Teacher Shortage: A Nationwide Problem Hitting Home

If you’re currently in grade school, or were within the past decade or so, you may have noticed an increase in substitute teachers and a decrease in regular teachers throughout your school day. School districts across the nation have had difficulty filling certain teaching positions, especially those in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics specialties—or “STEM,” as the fields are commonly referred to. 

One of the main causes of this staffing shortage is an overall low supply of teachers qualified to enter the classroom. The current COVID-19 pandemic has also affected this situation, leaving some current teachers questioning whether they will teach until retirement or potentially leave the profession altogether. A lot of these effects are being felt all across the country, and it is no exception here at home.
“On average, I would say we’re down about 12 teachers on average each day—about ⅕ of our staff,” said Ed Marang, the Magnet Coordinator here at Riley, “and I think COVID was a part of it, but I also think that it’s been coming for a while because of finances.” 

12 teachers on average might not sound like a lot to most people, but I promise you it is and the absences can definitely be felt during the school day by students and other teachers alike. 

As a student, when there is a dent in the number of teachers at school one day, we may have to sit in the LGI or auditorium for a class period with multiple other classes, which can lead to distractions and make it difficult to get work one. 

When down several teachers during a school day, another teacher may have to act as a sub during their plan period. This has its pros and cons:

Pro: There are many teachers who can fill in during their plan periods, leaving most, if not all, of the 7 periods of the day covered in house.

Con: Teachers can lose their much-needed plan period that they use to lesson plan, grade, or learn something themselves. 

“I think that teachers have much more asked of them than they did 10 years ago when I was teaching. There was a lot more involved in the sense that people expect us to be parents, psychologists, security guards, all within the same framework,” Marang responded. 

Teaching is hard enough with all of the lesson planning, making and grading assignments, and the whole teaching and lecturing process. When you add on all of the extras, it makes the job even more complicated and stressful. 

While we are down in our number of teachers, we also don’t have enough building subs as well.

“We don’t have enough subs. We have four building subs, and one of them is out right now. Well, he happens to be in the process of getting his master's degree or organized teaching degree,” Marang added, “We have four on any given day, and they're all in use, plus any extras that we have that day. We have staff that are built in as half-day teachers. If a teacher only has classes first through fourth hour, they end up being building central (a single class period sub) the rest of the day.”

However, this is not just a Riley issue. Shortages of subs are being felt across the nation. According to the Seattle Times, on November 12, Seattle Public Schools, Bellevue, and Kent School Districts had to close school due to substitute staffing shortages because many teachers had called that Friday off, many taking a personal day due to burnout. Many teachers all across the country have begun to take more three-day weekends to help deal with teacher burnout.

“The number of leave requests on a Friday after a federal holiday is indicative of the fatigue our students and our staff are experiencing these months returning back to school,” reads USA Today.

Marang has seen all of this happen before. “It's not uncommon to have a teacher out either Monday or Friday. I mean, we get that a lot because sometimes [teachers] need it. I've heard [some other school districts are] going to afford a week or they're out on Friday. So the students are here Monday through Thursday, and then they're out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”

The amount of work outside the job description coupled with what is expected of a teacher as well as the amount of burnout that is felt regularly has proven to be a big aspect of why we’re in a teacher deficit. However, economics also has a role to play in the deficit. 

“The starting salary is $40,000,” Marang begins, “And, you know, when you break that down per hour for the number of hours. Also, people say, “oh, teachers get June, July, and August off.” No, they really don't, because they end up working through the first two weeks of June. And then they come back sometimes the very first or second week of August. So they get in reality, probably six weeks off. And if you add the time factors all back in, it's a full-time job, especially for some of us who work through the summer.”

Marang shrugged, “Yeah, $40,000 is not a competitive salary around here.”

Salary and teacher pay has always been a big focal point around the career as a whole. The lack of optimal pay that equates to the requirements and workload of the job is a crucial aspect of why there is a scarcity of teachers currently in the profession and even potential college students deciding to go into the field.

“How are we going to attract the best people to work with our kids if we're offering them the lowest pay?” Ed Marang asks a key question.

The national teacher shortage is absolutely a problem we will be dealing with for the next couple of years to come. The requirements and interactions on the job prove to be taxing and to create a lot of burnout for all of our country’s teachers. Granted, this happens in all jobs, but when dealing with many students who are all going through all sorts of difficult changes in their life on top of various challenges and anxieties, teachers are faced with an even greater feat to conquer. This is especially true seeing as teachers deal with this five days a week (sometimes more) for 7+ hours each day. All of this is meant to be handled, on top of their regular duties of teaching, grading, and planning.

Challenges like burnout from work requirements, non-competitive pay, and, additionally, a worldwide pandemic, have plagued the teaching career, causing a shortage in the profession that we have to work to fix.