teacher shortage

Teachers have a lot on their plate. They’re challenged not just by teaching Shakespeare and algebra, but by students’ behavioral problems, their social-emotional concerns and more. So even before the pandemic, schools could not find enough educators to fill their classrooms. Same for hospitals, which cannot find enough nurses to meet the need as the industry anticipates the retirement of a “silver tsunami” of nurses and serves an aging population. Those nursing and teaching shortfalls have been magnified over the past two years by the global pandemic. But instead of throwing up its hands in defeat, GCU got to work to try and solve those problems, from arranging emergency certifications for students to be substitute teachers, to helping working professionals earn an alternative route to teaching, to building the University’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to move students into the nursing pipeline faster. Reprinted from the April issue of GCU Magazine.

Maria Vinch had been a social worker and an office worker, but the kind of work she really wanted was to teach children. In August, she stood in front of a fourth grade class in Sierra Vista, Arizona, for the first time thanks to the Canyon L.E.A.P. to Teach program, which helped her learn the skills needed for a teaching certificate. It’s a vital pathway for professionals to get in the classroom and help ease Arizona’s dire teacher shortage. Vinch is part of the second cohort, which already has provided 30 teacher candidates the opportunity.

When the situation in Arizona schools gets tough, GCU students and graduates come to the rescue. The latest example arose when the lingering pandemic and ongoing teacher shortages left a system lacking enough substitute teachers. College of Education Assistant Professor Claudia Coleman quickly worked with Phoenix school districts on an initiative to get GCU junior teacher candidates certified as subs and trained to fill a need so dire that the state board on Monday expanded its certificate eligibility. Nineteen GCU students are already in classrooms with more to come. “I’ve learned more from a couple days of subbing than in all of my practicum,” GCU junior Hailey Pawley said.

Most of the Promenade was lined with tables set up by school district representatives Tuesday, eager to hire GCU’s aspiring teachers. Nearly all of the recruiters were at the Lopes Leap to Teach & Lead career expo were from Arizona, but Mark Vingoe stood behind his table covered with a map of Alaska. Sure, the temperature was 4 degrees below zero there on Tuesday, an 85-degree difference from the GCU campus. But they need teachers, and he was promising adventure.

Scott Wade was a lawyer but fell in love with teaching four years ago and is in the classroom under an emergency certification. Lisa Baird has taught off and on for 20 years, also without being certified. They are among the first 14 teacher candidates who graduated recently from the Canyon L.E.A.P. to Teach program, which offers an alternative pathway to licensure during a time of severe teacher shortage. “The ultimate goal is to get more certified teachers into Arizona classrooms,” said Carol Lippert, Executive Director of K12 Outreach and Education Program Development.