EFL Teachers: Recommendations for Starting Professionals

Abstract

In Dutch secondary school EFL teaching, there is currently a shortage of qualified teachers. An alarming statistic is that one out of three starting teachers quits the profession within the first five years, exacerbating the issue. Although the shortage is expected to be resolved in 2023 due to falling student numbers, this thesis posits that the current dropout rate is cause for research. Government sources report a number of policies to remedy the teacher shortage. Romeijn (2016) hypothesizes a number of difficulties L2 teachers may encounter and which may influence the ±33% dropout rate. This master’s thesis examines Romeijn’s hypotheses as well as the effectiveness of government policy through six interviews with starting university educated Dutch EFL teachers from city areas, combined with a literature review. It found that while some issues mentioned by Romeijn are relevant to the starting teacher, others are not. Critical examination of government policy yielded that while some solutions may prove fruitful, especially in light of newly appointed funding, others may prove ineffective or even counterproductive if implemented in the field of EFL teaching in the Netherlands. The findings of the above research form the basis for an advice package for starting professionals to improve the sustainability of the profession, and hopefully decrease the dropout rate.