Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is not bad information. There is no shortage, there are plenty of qualified teachers. There are schools that have trouble finding or retaining teachers because no one wants to work in rural areas with extremely low pay and no opprtunity to move up or grow or in the city schools that are in high crime, high poverty areas where most time is spent managing behavior and trying to meet the students' basic needs rather than actual teaching and learning.
There are quite a few Filipino teachers who have come (especially popular for rural areas) because the pay is excellent by Phillipines standards. They work and live frugally for 5 years, saving as much as they can so they can
go back home to the Phillipines and buy a home and basically set themselves for life.
I know several people in education and the market is very competitive in all areas including math and science. Not sure where librarians are in short supply as it is a field notorious for having limited jobs. The one place where I have seen a more limited supply is in vocational education but that is a different set of qualifications and job market.
There are are "plenty" of qualified teachers if you look at the gross numbers. what you have to do is look at the individual disciplines. English and Social Studies teachers are a dime for two dozen. Biology teachers are a bit more expensive, they're a dime a dozen
Now, you start looking for people to fill your Chemistry and Physics slots you can't find them. Math is a bit easier until you hit finding someone to do your AP Calculus classes, teachers find to not teach those.
World/Foreign Languages are much the same.
SPED is perennially short and has been for decades, especially when you get into the specialties like Speech Pathology and Audiology. The overall shortage is critical due to so many more kids being diagnosed as Autistic.
There are are "plenty" of qualified teachers if you look at the gross numbers. what you have to do is look at the individual disciplines. English and Social Studies teachers are a dime for two dozen. Biology teachers are a bit more expensive, they're a dime a dozen
Now, you start looking for people to fill your Chemistry and Physics slots you can't find them. Math is a bit easier until you hit finding someone to do your AP Calculus classes, teachers find to not teach those.
World/Foreign Languages are much the same.
SPED is perennially short and has been for decades, especially when you get into the specialties like Speech Pathology and Audiology. The overall shortage is critical due to so many more kids being diagnosed as Autistic.
Nope, those stories have been around for years and years. You can also find article refuting the teacher shortage. There is no issue finding STEM at all. Actually, there are many teachers who transitioned from careers in engineering, computer science, and other STEM fields. The shortage story is actually a joke among educators. Nowadays, many educators have multiple licenses and the most popular to pair with content areas are sped and esl. Also, a common practice in high needs schools (i.e low performing) is to post jobs that are already filled because everyone in their first 3 years of employment must "reinterview" for their job. It is a silly practice that those schools have to do to satisfy the state dept of ed that they ar edoing everything to improve the school.
If Google decided to pay engineers 20% below market rate and had a hard time find talent would that mean there is a shortage of engineers? No. People only take crappy jobs as a last resort until they can find something better.
The sped "shortage" actually has to do with those teachers always getting overloaded with kids as a cost saving measure so they leave and move into a different area of education. But, again, many are fully qualified they just don't want a crappy job.
. Go look at educator forums and you will find many talking about how difficult it is to find a job. Many choose to be permanent substitutes in decent schools rather than stay in urban schools with poor, and sometimes dangerous, conditions.
Nope, those stories have been around for years and years. You can also find article refuting the teacher shortage. There is no issue finding STEM at all. Actually, there are many teachers who transitioned from careers in engineering, computer science, and other STEM fields. The shortage story is actually a joke among educators. Nowadays, many educators have multiple licenses and the most popular to pair with content areas are sped and esl. Also, a common practice in high needs schools (i.e low performing) is to post jobs that are already filled because everyone in their first 3 years of employment must "reinterview" for their job. It is a silly practice that those schools have to do to satisfy the state dept of ed that they ar edoing everything to improve the school.
If Google decided to pay engineers 20% below market rate and had a hard time find talent would that mean there is a shortage of engineers? No. People only take crappy jobs as a last resort until they can find something better.
The sped "shortage" actually has to do with those teachers always getting overloaded with kids as a cost saving measure so they leave and move into a different area of education. But, again, many are fully qualified they just don't want a crappy job.
. Go look at educator forums and you will find many talking about how difficult it is to find a job. Many choose to be permanent substitutes in decent schools rather than stay in urban schools with poor, and sometimes dangerous, conditions.
Other than the first couple being anti-union, and really anti-teacher, screeds the articles don't say what you think they say.
In fact, they support what I said about Math and Science teacher shortages.
Just saying that the US graduates X teachers a year while the need is only Y doesn't change the facts on the ground-many school systems, for whatever reason, can't fill many specific openings.
If I'm gauging you correctly you won't like the solution because it mean paying people more to teach.
Anecdotally, in my 30+ year career in the classroom career changers were generally the most spectacular train wrecks. I had to spend one entire year being pulled out of my classroom almost daily to ride herd an a couple we had. I said no more at the end of that year so the Administration had to do it the next year.
The US has plenty of qualified teachers. In states where there are unions, jobs are very competitive. Only thing you might get are ghetto positions in dangerous inner city public schools because no one else wants to work there. But even then, I haven't heard of any recruiting of foreign teachers.
I can't speak for Canada, but the USA is desperate for teachers, and then they want to stick you in the ones that nobody wants to teach in. Try it if you want, but I've seen how it often works out. There is no discipline in US schools right now. [Snip.]
Mod cut.
Don't make broad statements about discipline in schools. It very much depends on the state, the district, and the individual school.
Mod cut.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 08-16-2021 at 05:20 PM..
Reason: References to political comments which have been deleted.
The US has way too many teachers. The field is more than flooded, except in poor or dangerous areas with horrible pay.
One of my teacher friends put apps to about 4 states. It took her 2 years to find the new job.
Maybe it was your friend. Over the years I saw many unqualified candidates from reasons as varied as no certification, to bad references, to poor interview skills, to an inability to successfully write an essay.
I disagree with library science. That is going the way of the dinosaur.
The rest of the subjects don't matter. The shortage is not based on subject, it is based on safety and pay.
This is reality. A friend of mine was recruited to teach in a poor district. She doesn’t even have a state teaching credential. But they tossed her to the “animals”. And from what she’s tells me, that’s being generous with the description. No discipline at all, parents just use the school as a baby sitting service, the police like it because the kids aren’t out doing crime while they are at the school. And the school administration just wants warm bodies in seats to get the ADA money. She hates the job and will be moving on when this year is done. It’s pretty bad that the kids are given the opportunity but they can make more money slinging dope than studying in school.
If she's serious about teaching, why isn't she certified?
There are are "plenty" of qualified teachers if you look at the gross numbers. what you have to do is look at the individual disciplines. English and Social Studies teachers are a dime for two dozen. Biology teachers are a bit more expensive, they're a dime a dozen
Now, you start looking for people to fill your Chemistry and Physics slots you can't find them. Math is a bit easier until you hit finding someone to do your AP Calculus classes, teachers find to not teach those.
World/Foreign Languages are much the same.
SPED is perennially short and has been for decades, especially when you get into the specialties like Speech Pathology and Audiology. The overall shortage is critical due to so many more kids being diagnosed as Autistic.
NorthBeach is presenting the most accurate posts in this forum, and this is a good example.
I've been retired from the principalship for ten years now. Doesn't matter. It was never an issue of there was a shortage or surplus of teachers. It was always about whether there was a shortage or surplus of teachers in a particular content area (talking here about middle and high school) AND about a shortage of qualified teachers you would WANT to hire.
Math & Science -- terribly difficult to fill.
Social studies & English -- candidates out the wazoo.
Foreign language -- depends on the language.
Performing arts -- not a problem.
Special ed -- very tough.
PE -- candidates out the wazoo.
Practical arts -- varies.
ESOL -- varies.
Library -- varies.
Now before you say, "Well, you been out of it for a decade", I just called a colleague principal who's still in it. Says not much has changed.
So, from my perspective it's about content area and how well-qualified the candidate is (and the former takes in a lot of differing aspects of being qualified).
A lot of high schools only offer Spanish, French, and maybe German. I'm curious what languages are harder to hire for. I'm guessing Spanish teachers are pretty abundant.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
