The shortage of teachers has become more severe in Finland especially in relation to early childhood education. The ability of teachers to cope at work has also been discussed extensively in public.
In early childhood education, the situation is dire in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, where there is a shortage of not only teachers but other early childhood education personnel as well. For instance, there are ECEC centres in Helsinki where there is only one qualified early childhood education teacher or, worse yet, none.
There is a shortage of qualified teachers at all levels of education. The low birth rate and resulting reduction in the number of children does not remedy the situation. More qualified teachers are needed in the field of education in order to achieve regional equality.
According to the municipal pension insurance report, we will need 2,300 new special needs teachers, 4,000 early childhood education teachers and 2,000 class teachers in Finland by 2030.