Is there a shortage of teachers and how can we deal with it?

With the start of the new school year, the Taub Center held an Education Policy Program meeting. Policy program fellows, researchers, and representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Central Bureau of Statistics, and the Knesset Research and Information Center were in attendance.

In his opening remarks, Nachum Blass, Chair of the Education Policy Program, said that the issue of a teacher shortage has come up every year for more than a decade, but that this year, there seems to be an additional dimension to the discussion. He claims that this year aside from the teacher shortage in the periphery, a shortage is being experienced in the Tel Aviv District as well as in the Center for teachers in specific specialty subjects. Presenters at the meeting were: Dr. David Maagan, head of the Education and Higher Learning sector, Central Bureau of Statistics; Ms. Iris Wolf, Senior Division leader of Training and Specialization of Teachers, Ministry of Education; Eti Weissblei, researcher in the Knesset Research and Information Center.

Dr. Maagan described trends in the development of teaching manpower in Israel over the past twenty years. He noted that despite the fact that there is not currently a shortage of educational workers, there are worrying signs with regard to the numbers of those turning to teaching and a shortage of teachers in specific subject specialties and in certain geographic areas. Ms. Wolf spoke from the perspective of the Ministry of Education, and pointed to the steps taken by the Ministry to retain existing manpower and to attract new teachers and education workers. Ms. Weissblei presented data from the Survey of School Principals undertaken by the Knesset Research and Information Center. Nachum Blass presented an alternate approach how to measure teacher shortage in high school mathematics based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Education for school budgeting. He showed that, according to these criteria, there is no shortage of teachers and, in fact, there may be an excess. Following the presentations there was further discussion of the issue and it was unanimously agreed that there remains a need for continued research into the issue.