Key facts
- High-quality education systems depend on sufficient numbers of qualified, well-supported teachers.
- Globally, tens of millions of children are out of school and many more are in overcrowded classrooms without a qualified teacher.
- Pupil-teacher ratios in many regions far exceed recommended benchmarks, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and in refugee and displacement contexts.
- Teacher migration from lower-income to higher-income countries, including to the United Kingdom, can exacerbate shortages in countries of origin.
- International bodies have set out clear recommendations for tackling teacher shortages, including better pay, conditions, training and funding.
- The NEU has called on the UK government to recognise the global nature of the teacher shortage and adopt a coherent strategy in response.
Key statistics
- Globally, 272 million children are out of school.
- Around 44 million additional teachers will be needed worldwide by 2030, including 13 million primary and 31 million secondary teachers.
- Sub-Saharan Africa alone needs about 15 million new teachers by 2030.
- The recommended pupil-teacher ratio is around forty to one in primary and twenty-five to one in secondary education, but sub-Saharan Africa has an average ratio of fifty-six to one in primary.
- In many displacement and refugee contexts, average pupil-teacher ratios are estimated to exceed seventy to one.
- In 2023, 486 teachers from Jamaica were recruited to teach in England, with significant impact on Jamaica’s education system.
Campaign asks
- Recognise the global teacher shortage as a shared challenge and make it a priority in UK foreign and development policy.
- Develop a new FCDO global teacher strategy that supports countries to train, recruit and retain qualified teachers.
- Improve teachers’ pay and working conditions worldwide so that teaching is an attractive, secure profession.
- Increase international financing for public education to meet benchmarks of 6% of GDP and 20% of government expenditure.
- Support teacher-led professional development and strengthen social dialogue with teacher unions in partner countries