Education is the cornerstone of the knowledge-based society.
The teaching workforce is ageing. Moreover, recent signs point to a worsening of the situation in several other countries, such as Germany and New Zealand. Already the teaching profession must compete for a shrinking pool of young talent, at a time when the attractiveness of school-level teaching as a career is declining. Teachers are typically being asked to do more work for less reward. Faced with these problems, ensuring that there will be enough skilled teachers to educate all children becomes an issue of major importance to policymakers.