News item | 18-12-2025 | 4:00 PM
Sufficient and well-equipped school leaders, teachers and educational support staff are the basis for good education. The shortages are temporarily decreasing in primary and secondary education. That’s good news; At the same time, these are expected to rise again in a few years. That is why the government continues to focus on measures to recruit, train and retain education professionals and thus make education future-proof. State Secretary Koen Becking (OCW) and Minister Gouke Moes (OCW) wrote this today in a letter to the House of Representatives about the progress of the teacher strategy.
State Secretary Koen Becking: “Good and sufficient school leaders and teachers make a difference for our children and are essential for the future of our youth. It is a great profession, and every day I see how people in the school and in the classroom really make the difference.”
Minister Gouke Moes: “In my time as a teacher, I have experienced how a good teacher can make a difference for pupils and students. Good teacher training is of great importance for good teachers. It is not only necessary to make the profession more attractive, so that more people want to become teachers. We also invest in guaranteeing the quality of the training, so that future teachers are well equipped for the profession they will practice. We do this, among other things, by specifying the competence requirements for teachers so that it is more clear what graduate teachers must know and be able to do.”
Full speed ahead
TALIS2024 shows that teachers in the Netherlands are predominantly positive: 95% of teachers are satisfied with their work, 89% of teachers feel competent and in primary education satisfaction with salary has further increased to 84% of teachers. More and more people are also choosing to work in education. Just like in 2024, a total of 2,250 subsidies were awarded this year to lateral entrants, people who want to become a teacher from another profession. That’s a great foundation to build on. We do this, among other things, with the ‘Working with the future’ campaign. In this way we contribute to a positive and realistic image of working in education, with special attention to prospective students and potential lateral entrants. Retaining teachers requires good guidance in the first years and an effort to reduce workload. In this way, we work together with the educational field and educational regions to ensure sufficient and well-equipped school leaders and teachers, as a basis for good education.
Deficit is falling now, rising in the coming years
The latest measurements show that the current shortages are again lower than last year and that this picture is temporary. In primary education (primary education) there is now a teacher shortage of 5,800 FTE (6.3%), in secondary education (secondary education) the teacher shortage is 2,200 FTE (3.5%). In 2024 this was 7700 FTE and 3800 FTE respectively. The shortages vary greatly per region, with the G5 on average having the largest shortage in primary education (13.7%). The shortage of school leaders has also decreased and is now 461 FTE (6.2%) in primary education and 81 FTE (2.5%) in secondary education. Although the shortages have now partly been addressed, they are expected to rise again in the coming years, partly because more teachers are retiring and the number of students is increasing. In secondary education, the shortages continue to increase, especially in the shortage subjects, such as mathematics, physics and Dutch.