Policy brief: Addressing Poland’s teacher shortage: Are wage increases enough?

Abstract

Teachers in Poland have experienced a great deal of adversity over the last 10 years, from the overturning of evidence informed reforms, low wages, and an influx of non-Polish speaking Ukrainian students. As such, the teaching profession has struggled to attract new staff and retain current staff, contributing to a growing teacher shortage. This paper highlights most attempts to mitigate teacher shortages are isolated on wage growth. Analysis shows whilst wage growth is essential to staff satisfaction and professional status, failing to address other contributing factors, such as increasing workloads, limits success. As such, two recommendations are offered as a starting point to combat the growing shortages; however, their success is questionable because of decisions made by the then ruling right-wing government (2015-23). This poses a serious matter that the recently sworn in coalition government must address.