Despite years of focus, the teacher shortage remains massive: Now more and more municipalities are investing their own money in the teachers of the future

The calculation is not particularly complicated.

Fewer and fewer people are applying for teacher training programs these years. The dropout rate there is also high, and even more drop out after just a few years of teaching in primary school.

Furthermore, a large portion of the teachers currently standing in front of blackboards across the country are approaching retirement age. They must also be subtracted.

Minus, minus, minus.

Add them up, and you get an idea of the problem: there is a shortage of teachers, and it is only getting worse.

"Both now and in the future, we will lack trained primary school teachers in our schools, and if we don't do something, that shortage will only become even greater," states Martin Damm (V), mayor of Kalundborg and vice-chairman of Local Government Denmark (KL).

So now several municipalities are doing something about it – including Kalundborg.

> "This is not something that can wait for long political negotiations at Christiansborg, and this is one of the tools we can use ourselves."

>

> Jens Ejner Christensen (V), mayor of Vejle Municipality

Across the country, municipalities are establishing training positions where student teachers work regularly at nearby primary schools as part of their education.

In some places it is called school-based teacher training. In other places, the students are called teacher trainees.

"Of course, it is with the ulterior motive that when we spend resources on training teachers who are at our schools and studying at the same time, we hope they will stay," says Martin Damm.

-------------------

The teacher shortage is growing

-------------------

* Last year, according to University Colleges Denmark, there was a shortage of 4,300 teachers nationwide, and that number is expected to rise significantly.

* Over the past five years, admissions to teacher training have fallen by 28 percent.

* 15 percent of those who started teacher training in 2024 had dropped out by last year, and more than one in three of those who started in 2019 had dropped out by last year.

* Nearly one in five newly qualified teachers who start working in primary school immediately after graduation leave again within three years, while almost one in four leave primary school within five years.

Source: University Colleges Denmark (https://xn--danskeprofessionshjskoler-xtc.dk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Fakta-om-laereruddannelsen-april-2026.pdf) and AE based on figures from Statistics Denmark (https://www.ae.dk/analyse/2025-09-opgoerelse-af-undervisere-i-folkeskolen-med-og-uden-laereruddannelse)

------------------------------

'We have to do something'

------------------------------

For example, 20 student teachers will now, as the end of summer vacation marks the start of a new school year, teach two days a week at schools in the municipalities of Kalundborg, Holbæk, Lejre, and Odsherred, which distribute them evenly among themselves.

In Odsherred, the municipality will invest nearly six million Danish kroner in the project over the coming years, where the number of student teachers will grow to a total of 16 by 2029.

"We are doing this because we want more trained teachers," says Mayor Hanne Pigonska (V).

"There aren't as many as we would like applying to our schools. And it's not that we are in acute shortage, but we also have to think ahead all the time," she explains.

Only three out of four teachers in Odsherred Municipality had a teacher training qualification when AE, based on figures from Statistics Denmark, calculated the regional differences in that regard last year (https://www.ae.dk/analyse/2025-09-opgoerelse-af-undervisere-i-folkeskolen-med-og-uden-laereruddannelse).

The proportion of unqualified teachers is particularly high in Zealand.

In the same survey, one in five teachers in any given staff room at a school in Kalundborg Municipality was not a trained teacher.

"We have to do something so we can ensure good teaching at our schools," concludes Martin Damm.

This is despite the fact that the teacher shortage has long been a political focus (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/mangel-paa-uddannede-laerere-fylder-paa-foerste-skoledag-folkeskolen-staar-i-en) and that the government's platform (https://stm.dk/statsministeriet/publikationer/det-politiske-grundlag-for-firkloeverregeringen/) states that "a targeted effort must be made to retain and recruit more teachers for primary schools."

Therefore, it is also accompanied by a barely concealed criticism of the efforts from politicians at Christiansborg, as the municipalities now take action themselves.

"We can at least note that the other approach doesn't seem to be working fully," says Martin Damm, continuing:

"So we want to do something. We want to ensure that our children and young people get the best possible education in our primary schools, and we have to go the extra mile here to ensure that."

There is a relatively long distance to a teacher training program from a municipality like Kalundborg, where Martin Damm (V) is mayor. And therefore, his schools are usually not at the front of the queue for the teachers who are so sought after these years, he points out. (Photo: © Søren Bidstrup, Ritzau Scanpix)

"Anything else would be irresponsible, if you ask me," concludes Martin Damm.

--------------------------------

Cannot wait for Christiansborg

--------------------------------

School-based teacher training is not a new invention. But the positions where student teachers are attached to municipal primary schools from the very start of their education have become more and more numerous in recent years.

The idea is that aspiring teachers immediately get a feel for everyday life in a classroom, rather than what is now known as a "practice shock" when theory from their studies has to be translated into teaching twenty-something students, each with their own needs.

> "Personally, I believe it gives newly qualified teachers more resilience."

> Jens Ejner Christensen (V), mayor of Vejle Municipality

In Vejle Municipality alone, which also has previous experience with such a trainee scheme, 80 positions will be created over the next four years to secure labor in a future where the teacher shortage will only grow.

"It is a challenge we take seriously," explains the municipality's mayor, Jens Ejner Christensen (V).

"Personally, I believe it gives newly qualified teachers more resilience. And above all, it gives them a much greater insight into what the task they are taking on actually involves," he says.

Jens Ejner Christensen also does not expect the growing teacher shortage to be solved from Christiansborg anytime soon.

"This is not something that can wait for long political negotiations at Christiansborg, and this is one of the tools we can use ourselves," he says.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.