How is the teacher shortage in the EU impacting the quality of education?

As a new school year begins and pupils return to classrooms across the EU, the issue of teacher shortages remains critical in several member states.

Countries such as France, Portugal, and Belgium have disclosed their education data for the 2025/2026 school year in the early weeks of September.

France faces a shortage of at least one teacher in more than half of its public schools, with three-quarters of middle and high schools reporting an incomplete teaching staff, according to the French National Union of Secondary School Teachers, SNES-FSU.

The French Minister of Education, Élisabeth Borne, stated on 1 September that "the equivalent of 2,500 teachers" are missing. The union claims that "the figures she put forward are likely underestimated".

Spanish, French, and Mathematics are among the most affected classes.

"In the Aix-Marseille academy, at least one teacher is missing in 41% of middle schools and high schools, and while this figure is 29.1% for the Dijon academy, it rises to 72% for the Créteil academy and nearly 75% for the Lyon academy," the union stated in a website post.

In Portugal, the situation is similar. Over 3,000 classes do not have complete staffing, with English, Portuguese and Geography classes being the most affected, according to the Portuguese teacher union, Fenprof.

In primary education, more than 4,000 students are at risk of starting the school year, which begins between 11 and 15 September, without a teacher.

The Portuguese capital, Lisbon, is among the worst-affected areas.

However, the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, claims that the numbers presented by unions are incorrect as "in 98%/99% of schools, all teachers have been assigned, and students will have classes in all subjects".

Meanwhile, in Belgium’s French-speaking schools, the problem is most persistent in secondary schools, where up to a quarter of necessary teachers are lacking.

As a result, some schools have switched to a four-day school week.

The teacher shortage in Brussels is even more acute than in the rest of Flanders—twice as high as in Antwerp or Ghent.

It can be complex to get a bigger picture of the situation in Belgium as it is divided by language communities: French, Dutch and German.

What are the reasons behind this crisis?

UNESCO assessed that more than 90% of the estimated teacher shortage in Europe and North America is due to teachers leaving the profession.

Teacher shortages are costly, impact workloads, and may deter future generations from joining the profession, which can create a cycle of low-quality education, perpetuating educational inequalities, according to UNESCO.

The lack of professionals also has a toll on how much time children spend in class.

On average, the total number of recommended hours in full-time compulsory general education is 7,868.

However, the total was below average in 22 education systems for the year 2024/2025.