With interest in the teaching profession. ebb and enrollment in teacher preparation programs reaching record lows, all eyes are on the next generation of students (the future educators of tomorrow) to make up the shortfall.
Today's high school and college students are part of Generation Z, a group of people who are between the ages of 12 and 28 and have characteristics, attitudes and aspirations that distinguish them from previous generations.
In partnership with researchers at Vanderbilt University, the Southern Regional Board of Education (SREB), a nonprofit organization working to improve public education in 16 Southeastern states, has been examining the next generation's interest in the teaching profession and has published its findings in a report released in April.
Using extensive student survey data from ACT, a nonprofit testing organization, along with state-level educator data and interviews with Gen Z teacher candidates and newly hired teachers, researchers gained insight into perceptions and motivations. of Generation Z around teaching and identified opportunities to attract more of them to the field.
Although the study focuses on two “data-rich” states, Kentucky and Tennessee, the researchers say their findings are consistent with what one might expect to see nationally.
“Many trends in Kentucky and Tennessee mirror trends in the South and across the country,” says Megan Boren, SREB project director and co-author of the report, except that teacher shortages are generally more severe in the United States. Joined. South than in other parts of the US.
Generation Z goes to college more and is more tech-savvy than their predecessors. It is more racially and ethnically diverse. And according to a literature review According to researchers, Americans who are part of Generation Z say they want jobs that provide them with financial security and ongoing support, along with flexibility, autonomy, collaboration and a sense of purpose.
Some of those characteristics are consistent with careers in education. Many would say that teaching is one of the most meaningful jobs available. However, it is not known for its flexibility or compensation.
As a result, members of Generation Z are less interested in becoming teachers than previous generations. Enrollment in preparation programs began to decline around 2010, but hit new lows once the first members of Generation Z (known colloquially as Zoomers) entered higher education in 2014, the researchers found.
The decline has worsened in the decade since, says Thomas Smith, a professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt and author of the report.
Drawing on ACT data from the eight Southern states that require or pay for high school students to take the test, Smith and his colleagues found that between 2013 and 2022, interest steadily declined. Given that it was already minimal to begin with, researchers say, this is a worrying trend.
“In our country, the best way for students to excel, achieve and be part of this workforce is through education,” says Stephen Pruitt, president of SREB. “So if we don't have people capable of teaching our students, there will be a severe limit to what people can do.”
There are ways to reverse that trend, Boren and Smith believe.
In the study, they found that participation in introductory high school teaching courses in Kentucky and Tennessee was increasing. It's possible, they say, that the rise of those classes has prevented even steeper declines among those entering the field, and that cultivating an early interest in education is key to building a strong portfolio. (It's also possible, Smith adds, that these courses are popular because they are considered “easier.”)
Annual data Tennessee Educator Survey found that more than half of early-career teachers entered college “already sure or fairly sure” that they wanted to go into education.
“That leads us to keep thinking about what can be done early on to get people hooked on teaching as a profession,” Smith says.
Boren agrees that early exposure could be a critical path to getting more people into educator preparation programs and, ultimately, classrooms.
“Teaching is less attractive than perhaps it was before,” he acknowledges. “Parents do not encourage their children to dedicate themselves to teaching. Sometimes teachers do not encourage students to pursue teaching. If we could change that narrative and introduce the wonders of teaching to students from the beginning, give them a taste; “maybe that can be one of the many ways we can get more people into the classroom.”
Still, that tactic doesn't solve the many disadvantages of teaching that Generation Z sees: rigid schedules, isolation in classrooms, low pay, lack of autonomy, and lack of respect, appreciation, and professionalization from the public.
“Generation Z is looking for flexibility,” says Smith. “Teaching has not traditionally been a flexible job.”
It's a difficult reality, especially when many other jobs have become more flexible since the pandemic; Hybrid and remote work arrangements have continued in other sectors.
However, it's not just about remote work, Boren says. “The way things have always been done is not attractive to Generation Z.” They want a balance between work and personal life. They want to incorporate “the use of innovative technology,” she says.
Boren says there are “hundreds” of examples of schools creatively incorporating flexibility into the work day and work week for teachers.
One strategy is to hire additional support staff, allowing teachers guaranteed planning time or freeing them up to walk down the hall and watch a colleague teach a lesson. This lends itself to both flexibility and support, she notes. Boren talked about a district that opens an hour later on Wednesdays so staff can run errands or make up that time. He also mentioned a school in Oklahoma that worked with the community to establish a schedule that would allow teachers to have every Friday off work in April and May, when the weather is nice and morale may be flagging toward the end of the school year. .
“A little give and take is really what people are asking for,” he says.
Those examples, so far, are rare. Pruitt, president of SREB and a former teacher, admits that in most places, any attempt to make changes to the structure of the school day or week will be met with resistance.
“We are in the same model that we have been using since the 19th century,” he says, underscoring the challenge.
Members of Generation Z also want to be part of collaborative work, which exists in sectors of the profession but is “not a strong tradition in teaching,” Smith says. “There's a much bigger tradition of being alone in class with the door closed.”
The relationship with students (along with the impact on young people and, by extension, society) is attractive to members of Generation Z, Boren and Smith say. It also aligns with what EdSurge found in interviews with beginning teachers and teacher candidates who are part of Generation Z.
However, it is clear that a sense of purpose alone is not enough to compel enough young people to pursue this field.
Some members of Generation Z may have seen firsthand, as students, that their teachers did not receive the support, tools or recognition they needed to succeed, Smith notes. Others may have internalized negative narratives and perceptions of the teaching that others share.
“Those messages are being picked up by a lot of people, and certainly including Generation Z,” Smith says. “It's not doing us any favors to get more teachers.”
