Expansion of the Teacher Labor Market by the Tertiarization of Teacher Training and Restricted Mobility of Graduates: the Case of French-speaking Switzerland

Abstract

Based on data from an inter-institutional survey of new graduates (graduates between 2007 and 2017), we show in several steps that recruitment strategies continue to meet the local / cantonal needs of schools : First, we show that the mobility observed mainly concerns candidates for teacher training, while employment is more in line with the social network logic in which candidates are located (Girinshuti, 2019). Although the recruitment is regulated at the schools’ level for all graduates, we nevertheless show that there is a segmentation logic (Bucher & Strauss, 1961). Teaching employment thus does not pose the same access issues depending on whether it is teaching at the primary level, where there is a high rate of part-time employment and a high demand for labour, or teaching at the upper-secondary level, where the labour market is beginning to be saturated, particularly when teaching certain academic disciplines. In accordance with this increasing segmentation, we end by highlighting the profiles of teachers by levels. In particular, we show a gender effect where the more saturated the sub-market, the more difficult it is for women to access a job that matches their teacher training.