Career Corner

Recently I was surprised to hear two different school districts in major cities advertising for “anyone with a bachelor’s degree” to apply to teach. The advertisements stated that the districts were desperate for teachers and could certify anyone with a bachelor’s degree. One district even said certification could be accomplished in only two Saturdays of preparation. I was shocked! How could someone with two days of preparation be the equivalent of a teacher who trained and studied for many years in college and was then mentored by a master teacher during a semester of student teaching? How could someone off the street be considered for such a role, especially during this time of “No Child Left Behind”? Is this an aberration or is this a thing of the future? If we are not able to fill our teacher roles with quality, qualified teachers will we resort to taking whoever is available? Has the demand completely outstripped the supply of certified teachers?

I genuinely hope that this is an aberration. Historically when the economy has been strong students tend to leave the field of teaching for more lucrative careers. Now that the economy is softening we should see more students return to the teaching field. Also, there has never been a larger number of teachers facing retirement - especially early retirement. This has fueled the fire of teaching vacancies. There are other reasons that add to this predicament but they all add up to a glut of teacher vacancies and a shortage of teacher candidates. A student at a recent teacher fair told me he was shocked at how many recruiters asked, “What can we do to get you to teach at our school?” This is a far cry from the days of “scrambling for a job” and “taking what you can get.”

Most districts agree the failure rate of new teachers is highest among these “quickee” certified teachers. These teachers tend to have more problems and need more supervision than traditionally certified teachers. I would assume that these are a stop-gap for our present supply and demand problem and soon we will return to a balance. Would it help if this issue were addressed by our state legislatures and federal governments? Will this problem continue if we do not back up “No Child Left Behind” with funds to reward all teachers as well as master teachers? Is this a problem that will work itself out or is there need for further discussion and action?

Hopefully we can have discussions about this problem with our cohorts and our government leaders and agree on some solutions soon.

Bob Maxfield
Director
BYU-Idaho Teacher Career Services

Posted by AAEE at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This past May has been unusual for my office. I help place student teachers into the positions where they will student teach for the fall semester. In past years this has been fairly normal and fairly routine. The reason I have called this past month "unusual" is that four of the math majors I placed in student teaching positions for this fall were offered teaching jobs at schools other than where they were assigned to student teach.

In other words these students will be teachers with their own classroom, their own discipline system, their own grading system, their own set of class rules without ever having student taught or for that matter without being certified or graduated from a university. The competition for math teachers has become so tight that schools are jumping the gun and hiring these students before they even student teach. As a university we are forced to give student teaching credit for the first semester of full-time, paid teaching. Is this the wave of the future for those teaching majors that are in high demand? Will special education teachers and science teachers see the same recruiting pressure in the near future? Will this pre-hiring of in-demand teachers return to sting these schools? Will these pre-hired teachers somehow gain the teaching skills and experience that comes from observing and mimicking a master teacher? Is this a short term solution to a long term problem?

It is interesting to view this problem from both sides of the isle. On one side are schools who simply can not find competent math teachers and are willing to gamble on an unproven college senior to fill the need. On the other side are universities and state departments of education who are concerned that in the long term these quick hires will not receive the necessary training that only comes through student teaching with a competent teacher who gives excellent advice and feedback to the student teacher.

There are examples to support both sides of the argument. One principal stated that his cooperating teacher simply put him in charge of the class on the first day of student teaching and it was a sink or swim situation. Luckily he learned to swim. A senior student who was hired as the teacher in lieu of student teaching recalled a few years later that he regretted the fact that his career suffered because he was not able to receive the feedback and recommendations available in student teaching.

Many senior students feel they are capable and would like the opportunity to begin teaching immediately. Or maybe they simply want to be paid as a full-time teacher with benefits versus teaching under someone while paying tuition and fees.

Is this just a symptom of the problem we currently have in education? Is there a need to recruit more students into the teaching field, especially the in-demand majors? Do we need to pay the math, sciences, and special education fields the equivalent to their non-education jobs? One science teacher lamented that he could double or triple his salary if he were in the "real" world. A university career services counselor said that his special education students were recruited by hospitals and health care services and paid much more than public schools could pay.

These are some serious questions that we need to ask ourselves in this industry. There are no easy answers and there are no silver bullets. There are only serious discussions that should help our legislators and government find solutions to these concerns of public education.

-Bob Maxfield
Director,
Brigham Young University - Idaho Teacher Career Services

Posted by AAEE at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

A student recently emailed my office asking for job placement statistics for the teacher education majors at our university. I am always at a loss to answer such a broad question because many factors go into what I am sure this student hopes is a simple answer. I once overheard a career services director of a major university answer the job placement statistics question by saying, "We have 100% job placement! All of our students eventually find a job somewhere."

With that answer in mind I would like to give three main factors in successful job placement. First, is the graduate able to go to the job. If a student is able to go to the job, say for example move to a rural school or an inner city school, there is a much greater chance of finding a job. Second, what is the graduate’s major. Certain majors are much more in demand than others. For example math, science and special education are much more in demand than history, social studies or health. Third, did the student do a good job in student teaching. If student teaching evaluations are mediocre then the student will have a difficult time finding a job. I have yet to hear a principal say, “Send me the resumes of your mediocre teachers.”

With that said, almost every education graduate has been able to find a teaching job IF they are able to relocate to the job, IF they have done well in student teaching, and IF they are willing to teach in subjects that may not be their favorite to teach.

To all teacher education graduates, "Best of luck in your job search!"

Bob Maxfield
Director
BYU-Idaho Teacher Career Services

Posted by AAEE at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)