the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, If New Jersey wants more teacher candidates, maybe we should listen to what young teachers actually say about their profession. Why is there a teacher shortage? It turns out the nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), knew the answer all along: young teachers were dissatisfied with the teaching profession and made their reasons very clear to the NEA in a 2014 report. This information is highly relevant to New Jersey’s current teacher shortage. There has been a lively public debate about the causes of the shortage, and it is essential to identify the causes if there are to be effective solutions. Some blame pandemic-related factors, but the steep decline in teacher candidates long predates the pandemic. Others blame policies enacted by Governor Chris Christie, but the teacher shortage is both regional and national, so New Jersey-specific policies cannot be the main cause. The Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey – a New Jersey-based, nonpartisan research organization – asked: Is the nature of employment in the public school system, itself, part of the problem?
Continue reading The NEA Has Known Why There is a Teacher Shortage Since 2014
