Brussels, 17/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - OECD Education Ministers are to meet on 19 March in Dublin under the presidency of Irish Minister for Education and Science Noël Dempsey, to discuss the following themes: "Raising performance ratings for all", "education to the service of democratic citizenship", "improving the supply of teachers and the effectiveness of personnel". On the eve of this ministerial meeting, the OECD is organising a forum in Dublin on "education and social cohesion", with the participation of Rod Paige, US Secretary of State for Education; Robert D. Putnam, Professor at Harvard University; and Hugh Brady, President of University College Dublin.
The OECD stresses that the shortage of teachers, especially in areas such as computer science, technology, mathematics, foreign languages and sciences, is forcing education providers to rethink the way in which schools and teaching are organised. The OECD recalls that, according to the research it has carried out, two factors threaten the quality of education in many countries: the ageing of teaching staff and the level of qualification for this profession. He went on to note by way of example that, on average, three secondary teachers out of ten are over the age of 50 in OECD countries. Germany and Italy have the most teachers in this age group followed by Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland. This means that many of them will be retiring in the relatively near future and some countries will find it difficult to attract qualified staff, the OECD states. The OECD considers that one of the ways to overcome these shortages is to raise the salary levels of teachers. Also, governments should tackle problems linked to the prestige of the teaching profession and to job satisfaction. (Information: http://www.oecd.org/edumin2004 ).