The national teacher shortage the country is facing is well known by now, and many states are scrambling to find ways to fight it, New Jersey included. Some states, like California and Arizona for example, have resorted to lowering the barrier to entry for teachers, including removing testing requirements or even no longer requiring a college degree. While strategies like these may get more teachers in the door, they don’t address the fundamental problems which are driving teacher shortages, such as a lack of young teachers applying.
Here in New Jersey, school districts are facing that exact issue. Some school districts in New Jersey have a reputation of being unwelcoming to new teachers fresh out of college, as well as younger teachers as a whole. According to a report from NJ.com, younger teachers face an uphill battle when starting out their careers in NJ schools. For example, some NJ schools are limited by inflexible employment options which favor seniority over merit/talent. This is a major issue, as studies show younger teachers favor job mobility and flexibility over stability. Some NJ school districts will take away a teacher’s tenure rights and even pay status if they switch jobs, discouraging mobility.
Furthermore, younger teachers tend to have a decent amount taken out of their paychecks. According to the Sunlight Policy Center, new teachers are forced to join the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and an NJ state pension plan, which combined take away around 11% of their pay each year. And when pay increases do occur, they usually favor older teachers and seniority rather than potentially younger teachers who have more talent.
Some of these issues may discourage younger talent from applying to certain school districts. Here are some tips that come from the Sunlight Policy Center and educators themselves that can help schools across the country improve their teacher recruitment:
- Make teaching more open to new teachers and college graduates, who favor mobility and career ladders over stability. You can also amend current policies which could potentially discourage newer teachers from applying.
- Offer more competitive benefits packages and salaries to incentivize teachers to apply.
- Explore options under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to see if you can provide your school with more/better resources to attract and retain teachers.
- Offer professional development opportunities to teachers to help them refine their skills, such as workshops, seminars, and more. This could be a big selling point to younger teachers.
- Go to colleges where soon-to-be graduating teachers will be leaving and looking for work. This is a good place to find talent. For example, handing out flyers and pamphlets at teacher fairs or giving them to career advisors at universities can help boost recruitment efforts.
- Reach out to old teachers who may have left for a specific reason, and see if they would be interested in coming back. Sometimes teachers leave for a very specific reason, such as having a conflict with a certain administrator. Check in on them and see how they’re doing. Even if they’re not interested in coming back, they may have friends who are looking for work and seek them out.
- Job boards are a great way to attract candidates who wouldn’t normally be able to attend the local job fair. They greatly extend your recruitment reach.
- Start the recruitment/hiring process as early as possible. Studies show that schools that start earlier often receive more qualified candidates.
Schools in New Jersey, as well as across the country, are facing teaching shortages that threaten their ability to provide quality education to their students. Instead of using strategies that may only address the surface of the problem, schools should be focusing on methods that will tackle the problem on a fundamental level.
SCG Advertising + Public Relations is a long-standing, woman-owned, full-service advertising agency headquartered in New Jersey. We have a vast amount of experience in the education space, working with hundreds of private, public, and charter schools across the country to recruit both students and faculty.
Whether a school is instructing in-person or online, one thing remains the same — they need an increasing number of substitute teachers from an ever-decreasing talent pool. How prevalent is the shortage? Google serves over a million results on “substitute teacher shortage COVID.” These results come from Madison, Chicago, Kansas City, Utica, Las Vegas, Coeur d’Alene, Houston, and so many more. The reporting originates from large and small cities all over the nation.
