We’ve heard a lot about the recent drop in education school enrollments at North Carolina colleges and universities. Despite the implication that Republicans are to blame, North Carolina is mirroring a nationwide trend.
Yesterday, I encountered a story about similar problems in England.
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has admitted that schools in England are facing a shortage of maths teachers, at the same time as the government has been pushing more pupils to study the subject at school and beyond.
Responding to questions from the new Commons education select committee, the minister conceded there were problems with teacher recruitment. “I would not disagree, there are challenges in teacher recruitment,” she said.
Morgan said the recovering economy was in part to blame, with students leaving university enjoying greater graduate opportunities in the jobs market.
She continued: “There are subjects where we have always struggled to hit our recruitment targets. There are a variety of different subjects.
I am not worried that schools in jolly ol’ England are planning to raid our state’s teacher workforce. Instead, this story gets to one of the major reasons why fewer students are pursuing a career in education – the job market.
It’s not politics, but economics, that is driving students away from a career in education. It’s true in North Carolina, in the United States, in England, and likely elsewhere in the world.
