Recruiting High-Quality Teachers for Schools

Policymakers’ Concern over Lack of Qualified Teachers

Policymakers in the education sector, such as the Teacher Labor Market, have been troubled by a lack of qualified teachers and a scarcity of personnel. The Nevada State Board of Education President characterized the teacher shortage as “horrible” and requested urgent changes to advance operations in the field. Before 2008, there was a lot of curiosity in enrolling in teacher training services. In reality, between 2008 and 2010, the number of teachers enrolled increased from 719,081 to 725,518. The same statistics indicate that the enrollment dropped consistently between 2010 and 2014 and, by 2013-2014 fiscal years, there were only 465,536 admissions into the teaching preparation programs (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017).

Teacher Shortage in Developing Countries

Seyfarth (2008) observes that the problem of inadequate teacher staffing is not exclusive to the United States. In fact, the need for improved staffing is dire in the developing world. The shortage of quality teachers is a major problem especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The recommended ratio of teacher to student ration is 1:30. According to a report released in April 2015 by the UNESCO Education Sector in Paris, less than 75% of teachers met the national standard of trained teachers. In Guinea-Bissau, the number of primary school teachers trained according to national standards was only 39%, and the Pupil Teacher Ratio (P.T.R) increased from 44:1 to 52:1 between 2000 and 2010. Further figures show that Benin, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal have less than 50% of the teachers trained according to the required standards. Further statistics show that the ratio of pupils to qualified teachers exceeded the Pupil/Teacher Ratio by ten students in 28 of these 91 countries, including 20 in sub-Saharan Africa and some districts of the United States. In the Central African Republic, the PTR was 80:1, and the pupil to trained teacher ratio was 138:1 in 2012.

Importance of Teacher Staffing for Student Progress

Increasing the time that children engage their teachers is important in monitoring the progress of the learners. However, the optimal time every pupil should spend time with their teachers cannot be achieved if the ratio of teacher to child is low. Based on this observation, the need to improve teacher staffing in schools cannot be overlooked. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), it is essential for legislators to address quality staffing, since projections show that Early Childhood Education is estimated to grow by 17 % due to factors such as the increase in population.

Reasons for Shortage of Quality Teachers

Studies indicate that graduates are unwilling to join the teaching profession, thus creating a shortage of quality teachers. There is a general apathy towards joining the teaching profession by high school and college students, as seen earlier through data and statistics. In an argument by Podgursky (2004), there is a relatively low number of college students who pursue majors in education and other teaching careers, hence why the educational system has fewer teachers to recruit for various subjects or fill the gap left by the ones who retire. Studies indicate that of the minimal number that begin teaching profession, most end up quitting or changing careers citing factors such as loss of autonomy, job dissatisfaction, and lack of opportunities for growth, limitations in recognition, reward, and advancement. The lack of fulfillment is a leading cause of turnovers in schools.

High Teacher Turnover and Its Impact

The high teacher turnover also contributes to the imbalanced ratio of teachers to students. Teacher turnover is arguably the primary cause of teacher shortage in schools. According to a recent study of a nationally representative cohort, teacher turnover was 46 percent after five years as measured annually by the combined percentages of those who move to other locations and those who leave the teaching profession altogether. In the study, 29 % of teachers moved to other schools or districts, and 17 % quit teaching. There is difficulty filling the positions resulting from turnover and retirements, and since student enrollment keeps rising, learning institutions hire unqualified personnel, which reduces the quality of education.

Effects of the Great Recession on Teacher Enrollment

According to Hoffmann & Oreopoulos (2009), enrollment of students into teacher preparation programs has reduced due to the great recession and not so much due to other factors. For example, most college students apply for majors that are able to provide them with a high income and have strong employment prospects. The weak economies in the teaching profession tend to drive college students into other careers.

Importance of Competitive Salaries for Teachers

According to Hanushek (2005), the public school teacher’s average pay varies from state to state, and the value of that pay depends on the cost of living. Policy makers should raise the salaries of all teachers, which will upgrade the standard of service provision by teachers as well as attract more college students to teaching preparation programs. The necessity for the increase in the pay that the teachers receive arises from the fact that the teachers tend to play a crucial role in influencing the performance of the students. However, the salaries that the teachers earn do not reflect the great work that they provide in the various institutions. The lack of the professional pay tends to contribute to some of the teachers avoiding the middle and high schools, hence resulting in the absence of quality teachers in these institutions (Looney, 2011). The pay that the various institutions guarantee the teachers make it appear as though teaching in these institutions is more of charity, hence the need for the teachers to sacrifice their family needs. To attract the teachers, these institutions significantly increase the salaries. Furthermore, attractive salaries are crucial in ensuring that the teachers do not move to other industries that guarantee better pay.

Training Programs and Support for Teachers

Impacting the future of our children should rank considerably close to the top of the esteemed choice one can make when deciding a career in your field of study. Jackson (2013) argues that Universities and tertiary levels of education should develop training programs that enable specialization of teachers into specific areas to succeed in areas with high turnover rates. Curriculum setters should create high-quality induction programs for new and aspiring teachers. Every district should provide adequate funding for the support of the programs, and the implementation should be mandatory for every district in every state. For example, school districts in Toledo, Ohio, Cincinnati, and Columbus have created platforms that connect new teachers with expert mentors, and which provide release time for both mentors and mentees. The result has been a gradual reduction of the turnovers by new teachers, thus promoting quality learning.

Assigning Experienced Teachers and Proper Remuneration

According to Seebruck (2015), regulations should assign experienced teachers to special needs children instead of novice teachers so that the new teachers are not scared away by the task of specialized teaching. A further policy should be put in place to prohibit out-of-field teaching, for instance, an English teacher should not double as the basketball coach. Policy makers should couple all the regulatory measures with more release time for teachers.

Regional Staffing Solutions and Financial Aid

Seebruck (2015) observes that an actual shortage of teachers is not necessarily the problem. Areas of the country tend to cluster some professions and industries, which create a large issue because each state has their teaching education requirements and exams. This results in difficulties for counties to scout outside of their small geographic pool. Every state should grow their teachers. Rural area governments should encourage graduates and professionals familiar with the challenges in their environment to apply for licenses to fill the left out teaching positions. Conversely, every district should put in place proper remuneration procedures depending on the specific needs of the region. Most teachers begin their careers before completing their studies due to the high cost of higher education, lack of financial aid, and fear of student loans (Şahin, 2015). The Government should subsidize and give scholarships to students passionate about teaching. There should be adequate preparation before starting a career because a good foundation increases the efficacy and efficiency of teachers, thus improving student outcomes.

Alternative Approach to Increased Staffing in Schools?

(Counterargument): In as much as it is important to fully staff middle and high schools with quality teachers, it is also essential to be mindful of the cost implication. The education sector works with a budget that cannot allow sufficient staffing with highly qualified and experienced teachers as the salary scale of such professionals is generally high (Seyfarth, 2008). An option for this riddle would be to use a portion of highly qualified teachers and another percentage of well-trained but less experienced professionals. This type of staffing will also allow for good personnel training as newly recruited teachers will have a chance to learn from their seniors.

Conclusion

There needs to be more focus on the aspect of human resources in the education sector. In light of this, the quality of education is crippled with inadequate staffing that undermines the efficiency with which teaching practices are conducted in schools. As such, there needs to be a proactive process by the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate staffing is achieved. To counter the problem of costs involved to achieve adequate staffing, the employers should mix experienced and newly trained teachers as this will improve the teacher-to-student ratio while maintaining the human resource costs at a lower level. Despite the increased population that tends to increase the pressure on the available resources, the lack of adequate investment in the education sector by the various governments tends to contribute a lot to the decrease in the population of quality teachers in the different learning institutions. The discussion, therefore, ensures effectiveness in suggesting some of the approaches to ensuring adequate staffing of the middle and high school with quality teachers. Governments should make funding the education sector a priority as this will significantly improve the quality of learning.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, High School Teachers, on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm (visited June 05, 2017).

EFA Global Monitoring Report, (2015), Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and challenges. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. ISBN 978-92-3- 100085-0

Hanushek, E. A. (2005). The Economics of School Quality. German Economic Review, 6(3), 269-286. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0475.2005.00132.x

Hoffmann, F., & Oreopoulos, P. (2009). PROFESSOR QUALITIES AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. Review Of Economics & Statistics, 91(1), 83-92.

Jackson, C. K. (2013). MATCH QUALITY, WORKER PRODUCTIVITY, AND WORKER MOBILITY: DIRECT EVIDENCE FROM TEACHERS. Review Of Economics & Statistics, 95(4), 1096-1116.

Looney, J. (2011). Developing High-Quality Teachers: teacher evaluation for improvement. European Journal Of Education, 46(4), 440-455. doi:10.1111/j.1465-3435.2011.01492.x

Podgursky, M. (2004). How to Improve the Supply of High-Quality Teachers. Brookings Papers On Education Policy, 35-44.

Şahin, A. (2015). The Effects of Quantity and Quality of Teachers’ Probing and Guiding Questions on Student Performance. Sakarya University Journal Of Science, 19(1), 95-113.

Seebruck, R. (2015). Examining the Maldistribution in Teacher Quality: A Spatial Analysis of the Distribution of Credentialed Educators in California Schools. California Geographer, 5555-82.

Seyfarth, J. (2008). Human resource leadership for effective schools. Boston: Pearson.