Teacher Shortage in Tennessee
Similar to the situation in the USA, Tennessee is experiencing a shortage of teachers, which is reflected in the increased demand for educators in the labor market. Over 2,000 teaching vacancies are available across the state (Collins & Schaaf, 2020). However, the demand for teaching positions is falling, especially in STEM fields (Govett & Uddin, 2020). With low wages, high workloads, a growing volume of paperwork, and underfunded schools, young teacher students are looking for other uses for their skills. Many young professionals can choose a more relaxed and well-paid job, especially with basic mathematics, physics, and computer science knowledge.
The Tennessee government is trying to develop programs to train new teachers and keep them in school. East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has launched a range of internships and teacher training programs in science, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science since 2019 (Govett & Uddin, 2020). These programs provide summer internships and scholarships for students of pedagogical faculties at the bachelor’s and master’s levels (Govett & Uddin, 2020). It is done to attract young people to the pedagogical profession, since the number of students who graduate in the field of education is also declining (Govett & Uddin, 2020). Moreover, internships and scholarships should take some of the financial burden off students studying pedagogy, give them work experience, and make it easier to enter the profession.
Since 2017, the State of Tennessee has been monitoring teacher retention rates and ensuring that young educators get the funding they need. The price of training each new teacher is high and rises to $ 20,000 per person (Collins & Schaaf, 2020). After that, 1 out of 10 teachers leaves the school in the first year of work, and in the next 5 years, 4 out of 10 teachers leave (Collins & Schaaf, 2020). This means that the school loses a specialist and the money spent, forcing it to search for and train new personnel from scratch.
A separate problem of the state is the disproportionately low number of colored teachers of color in schools relative to the racial structure of the state’s population. Only 13% of school teachers were identified as people of color in 2018-2019 (Collins & Schaaf, 2020). Moreover, this group of teachers is also the least retained in schools, probably due to financial needs and emotional discomfort. Department of Education reports indicate significant barriers for teachers of color in obtaining internships, work experience, scholarships, and retraining programs (Collins & Schaaf, 2020). In addition, an educator of color may come to school as the only one in the school and feel uncomfortable about it.
Teacher Shortage in Texas
The Texas Department of Education has also long been reporting a shortage of teachers in schools and low retention rates for young professionals, which have been exacerbated during the pandemic. The standard problems of low wages, poor benefits, workloads, and the risks associated with COVID-19 are aggravated by the intense culture wars in Texas (Ross, 2021). Moreover, this state is the worst regarding teachers’ pensions in the country (Bailey, 2017). Simultaneously, this leads to a mass exodus of teachers from the profession and high staff turnover.
The trend of outflow of teachers from the profession in Texas continues. First, the state has a low retention rate for young professionals, hovering around 10 percent for a decade (Bailey, 2017). Secondly, the number of teachers who retire constantly grows yearly (Ross, 2021). The old teaching staff is dwindling, and the old generation of teachers who stayed at the school once are now leaving it. Thirdly, many new teachers do not have a basic pedagogical education, but go through short teacher training and certification programs (Ross, 2021). They are more likely to see school as a temporary solution to financial problems and leave as soon as they find another job.
Teachers in Texas can take alternative training rather than the standard university path. This attracted specialists from mathematics and sciences to the educational sphere. With an acute shortage of teachers in STEM, such measures are justified, since “nearly 40% of mathematics teachers either lack full teaching certification or lack a major or minor in mathematics” (Marder et al., 2020). A study by Marder et al. (2020) shows that the performance of mathematics teachers who received alternative certification is noticeably lower. Thus, Texas, trying to attract more educators in the STEM field, is facing a decline in the quality of education and high turnover.
Teacher Shortage in Florida
The state of Florida has been complaining for a long time about the lack of teachers and school staff. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity found more than 5,000 unfilled teaching positions in 2019, which is growing yearly (McVey & Trinidad, 2019). Texas and Florida are trying to solve this problem with the help of alternative teacher certification programs and the creation of teaching scholarships (McVey & Trinidad, 2019). However, the pandemic only exacerbated the already existing trend of developing a shortage of workers in the education sector.
It should be noted that Florida has a specific pattern of shortage of teaching staff. The most significant deficiency is observed in Special Education, English, and Sciences (McVey & Trinidad, 2019). In 2022, the shortage of math teachers was only 5% and was at the bottom of the priority list (Florida Department of Education, 2022). Thus, there is a shortage of math and science teachers in Florida, but it is much lower than in English, Special Education, and Elementary School education. However, this is not to say that the situation will not change, since the lack of staff in Special Education has been a problem in Florida for many years.
Like other states, Florida is developing programs for alternative certification for teachers and attracting new school staff. The Florida Department of Education 2022 report highlighted state schools that need help and additional funding (Florida Department of Education, 2022). In STEM areas, the number of short courses leading to certification is especially increasing (LaMee, 2018). A study by LaMee, A. (2018) also notes a difference in teaching excellence and school retention rates for educators who have not completed the whole curriculum. On the other hand, alternative programs and courses create a field for a creative approach to education, as well as provide STEM specialists with real pedagogical practice as teacher assistants (LaMee, 2018). However, this may be the only way to fill the missing staff in the school at the moment.
References
Bailey, T. R. (2017). Texas Teacher Preparation. American Institutes for Research.
Collins, E., & Schaaf, K. (2020). Teacher Retention in Tennessee. Tennessee Department of Education.
Florida Department of Education. (2022) Identification of Critical Teacher Shortage Areas for 2022-23. Floe.org.
Govett, A., & Uddin, M. (2020). Noyce East Tennessee STEM Teacher Recruitment. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1309-1313). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
LaMee, A. (2018). District partnerships, LAs, and coding – addressing the STEM teacher shortage in Florida. Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 63(2).
Marder, M., David, B., & Hamrock, C. (2020). Math and science outcomes for students of teachers from standard and alternative pathways in Texas. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(27).
McVey, K. P., & Trinidad, J. (2019). Nuance in the Noise: The Complex Reality of Teacher Shortages. Bellwether Education Partners.
Ross, C. (2021). Teacher Turnover in a Texas Public School: A Case Study (Doctoral dissertation, Concordia University Chicago).  ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 28262408.