Expectations around student learning are evolving, carrying important implications for the teaching profession. Education systems are increasingly goal oriented, articulating ambitious aspirations for what learners should achieve at different stages of their learning processes. Teachers remain central for achieving these goals, with ever higher expectations placed upon them.

We expect teachers to have a deep and broad understanding of what they teach, whom they teach and how students learn, because what teachers know and care about makes such a difference to student learning. But we expect much more than what we put into the job descriptions of teachers. We expect teachers to be passionate, compassionate and thoughtful; to make learning central and encourage students’ engagement and responsibility; to respond effectively to students of different needs, backgrounds and languages, and to promote tolerance and social cohesion; to provide continual assessments of students and feedback; and to ensure that students feel valued and included and that learning is collaborative. We expect teachers themselves to collaborate and work in teams, and with other schools and parents, to set common goals, and plan and monitor the attainment of goals.

Not least, students are unlikely to become lifelong learners if they do not see their teachers as active lifelong learners, willing to extend their horizon and question the established wisdom of their times. And there is more, most successful people had at least one teacher who made a real difference in their life – because the teacher acted as a role model, or took a genuine interest in the student’s welfare and future, or provided emotional support when the student needed it.

In 2022, the Ministerial Declaration on Building Equitable Societies Through Education highlighted high-quality teaching as a critical factor in improving learning outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged students. The Declaration also called for recognising the evolving roles of education professionals and advocated for policies that empower them to meet these demands. However, declining student performance, persistent inequities in learning, and growing teacher shortages show us that we need to find new policy responses.

Teachers need to meet expectations while navigating old and new challenges. Demographic changes, for example, will continue to greatly impact the teaching profession in the coming years, according to 33 governments surveyed by the OECD for this report. Populations are ageing, including teachers, and we are having fewer children, resulting in a fluctuating profile of student populations across many education systems. We are also becoming more urban, and our classrooms more diverse, with implications for class size or inclusiveness. But while most education systems recognise demographic shift as a priority, fewer report that policies concerning the teaching profession adequately address these changes.

At the same time, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results for 2022 show that digital investments in education are not yet translating into improved learning outcomes. This underscores the need for a more evidence-informed approach to digital technology in classrooms. Governments are aware of this necessity, yet a gap is emerging between vision, policy, and classroom realities. In particular, efforts to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) risk repeating the pattern of high resource investment with little educational return.

Supporting teachers in experimenting with practices, collaborating with researchers and EdTech developers, and drawing on peer expertise can help close this gap. As can efforts to level up teachers' own professional learning through digital means. EdTech, researchers, and policy makers can pay much more attention to the opportunities advanced technologies offer teacher development.

Both quick fixes and strategic approaches are essential to balance teacher supply and demand in ways that support education quality over time. Creating conditions that help teachers thrive in evolving contexts will require examining the opportunities, structures, and processes that can empower them as trusted professionals. This, in turn, calls for political will and strategic skill to define priorities that transform rules into guidelines for good practice, and ultimately, good practice into culture.

In our changing world, advancing into 2025 and beyond, fostering opportunities for teachers’ professional learning, collaboration, well-being, and leadership is key. Equally important is enhancing teachers’ capacity to integrate digital technologies within a broader pedagogical toolkit.

Addressing teacher shortages, therefore, goes beyond merely getting teachers where they are lacking. It is about ensuring that all teachers have the essential skills – from foundational pedagogies (ABCs) to digital fluency, including AI – to deliver quality education in diverse and evolving settings. As pointed out in this report, this requires not only having the right number of teachers but also placing them in the right schools at the right time, and in ways that optimise student learning.

Depending on the context of the education system, long-term measures for this may include reforming funding models or systematically supporting flexible, specialised, and mobile career pathways within and beyond teaching. In classrooms, the traditional 'one teacher, one classroom' model may no longer suffice. Emerging practices across OECD countries suggest that education systems can explore alternative structures that promote flexibility and make better use of the workforce’s collective skills.

We must commit to thoughtful, transformative action that lays the foundation for a thriving teaching profession, from foundational skills to advanced digital tools, to support student learning well into the future.

Andreas Schleicher

Director for Education and Skills,

OECD Special Advisor on Education

Policy to the Secretary-General