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I am currently conducting a broad survey of undergraduates in AZ to understand whether and under what conditions they would be willing to teach in the state. In the process, a few students have reached out to me over email in reference to the survey. Today, one young man...
Emailed me and told me that after taking the survey he was very interested in considering teaching as a future profession, especially through a graduate residency type program. He wanted to know where he could find such a program in AZ.
In the Phoenix-metro area, the 5th largest city in the nation, we don't have a local graduate residency program. And the broader study for which I created this survey is exploring the feasibility of creating a teacher residency program in the Valley.
One of the big questions around feasibility is whether anyone would even be willing to teach in AZ (which is hemorrhaging teachers at an alarming rate) under any conditions. But so far, the admittedly early results of this survey are pretty definitive on this point.
Yes. Many more students would consider teaching in AZ, given the right structures. But they are not concentrating in education in undergrad. In fact, the vast majority of respondents have never taken a college course that even discussed public (prek-12) education.
If this survey is some students' first opportunity to consider pursuing teaching as a profession, then I am glad they are taking it. But...
I also feel like this means that somewhere, there is a great missed opportunity to expose undergrads across concentrations to the potential intrinsic rewards of teaching. It is truly a profession like no other, as nations are built in the classroom.
Yes, teaching is hard. Yes, teachers are underpaid. Yes, the working conditions (especially in AZ) are less than ideal. And this is why parents are advising their children against teaching, and enrollments in teacher prep programs across the country are way down. BUT...
Teaching is also a job that is never boring, never lonely, never the same. It is a job where you can share your love of a particular subject matter, where you can discover and support a the fulfillment of a student's dreams and goals.
It's a job of deep and meaningful service to kids, to families, to the future. A job of human connection, of trust building, and knowledge building, and community building.
And if we can find ways to reduce the financial burden and stress load placed on teachers, we have a really great shot at building a better and more robust force of teachers in states like AZ (where more 1/4 classrooms lacked a qualified teacher even before the pandemic) .
But we also need to change the narrative and start recruiting teachers early and often. We need to flip our current trends. Because if this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that good teachers and schools are critical in society and they cannot be replaced by computers.
