

education support compound this, with many teachers reporting they have no assistant or

specialist support despite having students with significant needs in their classrooms.

Contracted hours were found to consistently underrepresent actual working time, with

evenings, weekends and school trips worked without recognition or compensation. Where

school leadership actively reduces administrative burden – for example by handling substitute

cover externally or limiting email expectations – teachers report materially better conditions

to focus on their core role.

On question 2, teachers across contexts are already adapting their practice, using AI for

lesson materials, differentiated tasks, and administrative work, and moving away from take-

home written assignments to in-class and oral assessment, in response to authenticity

concerns. Teachers reported that AI integration was happening largely without school or

system-level policy, systematic continuing professional development, or sufficient guidance

on data protection or ethical use. Vocational settings reported fewer AI-related academic

integrity concerns, owing to the practical, skills-based nature of their teaching.

On question 3, smaller classes or groups, protected preparation time, and adequate SEN

support were the most frequently cited answers, alongside greater policy stability and

improved social recognition of the profession.

Teachers perceive having limited or no voice over the structural factors that most affect their

workload: class size, teaching hours, and cover arrangements. Frequent policy changes were

identified as a specific source of demoralisation, with teachers calling for greater stability and

consistency in policy direction. Formalised mentoring roles and mid-tier career pathways are

sought by teachers but remain largely absent or unrecognised in most systems. Early years

teachers noted compounding pressures not shared by other sectors: high child-to-staff ratios,

year-round opening, and increasingly AI-generated parent complaints.

Focus group with Teacher Educators

A workshop to gather the perspective of the coordinators of Teacher Academies supported by

Erasmus+ from 2021 to 2022 and shared the following insights.

As The teaching profession is constantly undergoing change, and it is essential to adapt

methods to meet the new demands: the impact of AI, teacher shortages and the increasing

number of second career teachers that results in a changing teaching community; changing

student expectations; social isolation and increased awareness of the importance of well-

being and inclusion for both students and teachers. Several proposals were discussed: rethink

pedagogies and reorganise assessment methods considering AI; adopt more individualised

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assessment approaches; revisit active pedagogies and active learning opportunities (e.g.

flipped classroom, role-playing); use technology to improve initial teacher education

programmes, e.g. simulations of classroom interactions and communication with parents;

foster interdisciplinarity and improve the relationship between teachers from different

disciplines and support communities of practice for different subjects The importance

of preparing and supporting mentors for their mentoring role was highlighted. The large

diversity of teacher education across Europe, and lack of familiarity with systems in other

countries were highlighted.

Stakeholders noted that salary levels are a visible measure of the value society places on the

profession and that perceived job security has diminished. They observed that the public

perception of occupational prestige of teaching briefly improved at the beginning of the

Covid pandemic. They highlighted public debates over the quality of ITE, and a lack of

recognition of teacher expertise and autonomy in their work.

Teacher education needs to prepare teachers to work in multi-professional teams and with

the community (parents, students, libraries…). A proposal was to use service-learning as a

teaching methodology in teacher education, giving students opportunities to participate in a

service that meets community needs as well as being relevant to the curriculum content and

to reflect on the service-learning activity/activities and experience. Student teachers need to

develop their teacher identity, involving content specific knowledge, professional

competence (how to talk to parents, develop community partnerships, collaborate with

colleagues and leadership), pedagogical competence (learner-centered, including didactics,

learning theories, psychology, child development, inclusion, classroom management…), life

competence: crisis management, communication, democratic values, citizenship, socio-

emotional learning; career competence: career development, working rights, legislation,

career guidance and alternative career paths. Placements in diverse learning environments to

gain experience are important, as well as preparation for reflective practice and collaboration.

The discussion focused on the need to facilitate the participation of schools to research

projects, and of teachers to participate on an equal footing with researchers. It was also

suggested that academics are visiting teachers in schools.

6.3. Implementation Dialogue on supporting the teaching profession

The dialogue allowed to take stock of existing EU measures and tools supporting teachers

and to look ahead to the future of the profession in Europe Erasmus+ was reviewed as one of

the EU's most valued instruments, with participants noting its transformative impact at

individual level while calling for greater systemic reach for disadvantaged schools and less-

resourced institutions, simplified programme administration, dedicated investment in school

leadership, and continued support for Erasmus+ Teacher Academies and eTwinning.

Looking ahead, participants set out priorities for the EU, including addressing teacher

shortages, developing more dynamic career pathways, and ensuring recognition for early

childhood education and care professionals, initial VET teachers and support staff. They

called for stronger synergies between EU instruments, along with more systematic use of the

European Semester to embed education investment needs in governance and funding

frameworks. with further engagement pursued through the Social Partners’ Hearing on the

Teaching Profession on 26 June 2026.

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6.4. Social Partners Hearing

A Social Partners’ Hearing95 took place on 26 June 2026, the first of its kind in the education

sector, bringing trade union and employer representatives together for structured social

dialogue ahead of the Education Package. The inputs covered pay and working conditions,

contract stability, administrative burden, professional qualifications and the role of early

childhood education and care within the profession, with trade unions and employers

discussing the balance between EU-level action and national competence. Points of

convergence highlighted the value of structured social dialogue at all levels, the importance

of peer learning and mutual exchange between Member States, along with the topics of

artificial intelligence as priority areas for future European cooperation, with trade union

representatives expressing interest in joint work on the topic of algorithmic management.

6.5. Youth Check Consultation

Participants recalled that trust-based relationships between teachers and students were key to

learners' socio-emotional development, and that teachers needed to be supported with

adequate infrastructure and resources to build such connections. They also highlighted that

the best teachers gave students new and formative experiences, notably around democracy

and values, and called for the teaching profession to be recognised consistently across Europe

to support mobility, attract new entrants, and help teachers stay motivated with a healthy

work-life balance. Participants further pointed to the need for a cohesive EU framework to

strengthen European knowledge in schools, including digital platforms to help prepare

teachers and students for Erasmus experiences and to teach cultural sensitivity and European

values, and called for curricula and teaching methods to be updated to reflect how social

media and AI are changing how young people access and process information. Other groups,

discussing basic skills and digital tools more broadly, pointed to underfunded schools and

teacher shortages as key barriers, and called for AI literacy that goes beyond technical skills

to include ethical awareness, alongside digital tools that reduce teachers' administrative

burden.

6.6. Call for evidence – key insights

A call for evidence was open between 30 July and 8 September 2026, which resulted in 440

responses overall, of whicha considerable number covered teachers and the EU Teachers

Agenda. The call for evidence yielded rich insights and suggestions from a wide spread of

citizens, national, regional and local authorities, universities, NGOs, social partners,

businesses and chambers of commerce. 400 of the overall contributions came from within the

EU, with 40 contributions from outside the EU. There were 25 individual submissions from

teachers’ unions across Europe. There were many common themes as well as regional and

context-specific inputs, which are summarised as follows:

a. Pay and financial recognition

Higher, more competitive pay is one of the most frequent asks, with several respondents

arguing teaching pays far less than equivalent graduate or private-sector roles. Many want

pay to move away from flat, seniority-based scales and instead reward teachers who take on

95 https://education.ec.europa.eu/whats-new/news/social-partners-call-for-structured-dialogue-on-the-

teaching-profession

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additional responsibilities, such as leading projects or mentoring colleagues, and reward

expertise and innovation. Other proposals include a European minimum teacher salary

adjusted to national cost of living, financial recognition of work such as school trips, and

better pay or housing incentives for hard-to-staff rural postings. One contribution flags

underpayment of women teachers specifically.

b. Workload and administrative burden

Teachers are repeatedly described as being asked to do more, new methods, technology,

emotional support, administration, without more time or pay, which several respondents link

to burnout. Respondents call for indicators of administrative burden, and call for reducing

duplicated reporting requirements. Some contributions call for separating teaching from

administrative tasks entirely, so "the teacher should only teach." Protected time for planning

and joint work with colleagues is repeatedly requested. One respondent frames ongoing

administrative accountability, rather than pay or image, as the real hidden barrier to

attractiveness.

c. Career progression without leaving the classroom

Several respondents call for horizontal career paths letting experienced teachers become

mentors, learning designers or specialists while staying in the classroom, rather than the only

route upward being into management. One proposes a flexible late-career or return-to-

teaching stage: reduced hours, mentoring, useful for small rural schools, additional to (not

instead of) improving conditions for younger teachers. Another proposal suggests defined

part-time or support roles letting senior teachers step back from full-time teaching, freeing

space to hire younger staff. Several respondents call for a structured path between school

levels without repeating probation. Formal pay and recognition for coordinating international

projects and mobility, rather than treating this as voluntary extra effort, is also raised.

d. Teacher autonomy, trust and voice in policymaking

A frequent point is the necessity to consult teachers early and meaningfully on planned

reforms, with unions requesting their involvement in designing and rolling out the EU

Teachers Agenda. Several respondents describe teachers as designers of learning needing

trust and time to innovate, not administrative implementers of decisions made elsewhere.

Pedagogical autonomy, protection from arbitrary decisions and excessive testing, is raised as

distinct from pay or workload. One respondent argues attractiveness policy should be judged

by retention and satisfaction, not recruitment numbers, treating teacher agency as a policy

goal in its own right. Original research from one respondent links how teachers experience

evaluation to whether they feel they have leadership opportunities, with time, trust and

training as the key conditions, and proposes formative evaluation. A separate analysis finds

teachers have considerable discretion over methods but little sense of influence over policy

itself, and feel mostly treated as implementers rather than interpreters of educational goals.

e. Induction, mentoring and CPD reform

It is very widely repeated: continuing professional development works best as a sustained,

multi-year process combining training, mentoring, peer community and follow-up, not one-

off courses counted by attendance hours. Several respondents want funded induction and

mentoring for every new teacher, sometimes with reduced load for both new teachers and

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mentors. Specific proposals include a "professional-development guarantee" with protected

learning time and quality judged by impact rather than attendance, and quality assurance of

CPD trainers themselves. A non-binding European framework of teacher competences

evolving across career stages is proposed to structure this. More than one respondent wants

mentoring and CPD-linked innovation to count formally, including financially, toward career

progression.

f. Initial teacher education and entry into the profession

Several respondents argue entry routes are too short or too easy, allowing people in without

full preparation, and propose longer pre-service pathways. One argues teacher-education

content needs modernising to cover AI, digital skills, inclusion and international cooperation.

Another proposal calls for folding qualifying training fully into university study rather than

allowing unqualified reserve-list staff into vacancies. Mandatory training in pedagogical-

research methodology and ethics is proposed to professionalise teaching. A university

association stresses universities must be recognised as key partners given the research-based

nature of teacher education. One respondent flags that training in an alternative pedagogical

approach currently sits alongside, rather than counting toward, the state licence, discouraging

entrants.

g. Artificial intelligence and digital tools

A consistent position is that AI should reduce workload, administrative burden, and support

differentiation, but not replace professional judgement, and needs genuine training to use well

and ethically. One respondent presents evidence from a teacher-facing AI platform estimating

large efficiency gains when teachers help design the tools themselves, recommending EU

hosting, data protection and real model choice as baseline conditions for any recommended

tool. Several respondents call for clear institutional rules on assessment, data and appropriate

use. Portable micro-credentials for AI literacy are proposed as achievable at EU level already.

h. Mobility and international cooperation

Mobility programmes such as Erasmus+ are seen as highly motivating but too complex to

apply for, especially for small or rural schools and overloaded staff. One detailed proposal

sets out a European teacher secondment scheme: a few years working in another Member

State with a guaranteed return post at home, funded mobility, language preparation, induction

and pension protection, designed as two-way capacity-sharing rather than one-way

recruitment, counting toward career progression. Other respondents call for fixing practical

obstacles to staff mobility such as arranging for substitute-teachery, and for recognising and

paying those who organise placements. Proposals also include extending cooperation beyond

Europe and linking schools to real projects with companies or universities, regular immersion

placements for language teachers specifically, and keeping mobility accessible to rural and

disadvantaged schools.

i. Recruitment and addressing shortages

Qualified teachers with third-country qualifications are flagged as an underused response to

shortages, with proposals for faster, more consistent EU-wide recognition of foreign

qualifications, funded bridging programmes, and sustained mentoring. A proposal sets out a

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fast-track reskilling pathway for people with refugees or other migrants who have an

educational background, and a dual or multi-subject qualification route, pairing a main

subject with a shortage subject. Separately, one respondent notes that lengthening initial

teacher education created a temporary graduate shortfall, arguing for EU recommendations to

plan for managing such transitions.

j. Vocational education and training

VET teachers are described as competing directly with industry, which pays more and

recognises experience faster, especially in technical subjects where shortages are

concentrated; proposed remedies include validating work-based competence as a route into

teaching and allowing partial or dual roles for industry professionals. Respondents call for

VET to remain explicitly visible in the EU Teachers Agenda. They also call for reduced

reporting burden and protected coordination time in vocational schools competing with

industry, for reversing cuts to VET language-teaching hours, and for greater investment in

vocational equipment, employer links, and AI/digital training.

k. Well-being, mental health and working conditions

Several respondents call for greater attention to teacher well-being from initial teacher

education onwards, alongside school-level measures such as reasonable workloads, burnout-

prevention and leadership supporting well-being. Individual accounts describe leaving, or

considering leaving, teaching due to stress and lack of institutional support, particularly

around classroom discipline for new teachers. Others call for stronger legal protection against

aggression from parents, violence or misinformation. Investment in physical infrastructure is

raised both as a well-being and a broader attractiveness issue.

l. Support staff and multiprofessional teams

A recurring call is for significantly more non-teaching support staff, IT, social work, medical,

psychological and community liaison roles, so teachers are not left covering every need

themselves, linked to what respondents describe as the "ever-expanding" informal role

teachers are expected to play. Strong multiprofessional teams and protected joint planning

time are also highlighted more broadly.

m. School leadership

School leadership's own attractiveness and training is raised as a distinct issue, with proposals

to recognise leadership formally as a partner in EU-level social dialogue alongside unions,

and to give leaders more access to genuine training and exchange, currently seen as limited.

Selecting principals on competence and leadership skill, and giving them real autonomy to

reward good teachers, is raised as a lever for attractiveness, alongside dedicated leadership

training on staff development and AI adoption and more say for leaders in hiring decisions.

n. Inclusion, diversity and multilingual classrooms

CPD and initial training on inclusion, multilingual classrooms and personalising learning for

diverse students is repeatedly requested. One respondent links a more diverse teaching

workforce to better outcomes for migrant and minority pupils specifically, and cross-

European exchange of good practice in inclusion is welcomed by several respondents.

o. Governance, funding simplification, monitoring and evidence

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Respondents call for radically simplifying EU funding applications, through micro-grants and

simpler forms, and a single digital access point for existing platforms and data. One flags

reforms as sometimes designed without classroom experience or driven by pressure to use

EU funds. Another calls for major reforms to be agreed on a stable, cross-party, roughly 15-

year basis with resources ready before implementation. Respondents also want monitoring

that tracks real change in classroom practice and outcomes such as retention and workload,

not just participation numbers.

p. Public perception and recognition of the profession

Respondents call for public recognition and awareness campaigns on the dignity of teaching,

and for awards to reach a wider group of teachers, not just a handful of prize-winners each

year. More generally, one respondent wants society and reform processes to better recognise

teachers' day-to-day work before legislating changes that affect them.

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6.7. Annex 2: List of abbreviations and acronyms

• AI - Artificial Intelligence

• CPD - Continuing Professional Development

• CEEP - European Centre of Employers and Enterprises Providing Public Services and

Services of General Interest (originally the European Centre of Enterprises with Public

Participation)

• CIL - Computer and Information Literacy

• EACEA - European Education and Culture Executive Agency

• ECEC - Early Childhood Education and Care

• EEA - European Education Area

• EFEE - European Federation of Education Employers

• ENESET - Expert Network on Economics and Sociology of Education and Training

• ESF+ - European Social Fund Plus

• ETF - European Training Foundation

• ETUC - European Trade Union Confederation

• ETUCE - European Trade Union Committee for Education

• EVTS - European Vocational Teachers and Trainers Survey

• ICILS - International Computer and Information Literacy Study

• ICT - Information and Communication Technology

• ILO - International Labour Organization

• ISCED - International Standard Classification of Education

• ITE - Initial Teacher Education

• IVET - Initial Vocational Education and Training

• LGBTIQ+ - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer and other identities

• MOOC - Massive Open Online Course

• NGO - Non-Governmental Organisation

• OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

• PISA - Programme for International Student Assessment

• STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

• STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics

• TALIS - Teaching and Learning International Survey

• TFEU - Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

• TSI - Technical Support Instrument

• UN - United Nations

• UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

75

• UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

• UNICE - Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (now

BusinessEurope, renamed in 2007)

• VET - Vocational Education and Training

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