My how things have changed in the last 5 years. Not so long ago, graduating from college with a teaching degree was far from a guarantee of employment. It was not uncommon to have over 100 applications for single teaching positions. Here at Lawton we hired 6 new elementary teachers following numerous retirements back in 2010. The public posting of these vacancies resulted in nearly 200 resumes received. I sometimes wonder how many of those people, many of them fine teachers I’m sure, eventually gave up and chose another career path.
Today, schools across the country are struggling to fill vacant teaching positions. Last week I met with the Van Buren County Superintendents who all shared their concern and difficulty filling vacancies. Hartford hired (2) teachers from Alaska. Another district went to Spain to find a Spanish teacher. This is a trend we can’t afford to ignore. All of society could be negatively affected if we aren’t able to attract more of our young people into the education profession. Perhaps this is just a normal balancing of supply and demand. However I know that market saturation goes back to the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was first hired and felt very thankful to have a teaching job.
So, what can we do about it?
Well, it would certainly be helpful if the education profession received the respect it deserves. Interesting phenomenon – when surveyed, people seem to indicate satisfaction with their local school but when asked to assess education at the state or national level people are anything but satisfied. I could write for hours on this topic and will spare you that diatribe. Let’s instead focus on things within our control including the message that we send to our students about our profession. I’m proud to be an educator. I’m proud to say that I was a teacher, coach and principal before becoming a superintendent. Has it been easy? Of course not – you all know that. Ours is a difficult vocation with a level of responsibility that doesn’t necessarily match the income potential. But we knew that going in. We all chose education for a variety of reasons and hopefully making a difference in the lives of young people was at the top of the list. As we portray our own personal satisfaction with our jobs, kids need to know this and hopefully also know that we do enjoy what we do. Education is a rewarding profession. Frustrating at times, yes, but I imagine that to be true for most professions.
High achieving students considering education should be encouraged to do just that. I’ll admit having done the opposite a time or two and I now regret it. The pendulum has swung and we all need to do what we can to ensure that education is a respected and desirable career. I don’t mean to over simplify the problem. It’s certainly more involved than what I’ve shared today however, it is an issue in need of our attention.
I’m very proud of and thankful for the educators we have here at LCS and wish you all a great year and a long, rewarding career.
Today, schools across the country are struggling to fill vacant teaching positions. Last week I met with the Van Buren County Superintendents who all shared their concern and difficulty filling vacancies. Hartford hired (2) teachers from Alaska. Another district went to Spain to find a Spanish teacher. This is a trend we can’t afford to ignore. All of society could be negatively affected if we aren’t able to attract more of our young people into the education profession. Perhaps this is just a normal balancing of supply and demand. However I know that market saturation goes back to the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was first hired and felt very thankful to have a teaching job.
So, what can we do about it?
Well, it would certainly be helpful if the education profession received the respect it deserves. Interesting phenomenon – when surveyed, people seem to indicate satisfaction with their local school but when asked to assess education at the state or national level people are anything but satisfied. I could write for hours on this topic and will spare you that diatribe. Let’s instead focus on things within our control including the message that we send to our students about our profession. I’m proud to be an educator. I’m proud to say that I was a teacher, coach and principal before becoming a superintendent. Has it been easy? Of course not – you all know that. Ours is a difficult vocation with a level of responsibility that doesn’t necessarily match the income potential. But we knew that going in. We all chose education for a variety of reasons and hopefully making a difference in the lives of young people was at the top of the list. As we portray our own personal satisfaction with our jobs, kids need to know this and hopefully also know that we do enjoy what we do. Education is a rewarding profession. Frustrating at times, yes, but I imagine that to be true for most professions.
High achieving students considering education should be encouraged to do just that. I’ll admit having done the opposite a time or two and I now regret it. The pendulum has swung and we all need to do what we can to ensure that education is a respected and desirable career. I don’t mean to over simplify the problem. It’s certainly more involved than what I’ve shared today however, it is an issue in need of our attention.
I’m very proud of and thankful for the educators we have here at LCS and wish you all a great year and a long, rewarding career.