Shortage of qualifed science teachers in Norway. A System Dynamics approach

Abstract

In the following research we present a work which addresses the problem of a shortage of qualified science teachers in secondary school education in Norway. The shortage of qualified science teachers in secondary schools has been addressed in recent years by the Norwegian media. The results of our work confirm the public concerns expressed and, through the model, we were able to find that the situation of shortage was present some time prior the media became interested in the issue. We have tested different policies in an attempt to solve the shortage, and none of them resulted in a complete solution. Our second policy “INCREASE WAGES” presented resulted in an improvement to the initial situation, but the cost of increased wages seemed to be economically unsustainable. The third policy “TRAINING/UPGRADING” also resulted in an improvement but the number of teachers required to fulfil the shortage will simply move the problem into another sector of the teaching workforce. The fourth policy “INCREASE WAGES and TEACHERS TRAINING” was the solution which improved the initial situation without creating negative effects on other parts of the system. The final policy appears to be the direction in which the real system is heading, but recent decisions have not been strong enough to change the situation.