PRESS RELEASE
PA FACES A SHORTAGE OF NEARLY 700 CAREER-TECH TEACHERS
New Children First Report Offers Solutions So More Children Can Benefit from Skills Training
Pennsylvania has a smaller share of students in valuable career and technical education (CTE) than other states in large part because Pennsylvania requirements make it unnecessarily time-consuming and costly to be become a CTE instructor.
The key problem is that Pennsylvania does not consider professional experience or industry credentials as qualifications to become a teacher. A mechanic with years of experience and industry certifications or a life-long early education teacher with expertise in child development would be turned away from teaching in the Commonwealth.
As a result, Pennsylvania students suffer from limited access to highly sought-after career prep programs that teach real-world skills. In School Year 2023–24, 700 instructor positions in CTE were vacant; CTE programs statewide are having to manage a teacher attrition rate twice as high as for teacher corps as a whole.
A new Children First report, Technical Education Teacher Shortage: Solutions for Pennsylvania, examines ten states, including Pennsylvania, that have a much larger share of students in CTE, states that border the Commonwealth, and states known for implementing effective or innovative CTE policies. In every other state, occupational licensure and work experience can be substituted for a significant portion, or all, of the academic requirements for certification.
In Pennsylvania, CTE teachers must complete 60 academic credits – the equivalent to two years in college – over several years. That means that, in addition to earning less for taking a teaching job, CTE teachers also pay out of pocket for some or all of the cost of keeping their teaching position. While some districts offer financial assistance, CTE teachers are not paid for the 180 hours of college instruction and homework time needed, which would likely exceed $10,000 if it were remunerated.
Based on the success of how other states certify CTE instructors, Pennsylvania has many avenues for policy reform; top among them is acknowledging that industry experience is just as valuable as academic credits. Technical Education Teacher Shortage: Solutions for Pennsylvania includes specific policy recommendations that will reduce the barriers to CTE teacher recruitment and retention and let Pennsylvania’s economy and future workforce thrive.
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