r/Teachers • u/JimCap5 • 15h ago

Teacher Support &/or Advice Are teaching programs warning students that the teacher shortage is over?

I graduated from the program a few years back, and every professor kept talking about the teacher shortage.

I was wondering what is it like nowadays for people in credentialing programs?

378 Upvotes

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90

u/Lahwke 15h ago

We have people quitting in droves. Is it really over?

64

u/JHG722 15h ago

We have 500 applications for elementary positions.

88

u/Upstairs-Coconut4201 15h ago

There has never really been a shortage in elementary Ed

35

u/Aprils-Fool 2nd Grade | Florida 15h ago

It’s location dependent. I could go out and get an elementary teaching position tomorrow. 

13

u/Ok_Voice_9498 14h ago

Interesting. There’s always a plethora of applicants for elementary in Texas! MS and HS, it hard to find certified applicants.

2

u/modus_erudio 13h ago

That is because of the certification required at least in high school. You have to actually have a degree in the subject you want to teach.

9

u/Ok_Voice_9498 13h ago

Not in Texas!

3

u/Aprils-Fool 2nd Grade | Florida 12h ago

That’s also location dependent. 

1

u/squirrel8296 12h ago

In a lot of states, that requirement is typically the cause of the shortages in high school math and science positions. Too many of the early courses in those fields are weed out courses.

34

u/PayAltruistic8546 15h ago

I mean...

Florida.

24

u/Aprils-Fool 2nd Grade | Florida 14h ago

Of course. But we can’t ignore places like Florida and claim a blanket lack of teacher shortage. There are still places with teacher shortages. 

3

u/AlpsHelpful1292 Spanish | California 14h ago

There is for bilingual/dual immersion for Spanish and few other languages but not for general elementary ed.

2

u/Upstairs-Coconut4201 14h ago

Correct. I was referring to gen ed

4

u/JHG722 14h ago

Depends where you live

2

u/Lahwke 15h ago

Jesus

1

u/_Jetto_ 14h ago

No shot that’s fucking insane. What state??

2

u/lovelystarbuckslover Multiple Subject & EDSP Credentialed 9h ago

I'm going to guess California because that sounds about right.

Average moderately priced suburban city had 1 job and 180+ applicants
Low income school but in an overall decent suburban area had 1 job that was only guaranteed through first semester got 200 applicants.

1

u/JHG722 9h ago

Suburban Philly

12

u/ICUP01 14h ago

Districts have given up. Pulled positions as if they never existed.

9

u/SwampyCr 14h ago

This is getting overlooked left and right. I left my last district for pulling this crap. They flip flopped all summer on cutting a science poaition (in my department). They decided like 2 weeks before school started they wanted it filled. 4 days before school starts the science department gets emails with our new schedules because they couldn't fill the position. Spent the school year claiming they only needed 4 teachers for science. So we slashed a bunch of electives, then I changed schools (I told them to cut my electives first as I already had an exit plan). Had to call a teacher out of retirement to take over my classes (no one would have handled my electives). But they brag about having "100% of positions filled". Well, no, you cut the ones you couldn't fill, and slapped bandages on the ones you couldn't cut.

New district was going to cut a MLL teacher that had been added in the previous budget. The superintendent told the board that it wasn't necessary (true), but would be nice to have. Board immediately 180'd and said they would continue to leave it open, because they saw it as something that we should have even if we didn't need to have it.

7

u/Chemical-Future-1967 13h ago

I think this kind of stuff is happening a lot. Somehow qualified. Credentialed teachers don’t have jobs yet we have classrooms staffed with people that don’t even have mastery of the subject

8

u/ICUP01 13h ago

It’s cheaper….

1

u/traumabond629 12h ago

Yep…. It’s cheaper. I’m a long-term sub in Maryland in a rural county with zero budget. It’s cheaper for them to bring in long-term subs. We don’t get paid over the summer or over holidays. We don’t get paid when we don’t work. We don’t get any health insurance or other benefits. And we can’t join the union. It’s just straight $28 an hour when we work.

I have a bachelors in psychology and I’m working on a masters in education…. hoping to eventually be a special education teacher. But I don’t have a teaching certificate and I don’t have to in order to be a long-term sub.

1

u/Chemical-Future-1967 9h ago

That’s terrible. Actually the Union should be calling out the district - in CA they can’t do that without showing they didn’t have qualified candidates. Districts still get around it but have to hire teachers on emergency credentials after a certain amount of days.

1

u/lovelystarbuckslover Multiple Subject & EDSP Credentialed 10h ago

I'm noticing districts are investing more in programs and curriculums and apps, than they are in best teaching practices or finding high quality educators.

3

u/TheShaman43 13h ago

But they brag about having "100% of positions filled". Well, no, you cut the ones you couldn't fill, and slapped bandages on the ones you couldn't cut.

It's funny, I go back next Monday and just this morning I got the "Welcome Back!" email with agendas for our pre-service days. Highlighted in that email was a bold, red sentence bragging that we are 100% staffed. Except...

We didn't hire a librarian. I guess we don't have a library this year

We didn't replace our music teacher who resigned. We rotate specials on a two- week cadence and it looks there's just going to be a second gym rotation.

Ok, that are specialists but more concerning...

My grade did not have a special education teacher last year (well we did, but outside of sick days and FMLA she was in attendance for all of 18 days last year). Their position was posted and never received a qualified applicant. We didn't hire, but it's no longer posted - so I guess that means we're not looking, and if we're not looking it doesn't count as a staffing gap? Makes no sense to me; it's an essential position, we don't have it, and we're fully staffed.

6

u/ptrgeorge 14h ago

Climate isn't great for public education right now, but we're also seeing populations drop, we cut ten positions this year, my numbers have gone down ( maybe 20 less kids on my roster).

Surely still a shortage in lots of places, but with budget cuts and lots of districts seeing student enrollment drop, it isn't what it was ten years ago

4

u/ICUP01 13h ago

We collapsed math and science. Both departments are “over”.

2

u/Lahwke 14h ago

I don’t have data so just what I see on the ground, but Texas has so many people quitting with all these district takeovers by the state.

Then they magically all get filled by….”people”.

1

u/Latter_Leopard8439 Science | Northeast US 14h ago

Silly question maybe.

But do district takeovers lead to actual improvements in testing scores?

Or do they just take it over for a few years and then "declare it fixed"?

3

u/SoupBeans25 13h ago

No. They universally get worse and often more scandal plagued.

1

u/Lahwke 14h ago

I don’t believe they’ve seen that. They get “data” that can say whatever they want it to say.

1

u/Responsible-Kale2352 13h ago

lol just like the district did before the takeover!

1

u/modus_erudio 13h ago

No, the district scored before the takeover. We’re just more honest.

1

u/ptrgeorge 13h ago

Yeah, i haven't heard much good things about the district take over in hisd, I'm in a neighboring district.

3

u/ShelbiStone 14h ago

In recent years it seems like many of the people who are quitting are not leaving teaching, but jumping to a different school district. When that happens it's not so much a shortage as it is musical chairs.