In this experiment, various emails were sent to students in senior general secondary education (HAVO) and preuniversity education (VWO) to inform them about open days of teacher training programmes. The subject line that most caught their attention was ‘Are you looking for job security, challenge and a wide range of career opportunities?’ as well as a subject line in which a role model was introduced. Where emails mention teachers' starting salaries, students most often click links to more information. However, the different types of email were found to make no difference to the ultimate aim of enticing more school students to visit an open day.

Why this experiment was conducted: increasing teacher shortages
Teacher shortages have arisen due to various factors, including retired teachers leaving the profession, declining enrolment in teacher training courses and an improving labour market. One way to combat the shortage of teachers is increased enrolment in teacher training programmes. Several information campaigns have already been run aimed at enhancing the appeal of teacher training programmes. However, providing information alone is usually not enough to encourage behavioural change.

Type of intervention: various emails employing different behavioural techniques
Research has shown that open days can play an important role in shaping the choice of study. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has therefore chosen to place the emphasis in this project on encouraging more school students to visit open days of teacher training colleges. Based on a behavioural analysis, it was decided to focus on three motivation factors in 3 different emails:
• career: addressing job security, challenge and broad career prospects in the teaching profession
• salary guarantee: offering guarantees about the relatively high starting salary of teachers
• role model: include a quote from a young teacher talking about their experiences in the teaching profession A basic information email was also drafted in order to check whether there is any impact of the three different behavioural emails compared to a basic information email. This basic information email did not employ any behavioural techniques, but instead only contained information about the open days. In addition to featuring techniques in their body, all the emails also had subject lines and headers that aligned with the technique being employed.

Method used: RCT
A Randomised Controlled Trial was conducted to examine the effects of the different emails. A total of 32,000 emails were sent to HAVO and VWO students. They were randomly allocated to the different conditions (besides the four emails, there was a control condition with no emails). Care was also taken to ensure that the groups were comparable, by school year (final examination year or the preceding year) and by profile. The open rates (% opening the email) and click rates (% clicking links in the email: one with additional information and one with an overview of open days) were analysed. In addition, a follow-up email was sent to the students asking them whether they had visited a teacher training college open day.

Result obtained: differences were observed in open and click rates, but not in open day visits
The career condition and the role model condition resulted in the highest open rates. It is clear, therefore, that they attracted school students' attention. Next, the basic and salary guarantee conditions had the highest click rates. The overall conversion rate, i.e. the click rate as a percentage of the number of emails sent, is highest in the basic condition (0.9%). The basic condition therefore scores higher than the career and role model condition. In addition, the salary guarantee condition scores higher than the role model condition. The other differences are not significant. No significant difference was observed in the effect on visits to a teacher training college/programme open day between the conditions. The same also applies to the control condition: the randomised group of school students who did not receive an email. On average, 14% of respondents said they had been to an open day.

Impact: more targeted interventions
For school students, the decision to choose teacher training is complex and is unlikely to be made based on an email. More is needed to spark their interest in these open days. At the same time, the profile score that was developed (based on interest and competency tests) was found to be an accurate predictor of interest in teacher training programmes. This profile score could be used for more targeted interventions in the future.

Source: https://www.binnl.nl/home+-+en/knowledge/publications/bin+nl+publications/HandlerDownloadFiles.ashx?idnv=2719979