Schools around the world are facing significant teacher staffing challenges, with widespread teacher shortages in many regions and subject areas. In the United States, over 80% of districts reported having multiple teacher vacancies heading into the 2024-25 school year, due to a shortage of qualified applicants. These staffing issues vary by locale and subject, with some areas seeing overall surpluses but difficulties filling specialized roles. One response to teacher shortages has been the increased use of alternative contracts in public schools, including temporary and fixed-term arrangements that deviate from standard, tenured teacher contracting. In this paper, we explore the relationship of contract type to teacher and school characteristics and the relationship of contract type to teacher work outcomes, including job satisfaction and self-efficacy. Using nationally representative data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018, we examine the distribution of contract types, the relationship between contract type and teacher/school characteristics, and the links between contract status and teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and career plans. We find that teachers employed on temporary contracts are less likely to work in large cities and are more likely to be younger, and early career teachers. In public schools, teachers on temporary contracts differ from their peers employed on traditional permanent contracts. There are significant differences in terms of age, experience, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy. Teachers on temporary contracts, one year or longer, tend to be younger and less experienced than teachers on permanent contracts; in the United States context, this could be related to procedures around tenure in traditional public schools. Notably, teachers on one-year contracts report lower self-efficacy and job satisfaction. This could also be tied to uncertainty they face until reaching the job stability associated with tenure. These relationships are related to teacher age and experience. Alternatively contracted teachers may become more common as school systems address staffing challenges alongside declining enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs. Alternative contract types may indicate an evolving understanding of teacher preferences and a school system organizational response to new labor market needs. The findings from this paper can inform policy discussions around strategies for supporting a high-quality, stable teaching workforce in the face of evolving labor market demands.

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