Technology Education Teacher Shortage
Critical Shortages Threaten Profession 

Mr. Mike Berkeihiser
 Unionville High School, Kennett Square, PA

The desperate need for qualified teachers is the single most important issue that will face our field in the future (Wicklein, 1993).The Technology Education teacher shortage has developed for a number of reasons:

If more Technology Education teachers are not prepared in the immediate future, many jobs will go unfilled and programs will shut down. Several options are available, including recruiting more people into current teacher education programs and finding alternative routes to teacher certification. For students to be properly prepared to enter a technologically advancing society, they must have Technology Education classes taught by high quality, certified teachers.

Leaders in Technology Education have a great deal of legitimate concern for the future of the field. There are a number of problems facing the field including marketing and public relations problems, a shortage of funding, a lack of curricular consensus, declining enrollments and inadequate leadership (Wicklein, 1993).If we think about this for a minute, all of the other problems become immaterial if there are no teachers to teach the classes and the programs are closed.  

Critical Issues in Technology Education

Wicklein (1993) conducted a study to determine the critical issues in Technology Education. He ranked the results in priority order on two different lists; one for the current issues and another list for future issues. The top four current issues were:

  1. inadequate marketing and public relations,

  2. lack of funding,

  3. lack of curriculum consensus, and

  4. a shortage of Technology Education teachers. 

Wicklein’s list of future problems placed the shortage of Technology Education teachers as a top priority and he expressed concern that the shortage could lead to the elimination of some programs (1993, p. 61).In 1983, Dr. Donald Maley wrote, “Quality education is literally a blind hope in any society that neglects to provide an adequate supply of qualified teachers” (p.2).He was so far ahead of his time that he could predict the severity of the upcoming Technology Education teacher shortage. At that time, the profession was not experiencing the teacher shortage we are today. He was forward thinking enough to see that the shortage of teachers was the next major problem we would face. He could not have been more accurate. 

Why Have Enrollments Dropped?

There are many reasons why enrollments in technology teacher education programs have fallen over the past three decades. Some of the problems facing Technology Education are universal to all areas of education. Élan (1990) found that only about 50 percent of parents want their children to teach in the public school. In the same study, teaching was not in the top ten preferred professions. Poor salaries, poor working conditions and job stress have all been cited as factors that contribute to the difficulty of recruiting and retaining teachers in all areas (Volk, 1993).Something must be done to change the public opinion of teaching as a career.  

There have been a number of major changes in the field that may have contributed to the decline in enrollment in technology teacher preparation programs. The first is the name change from industrial arts to Technology Education. Miller (1998) noted the impact of changing the name of a field on the attempts to recruit teachers: "the recruiting of young men and women into the teaching profession is difficult enough… but the changing of the name into something else makes it even harder to recruit when you have to tell a perspective professional that the name of the profession he/she is interested in has changed its name and direction (p. 14). 

The second major change in the field is the introduction of non-teaching majors into departments that once only prepared teachers. During the period from 1970-1990, the number of Technology Education majors declined 69.7%.It is interesting to note that the number of non-Technology Education majors increased 790% during the same period. Many college departments that prepare Technology Education teachers experienced a shift in focus and direction toward industrial technology (ITE) degree options during this period. In programs without an IT option, the number of Technology Education graduates declined by 52.9%, which is about the same rate of decline in graduates from all areas of teacher education. In departments that offered IT degree options, the decline in teacher graduates was 72.7%.This shows that there was a much greater decline in the number of Technology Education graduates from schools offering the IT option (Volk, 1993).The degree demands of IT are much different from those of teacher education. The technical background required by a future industrial manager is much greater than that of a future technology teacher. It is important that technical courses for these two majors be kept separate to insure proper preparation. According to Volk (1993), teacher education programs should not be in a school of technology or engineering and IT programs should not be in schools of education. 

Another reason for the decline in the number of Technology Education majors could simply be the cost of IT programs. "The funding required to maintain one modern industrial technology laboratory is more than some colleges of education budgets” (Rogers, 1997, p.2).The proportionately high cost to operate an IT program combined with the dwindling enrollment in many technology teacher programs is the main cause for program closure. 

Summary

Technology Education has seen great change over the past three decades, part of which has contributed to our current shortage of qualified teachers. There are a number of viable solutions to the problem. We must work on a daily basis to remove the negative perceptions of teaching by talking about the good things that happen in school and by telling people why we like to teach. We must also continue to look for creative and effective means of alternative teacher certification so that we can meet the demand for qualified, certified teachers. It is the duty of all Technology Education teachers, especially at the high school level, to recruit the best and brightest to be the future technology teachers for the sake of the profession, as well as the students who all deserve top quality Technology Education. 

References:

Elam, S. M. (1990). The 22nd annual gallop pole of public’s attitudes toward the public school. Phi Delta Kappan, 72 (1), 41-55.

Maley, D. (1983). Changing attitudes toward teacher recruitment. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 237 748)

Miller, I. (1998). Industrial arts teachers: Supply and demand. Industrial Education, 71 (1). 14-17.

Rogers, G. E. (1997). A new source of industrial technology education teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Vocational Association, Las Vegas, NV.

Volk, K. S. (1993), Going, going, gone? Recent trends in technology teacher education programs. Journal of Industrial Education, 8 (2), 67-71.

Volk, K. S. (1997). Teacher shortage-supply and demand. The Technology Teacher, 57 (1), 6-9.

Wicklein, R. C. (1993). Identifying critical issues and problems in technology education using a modified-delphi technique. Journal of Technology Education, 5 (1), 54-71.