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pool of qualified teachers willing to work in current conditions for current wages
(Schmitt & deCourcy, 2022). Taking an even longer view of the teaching profession
in the United States over the last 50 years, Kraft and Lyon (2022) studied nationally
representative data concerning professional prestige, interest among students in the
teaching profession, preparation for entry into the profession, and job satisfaction to
determine that the current state of K–12 teaching in the United States is at its lowest
level in the last half century, with a precipitous decline beginning around 2010, a
decade before COVID-19 impacted schools and classrooms. Dr. Dorrie Powell, a
Education experts in Europe agree that the COVID-19 pandemic shone a bright member of Beta
light on issues already in place within the teaching profession such as poor wages, Sigma Chapter in
Tennessee State
deteriorating working conditions, low status, and lack of recognition (Euronews, Organization,
2022). In a press release on World Teachers’ Day, October 4, 2022, the United recently retired after
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned of 45 years as a high
a global teacher shortage crisis, citing 69 million teachers needed worldwide by school English and
2030 to provide universal basic education. While the greatest deficits in primary journalism teacher,
and secondary education are projected for sub-Saharan Africa (16.5 million) and high school librarian,
and college and career
Southern Asia (7 million), there is still a projected teacher shortage of more than 45 coordinator. She
million teachers in the other nations of the world. According to UNESCO, initial was Tennessee State
steps to overcome the teacher shortage must include improved working conditions, Organization president
especially in low-income countries, and professionally competitive wages, especially (2015–2017), member
in high-income countries (UNESCO, 2023). The theme for World Teachers’ Day, of the International
October 5, 2023, reflected the urgency of the teacher shortage issue: “The teachers Scholarship
Committee (2018–
we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher 2020), and now serves
shortage” (UNESCO, n.d.). as a member of the
Even if we acknowledge widespread and long-standing teacher shortages driven Editorial Board for
by issues such as wages, working conditions, and professional prestige, it can be The Delta Kappa
difficult to pinpoint specific grade levels, academic disciplines, or schools where Gamma Bulletin
such shortages exist. The data, especially in the United States, are largely self- (2020–2024). powell.
dorrie@gmail.com
reported by state or local education departments and limited to K–12 schools. In
addition, data collected by the U.S. Department of Education reflect the status of
tax-supported public schools but do not capture the teacher situation in tuition-based
private or faith-based schools, making the teacher shortage data picture fragmented
and incomplete. Further complicating the issue of teacher shortages is the number
of unqualified or underqualified teachers serving in classrooms (Chernikoff, 2023).
While sources may not provide a complete picture of teacher shortages, three
aspects of the issue come into focus if we look at the issues of supply and demand,
retention, and recruitment:
• Supply and Demand: Teaching shortages are pervasive yet localized,
with Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Maine, and New Mexico holding
the highest rates of vacancies during the 2022–2023 school year based
on the teacher-to-pupil ratio (Tamez-Robledo, 2023). Although there are
more teachers in the United States than before the pandemic, certain kinds
of teachers are still in short supply, such as qualified teachers in special
education, science, and mathematics (Barshay, 2022; Kraft & Lyon, 2022;
Turner & Cohen, 2023). Schools serving high-poverty and high-minority
populations are more likely to struggle filling teacher vacancies of all kinds
than those serving low-poverty, low-minority areas (Chernikoff, 2023;
Turner & Cohen, 2023).
• Retention: In many European countries as well as in the United States,

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