The German Telekom Foundation publishes new study on STEM teacher satisfaction in collaboration with Ilka Parchmann

School administrators assume pivotal roles when it comes to systematically integrating career changers and lateral entrants into the teaching staff and utilizing their skills from previous careers. But concepts for this are still lacking. A study on STEM staff at schools commissioned by the German Telekom Foundation illustrates this. The study was carried out by a team led by educational researchers Prof. Dr. Ilka Parchmann, Head of the Department of Chemistry Education at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Kiel (IPN), Prof. Dr. Friederike Korneck, University of Frankfurt am Main, and Prof. Dr. Birgit Ziegler, Technical University of Darmstadt.

"For us, the study shows that career changers and lateral entrants can be an important piece of the puzzle and a lever to tackle the shortage of STEM teachers. However, the key prerequisite for this is that they are systematically qualified for the teaching profession and integrated into the teaching staff," explains Jacob Chammon, Managing Director of the Telekom Foundation. "Reducing the importance of these teachers to an emergency measure in the fight against the teacher shortage is, in our view, more than unreasonable. For the Telekom Foundation, one thing is clear: career changers and lateral entrants can enrich schools - especially, but not only for STEM subjects - and should be able to do so on a permanent basis."

The teachers surveyed for the STEM subjects - mathematics, computer science, science and technology - were generally very satisfied with their profession, regardless of whether they entered the teaching profession via the regular route or as lateral entrants. Likewise, regardless of the path of entry, STEM teachers strongly agree on central convictions that have a positive impact on the quality of teaching, including enthusiasm for teaching and problem-solving skills. The study surveyed career changers and lateral entrants already in the teaching profession. To date, there has been a lack of data for a more comprehensive view, such as how many people start a lateral entry and how high the drop-out rate is. 

However, the results of the study indicate the importance of school administrators integrating career changers and lateral entrants better in order to retain them in the teaching staff - also to counteract the shortage of teachers in the long term. Measures fostering cooperation in everyday school life remain relatively uncommon according to the results. For example, only around a fifth of the STEM teachers surveyed reported having fixed cooperation time slots at their school.

A summary of the study (in German) including recommendations for action as well as the full report and an interview with the researchers are available free of charge on the German Telekom Stiftung website.