Teacher wellbeing and the shaping of teacher shortages in crisis-affected contexts

Difficult to attain local-level data suggests that conflict, a sudden influx of refugees, and/or the burden of teaching in under-resourced environments can accelerate teacher attrition and compound teacher shortages, as defined by a lack of qualified teaching personnel, extreme pupil to teacher ratios, and/or teachers who are insufficiently supported to teach. Despite this emergent knowledge, we do not yet have a global-level understanding of the correlation between teachers’ work conditions, their wellbeing, and attrition rates in crisis-affected contexts. Due to a lack of standardised teacher wellbeing indicators and fragmented reporting, the extent to which teacher wellbeing determines rates of attrition is more anecdotal than an empirical fact. To illustrate this reality and work towards improved attention and funding for teacher wellbeing research, policy, and practice – so that qualified and appropriately remunerated teachers can be attracted to, rewarded by, and retained in the profession – this paper draws from United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4c data on the supply and retention of qualified teachers and four teacher wellbeing contextualization studies from Colombia, Kenya, Myanmar, and Palestine. Analysis of this data reveals two valuable insights: 1) national-level data can mask teacher wellbeing issues, attrition rates, and teacher shortages within local-level crises, and 2) the work of teaching is a protective and a risk factor in teachers’ lives. In other words, teachers’ work conditions in crisis-affected contexts and their sense of wellbeing are coterminous with their willingness to teach.