One Policy for All? Teachers' Varied Labour Market Trajectories and Regulatory Implications

While in most countries regulation of teachers' qualifications, working time and compensation  is uniform across teaching specializations (subjects), the actual teaching experiences, as well as potential opportunities outside the education sector can vary widely based on the subjects taught. Combining administrative data on public school teachers from Poland, and data on professional careers of university graduates not employed in schooling, we identify key differences between 14 major school subjects. We then discuss how these differences may affect the recruitment and attrition of teachers in schooling system, as well as the self-selection to the teaching profession. Additionally, we offer recommendations to enhance the flexibility of existing regulations governing the teaching profession. Lastly, we assess the broader applicability and relevance of our findings beyond the confines of the Polish educational landscape.