Bree Winchester, a first year temporary teacher at Westside K-8 School, expected challenges but was excited to start her career in education. In her first three months as a teacher, every day she shows up at work early, stays late, and always prioritizes her students. In her first three months, she has also decided to not return to the classroom once the academic year ends. 

 

“I didn’t understand the reasoning behind the shortage before this, I didn’t believe it could be this bad,” said Winchester referring to the national teacher shortage crisis. 

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People are pursuing the education field because they’re passionate about teaching, and like Winchester, want to help in the rising crisis. So, why are schools struggling to keep these spots filled?

According to a study conducted by the Learning Policy Institute, the shortage comes at the hands of low pay, lack of proper training, lack of administrative support, and challenging work environments.

Barbara Mckenna, the Director of Strategic Communications at LPI, says that “teachers with the least preparation are two to three times more likely to leave the profession than those who are comprehensively prepared.” 

“I can’t make lesson plans at home because my district blocks access to the curriculum if you are not connected to the district Wi-Fi. I am paid for less than eight hours out of the ten plus that I work every day. They have given me no support or mentor,” said Winchester. 

The employee turnover is attributed to the school system’s preparation for teachers who may not have had the same training and recognition they should have received to properly adapt to the classroom. 

“Thankfully, I have great coworkers that have helped me, but that isn’t their job. They shouldn’t have to take time out of their own planning to help me learn the basics that administration should help me with.”

Florida is one of many states in high crisis for the 2022-23 school year. According to the Florida Education Association, “the state will have 60,000 more students but about 14,000 teachers (8,000) and staff (6,000) vacancies this year.”

Florida schools that cannot fill these positions have opted to staff teachers with non-standard certification and those who are teaching outside their area of preparation.

Stephanie Mejia, a former teacher at Gulf Coast Charter, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Public Health but was recruited to teach math and science at the fourth grade level.

She is one of many teachers in Florida, like Winchester, who was hired with a temporary teaching certificate in efforts to fill vacant spots. 

A report conducted by the state’s education department said the “shortage areas represent certification areas where substantial proportions of teachers who are not certified in the field are being hired to teach such courses, where significant vacancies exist and where postsecondary institutions do not produce enough graduates to meet” Florida’s K-12 needs, because of the student population size.

The report shows that English was in first place with Special education ranked second, followed by Science and math as critical teacher shortage areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

summary of Critical Teacher Shortage Rankings for 2022-23 https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/20042/urlt/7-2.pdf

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“Initially, I didn’t want to be a teacher. I just did it to help. But when I got into it, I really liked it. I enjoyed doing the projects with them. I enjoyed the mentoring and teaching part of it. The administration, I can do without,” said 

 

While Mejia received one orientation meeting from administration to familiarize herself with the books and programs used by the school, it was her degree that aided her ability to take on her role as an educator. 

 

“My college education taught me to do presentations, speaking to a group, and research. I also took many science and math classes, so it’s not like I didn’t already know my subject.”

 

Despite overcoming the lack of training, Mejia left the profession because the school was hiring anybody to become a teacher, as long as they had any type of college degree. 

 

In Florida, you can obtain a temporary teaching certificate if you have a bachelor’s degree with a Passing Score on the Florida subject area examination (for subjects that require no more than a bachelor’s degree), a bachelor’s degree with a major in the content area, a bachelor’s degree with required courses, or if you a military veteran.

 

“I left the classroom because they put so much of a workload on me. I was the honors math teacher, so there were times I had to mentor other math teachers that didn’t know the subject,” said Mejia. “Even though you just go to college, it doesn’t mean that you can just become a teacher. I think it has to be in you, your personality.”

 

In a study conducted by the Learning Policy Institute, teachers most often cite dissatisfaction as a very important reason for voluntarily leaving the profession.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Source: Learning Policy Institute analysis of National Center for Education Statistics Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2012–13.

The teacher shortage will continue to fluctuate until there are serious changes made to allow teachers to work properly, with the correct amount of pay, and the ability to have a life outside of teaching. 

 

“Why aren’t I, a first year, new teacher, being made a priority to help? Why do teachers work so hard for such little compensation? Why aren’t we respected and valued?