Dive Brief:
- Two high schools in Utah are offering a new course aimed at helping interested students pursue a career path in education, which some believe could help stem massive teacher shortages if scaled, according to Education Week.
- Nearby colleges and universities have expressed interest in the new “Careers in Education” course, hoping that the high school classe can help them fill their own programs for teacher preparation, and Utah Valley University is already offering college credit for students taking the course.
- Provo City School District Superintendent Keith Rittel says it's vital to attract teachers interested in leading the course, and he imagined the class will introduce students to the different kinds of work available in education and also offer case studies for students to speak about how they might respond.
Dive Insight:
The approach the dual Utah high schools are taking matches renewed interest in career and technical education programs, and the reason such programs are receiving strong support from educators and policymakers. Everyone notes that there are concerning gaps in qualified applicants in certain fields, so targeted education could help to allay the concerns that those gaps will widen. Research indicates that high school career academies, where schools offer career specific learning for future professional endeavors, can have positive impacts on certain student demographics, if not all.
Offering a "teacher track" of sorts for K-12 students is reminiscent of the “Future Teachers Clubs,” an approach advocated by New York Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. That program aims to build educator pipelines in-house and encourage more students to return to educate in their own communities.
The moves by nearby colleges and universities to join in the efforts of the Utah high schools could also indicate opportunities for future partnerships, as well as the chance that there could be funding streams for such programs. In other cases, particularly in regard to STEM fields, private industries have partnered with school districts to create programs (and sometimes entire schools) that offer training in particular skills and professions, aiming to conceivably fill employment gaps that could adversely affect those industries in the years and decades to come. State legislatures, education nonprofits, and other industries should view educator pipelines in a similar light, and school and district leaders should seek to establish such partnerships by stressing the need for committed educators to teach the country’s future workforce.