Austria appears to be getting better at recruiting teachers. Keeping them in the classroom, especially during the first years of their careers, is proving more difficult.
That is one of the findings from the OECD's latest Education at a Glance report, released on Tuesday, which this year focuses in particular on teacher shortages and the profession's attractiveness.
The Austrian figures present something of a contradiction. Teachers report comparatively high satisfaction with their employment conditions and salaries, and career changers have helped ease staffing shortages.
Among fully qualified teachers in public primary and secondary schools who resigned in 2024/25, 69 percent had less than five years of teaching experience. Compared with the early-career workforce as a whole, around 9 percent of fully qualified teachers in this group resigned that year.
Teachers are relatively happy with their pay
According to the OECD's latest Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), 72 percent of lower-secondary teachers in Austria said they were satisfied with their salary. Across the OECD, the figure was just 39 percent.
Satisfaction with employment conditions was also comparatively high.
Money, however, isn't the only measure of a profession's attractiveness. Just 21 percent of Austrian teachers surveyed said they felt teachers were valued by society, much in line with the OECD average.
At the same time, only 9 percent of Austrian teachers under 30 said they intended to leave teaching within the next five years, compared with 20 percent across the OECD.
The early-career figures indicate that attracting somebody into teaching and persuading them to stay may require different policies.
Career changers are helping fill Austria's classrooms
Austria has increasingly turned to Quereinsteiger, or people moving into teaching from another profession, as one way to tackle teacher shortages.
According to the OECD figures, career changers now account for 6.8 percent of lower-secondary teachers in Austria, compared with an OECD average of 8.4 percent.
Austria expanded the recruitment route as it struggled with intense teacher shortages in recent years, allowing people with professional experience outside teaching to join the classroom and complete pedagogical training alongside their work.
The Local reported in August that Quereinsteiger were continuing to form part of Austria's recruitment drive for the current school year.
The OECD figures show why retention remains important alongside recruitment. Around 9 percent of fully qualified Austrian teachers with less than five years of experience resigned in 2024/25.
What about teachers who trained abroad?
The Local has previously reported on foreign-trained teachers, including native English-speaking teachers, who say Austria's system for recognising overseas qualifications and teaching experience can make it difficult to receive the same contracts and salaries as colleagues trained in Austria.
Teachers whose qualifications were obtained outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland generally face a different recognition route, usually requiring nostrification in Austria, and some have reported that years of previous teaching experience abroad weren't fully counted when their Austrian contracts and pay were calculated.
Foreign-trained teachers and Quereinsteiger aren't the same group. The latter generally enter teaching from another career, whereas foreign-trained teachers may already be qualified educators whose credentials need to be recognised in Austria.
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Key vocabulary
der Quereinsteiger / die Quereinsteigerin – a career changer entering a profession from another field
das Lehramt – teacher training or the professional qualification for teaching
die Nostrifizierung – formal recognition in Austria of certain foreign academic qualifications
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