As of right now, 10,000 teaching jobs are up for grabs in Texas. The teacher shortage was years in the making, but the two-year pandemic saw a huge spike in teachers giving up their positions.
Some educators say there are ways to reverse the problem, one of them being to add more support for teachers mental moral. A former second-grade teacher named Shelbi Varnell, said the workload and stress of having to manage multiple responsibilities at the height of the pandemic drover her to check herself into a hospital.
Covid-19 has presented a new wave of challenges for educators, causing them to go to another career or taking the time off to be with family. These new requirements are taking a toll on the mental health of our teachers and can range from advising to helping connect students to proper outlets for better opportunities. While this is a nationwide issue, Texas has been substantially impacted by these shortages.
On the 30th, the 11-person State Board for Educator Certification voted for whether or not to adapt the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment, Known as the edTPA exam. The new licensing test, created at Stanford University, requires educators to give answers to an essay questionnaire while developing a sample lesson plan. The sample lesson plan consist of a 15 minute video of themselves teaching in a classroom and giving a report on their students’ progress.
As the nations educators require more advanced training to prepare their lives for the tough responsibilities of teaching in post pandemic, it has complicated things for aspiring educators who want to earn a living teaching. As Texas decides what to do about the teacher shortage, it seems like we are a long way from solving this issue.