Which teachers are most in demand? A look at shortages, job openings and pay by subject and state (September 2022) - Degreechoices.com (2023)

FAQs

What type of areas and schools suffer from teacher shortages? ›

High-poverty and high-minority school districts are often hit harder by teacher shortages. Schools that serve high-poverty neighborhoods and/or a "high-minority student body" were more likely to have reported vacancies in October 2022, federal data show.

Georgia had the highest number of vacancies (3,112) for the 2019-2020 school year. More recently, during the 2021-2022 school year, Florida had the most vacancies with 3,911 positions unfulfilled. That same school year, Mississippi and Alabama had over 3,000 vacancies.

Data from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2022-2023 school year shows the state has the most shortages in special education, career and technical education, science, art and music, world languages, language arts, English as a second language and health and physical fitness.

Which teaching subject is most in demand? While specific needs vary by institution, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are subjects that are always in high demand.

Why are there shortages of teachers? Myriad reasons: low pay and morale, mounting political and academic pressures, health and safety concerns.

Others have more success filling positions. More than three-quarters of U.S. states are experiencing a teacher shortage, highlighting a growing concern among public education and government officials about issues that were exacerbated during three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Where teachers are paid the most. The three states that pay teachers the most all offer more than $70,000 a year on average. New York leads the nation in teacher pay with an average salary of $80,286, according to WalletHub.

With the projected shortage of teachers to reach 300,000 by 2025, a joint effort – across the learning ecosystem– will be needed in facing what is yet to come.

English, math, and science teacher shortages are concentrated at the middle school level, while special education teachers are needed across all grade levels and specializations.

What is the level of demand for teachers? ›

BLS data expects the employment rate for high school teachers to increase by 5% between 2021 and 2031, which is equal to the national average for other occupations.

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Ed course, which is the most opted degree course among 5 types of teaching courses.

Beyond compensation, these educators also feel overworked and undervalued. Nearly 75 percent of respondents who cite expectations as a top reason they plan to leave say they have too much work to do each day and that there aren't enough teachers to carry the workload.

The combination of extra work and fewer resources has caused unprecedented teacher stress in the profession, which has increased teacher burnout. As a result of stress in the workplace, the education sector has lost educators to teacher burnout turnaround and caused the teacher shortage.

Shortages have been driven by a shrinking teacher education pipeline, high rates of turnover, and increased demand as districts replaced positions cut during the Great Recession and expanded staffing using federal COVID-19 relief funding to address increased vacancies and to support learning needs.

This data also suggests that spiking stress levels, student behavior challenges, and a harsh political spotlight have all taken their toll on many American teachers. “Education had changed so dramatically since COVID.

Reports of Teacher Shortages: According to recently released federal data, the percentages of schools reporting that they had teaching vacancies and difficult-to-staff positions have declined significantly since 1999-00.

Why America's teacher shortage is going to get worse? ›

For starters, shortages are occurring because of increased demand on public schools. As of fall 2017, 50.7 million students were attending public elementary and secondary schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2025, that number is expected to expand to 51.4 million.

Raising teacher salaries can help to improve the interest in the industry overall and improve the quality of the workforce. It can also help to keep teachers in the classrooms. Many teachers have reported being dissatisfied with their jobs because they have to work multiple side jobs to pay their bills.

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011, employment of teachers is expected to grow by 13% between 2008 and 2018. In 2008, there were about 3.5 million kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school teachers in the country, so we can expect almost another 500,000 to be hired by 2018.

The main source of minority teacher shortages, conventional wisdom holds, is a problem with the teacher supply pipeline. In this view, too few minority students enter and complete college, and those who do have an increasing number of career and employment options aside from teaching.

Several studies have been conducted to find the best states for teachers. In terms of income, the top state is New York, which pays teachers an average of over $92,222 per year. Massachusetts comes in behind New York as the state with the second-highest salary for teachers.

Teaching is a rewarding yet demanding career. With long hours and a heavy workload, it's easy to fall prey to teacher burnout. Without proper support, teachers are in danger of being overworked and not taking care of their own mental and physical health needs.

Addressing teacher shortages is not a new challenge for the state. While the number of teacher positions steadily increased over the past decade, the number of new teachers entering the field steadily declined, and Texas teachers have left the field at a rate that is 25% greater than the national average.

All indications suggest the U.S. will soon face a massive teacher shortage. A potent combination of expected and early retirements, burnout, and waning interest in the profession among young people may leave us short by several hundred thousand teachers in the coming years. We have no viable plan for addressing this.

What are two ways the teacher shortage impacts the quality of education? ›

Schools may have to cancel courses or staff classes with teachers who lack resources, preparation, or certification in the subject matter. Furthermore, achievement is less likely to be noticed and celebrated if different substitute teachers are providing instruction or a class is canceled.

Yes! There are over a billion people currently learning English globally. As a result, online teaching opportunities are surfacing around the world to keep up with demand.

Teacher salaries for science, math and other STEM-related classes are higher than subjects like art and foreign languages. For example, according to PayScale, a physics teacher makes 11% more than a language arts teacher. Subjects that usually offer a higher salary: Biology.

Some qualities of a good teacher include skills in communication, listening, collaboration, adaptability, empathy and patience. Other characteristics of effective teaching include an engaging classroom presence, value in real-world learning, exchange of best practices and a lifelong love of learning.

In the United States, elementary school teachers are expected to teach all the subjects in the curriculum. It is not until secondary school that teachers specialize by subject. Perhaps this is because the subjects taught are...well... elementary.

"Difficult" or "challenging" topics to teach include racism, violence, genocide, bullying, gangs, abuse (physical, emotional, and substance), slavery, suffering, hatred, terrorism, war, disease, loss, addiction, and more.

Standardized Testing May Cause Grades 3 and Up to Be the Hardest Elementary Grades to Teach. Many educators argue that the hardest elementary grade to teach is one with standardized testing pressures.

Several other studies suggest that mathematics has the dubious honor of being the least popular subject in the curriculum." In one survey of high-school seniors, investigators found that 12% had never taken any algebra or geometry, 26% had dropped mathematics after only one year, 30% had dropped it after two.

Which field is more in demand? ›

According to research, the top 10 in-demand jobs profiles of 2023 will include: Data Scientist. Data Analyst. Blockchain Engineer.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2022-2023 school year, Rhode Island has the largest teacher shortages in the following subjects: English as a second language, career and technical education, math, science, special education, health and physical fitness, world languages and language arts.

An accelerated bachelor's in education, like a traditional four-year education degree, is a great first step toward a career as an educator. Depending on your state's requirements and whether you're interested in teaching at a public or private school, you may be ready to begin teaching at the K-12 level.

Most teachers major in elementary education, while some states require them to also specialize in a content area, like social studies or history. Other teachers major in related fields with relevant elementary education coursework and field training in the classroom.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected area with over 32 million children of primary school age remaining uneducated. Central and Eastern Asia, as well as the Pacific, are also severely affected by this problem with more than 27 million uneducated children.

Teacher shortages lead to missed or insufficient learning opportunities. There may be a discontinuity in the delivery of instruction, and key concepts may be overlooked altogether. These occurrences limit the educational opportunities that students can and should receive.

The teacher shortage areas designated by Wisconsin for the 2004-2020 school years are: Standard Areas: English as a Second Language (ESL)/Bilingual, Sciences, Library Media, Mathematics, Music, Reading, Foreign Languages.

New York leads the nation in teacher pay with an average salary of $80,286, according to WalletHub.

What are the projections for teacher shortage? ›

As of March 2022, 58 percent of a nationally representative set of district leaders anticipated a “small shortage” of teachers and another 17 percent anticipated a “large shortage.”

Deficits in government funding for schools.

Funding is always an issue for schools and is, in fact, one of the biggest issues facing the American public education system today. For more than 90% of K-12 schools, funding comes from state and local governments, largely generated by sales and income taxes.

More than two million children—approximately 70 percent—are unable to attend school in South Sudan, placing both their own and the future of the country at risk.

Wisconsin is steadily losing teachers in their first five years of employment, according to a January 2023 report from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.