Teacher Shortages: What can be learnt from Countries without a Teacher Shortage?

The teacher shortage is a global challenge. However, some countries are less prone to teacher shortages. The aim of this study was to examine three countries with little or no teacher shortage to explore what these countries do to attract and retain educated teachers. The three countries selected for this case study were Finland (Europe), Singapore, and the Republic of Korea (Southeast Asia). The data pertaining to these countries, as three specific case studies, come from policy documents, statistics, reports, and peer-reviewed articles. The themes in each case were thematically encoded and categorised by the described case context. The themes were identified deductively and strongly linked to the data. The results indicate that the teacher shortage and supply are related to teacher status and grounded in students’ performance and results, teacher training/education, systems for incoming and graduated teacher students, and support during their first years in their profession. Teacher status is seen as a loop in which higher teacher status leads to a lower likelihood of a teacher shortage. The conclusion is that attracting and retaining teachers is a multifaceted and complex process that is the result of many interacting aspects in each specific country’s context. Keywords: Finland, multiple case study, Sing