The government has taken note of the report by the "Attractiveness of the teaching profession" group. In it, the representatives of teaching staff and the Office of Education outline the measures that could be taken to attract more people to the teaching profession and retain existing teaching staff. In the next step, the measures will be examined for feasibility, impact and effect and prioritized.
Although Liechtenstein has recently been able to fill all vacancies for teaching staff compared to other regions, the Ministry and the Office of Education decided back in summer 2023 to address this issue at an early stage in collaboration with the teaching staff. A call for applications was issued to schools to find members for an "Attractiveness of the teaching profession" action group. A broad-based group of class teachers, subject teachers, school management, supplementary teachers from the primary and secondary levels and the grammar school was then set up. It was tasked with working out the current status of the attractiveness of the teaching profession in Liechtenstein. At the same time, a collection, comparison and analysis of various measures from other countries to deal with the shortage of teachers was to be drawn up, which would then result in a strategy paper with the most effective ways of training, recruiting and retaining teachers. In order to broaden the diversity of perspectives and create a sound basis for their work, the group conducted interviews with around 20 people from a wide range of positions in the education context.
Review and discussion of the catalog of measures
With this report, the group presents the government with a comprehensive overview, possible measures and forward-looking prototypes for the development of the teaching profession in Liechtenstein. To ensure that the available findings and the measures to be examined continue to be worked on beyond the change of legislature, the Office of Education was commissioned by the government to analyze the measures prioritized by the maker group and to submit concrete proposals for their feasibility and impact to the government by summer 2025. The catalog of measures is to be reviewed and discussed under the direction of the Office of Education in a participatory process in collaboration with the teachers' associations, school principals and members of the makers' group. It goes without saying that measures that can increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession in the short term should also be proposed to the government for implementation before the deadline.