Half — or 53% — of new teachers in Latvia may leave the profession within the next five years, according to the initial results of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2024).
This is the highest figure among OECD countries. The same trend is observed across the Baltic region — 50% of teachers under 30 in Lithuania and 49% in Estonia reported similar intentions.
The study also highlights several positive trends within Latvia’s teaching community. However, a significant number of school principals have indicated that teacher shortages persist, which means that efforts to retain new educators in the profession will need to continue.
The results show that generational renewal in the teaching profession is slow. In Latvia, 62% of teachers have more than 20 years of teaching experience. Most educators are approaching retirement age or expected to retire soon.
By contrast,
new teachers — those with five years or less of teaching experience — make up 13% of the teaching workforce.
The largest proportion of new teachers can be found in urban schools (17%), while the lowest share is in rural schools (12%).
Among Latvian teachers who began working within the five years prior to the survey, 78% participated in formal or informal induction programs at their schools — an increase of 35 percentage points since 2018.
Furthermore, 83% of new teachers work in schools that offer mentoring programs, yet only 26% actually have an assigned mentor. Since 2018, this indicator has risen by 10 percentage points.
The TALIS study compiles teachers’ and principals’ perspectives on the development of the teaching profession, working conditions, teaching practices, use of technology, social and emotional learning, as well as teacher well-being and future plans.
The fourth cycle of TALIS (2024) took place between 2021 and 2025, with the main data collection phase conducted in the spring of 2023. This cycle focused on four key educational themes: diversity and equity, use of technology, social and emotional learning, and education for sustainability. It also examined three major areas: teacher learning and development, daily teaching practices and professional perceptions, and the school learning environment.
In total, 54 countries participated in the study, which surveyed lower-secondary (Grades 7–9) teachers and school principals. From Latvia, 4,088 teachers and 213 school principals from 215 schools took part.
Latvia has participated in the TALIS survey since 2013.
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