A common problem I see in CTE programs is a teacher shortage. Just look at Virginia’s 2015-2016 Top Ten Critical Shortage Teaching Endorsement Areas. Career and Technical Education is listed fourth.
This is why we’re seeing bipartisan support for legislation that helps schools recruit and train high-quality CTE teachers. For example, the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act would foster partnerships between high-needs secondary schools and post-secondary institutions to create one-year teacher residencies for CTE teachers. This would apply the model used by the Richmond Teacher Residency program, a partnership between Virginia Commonwealth University and Richmond Public Schools, to CTE-focused programs.
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Virginia isn’t alone in this challenge. States across the country, from California to Michigan, are in similar situations.
The result is usually closing programs that cannot be properly staffed, but with an already increasing shortage of skilled workers, can we really afford to?
One way I’ve seen schools get around this obstacle is to broaden the applications of their CTE labs by bringing in additional teachers that don’t fall under the traditional CTE instructor umbrella.
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Back when I was teaching middle school TechEd and high school drafting in Kentucky, we did something similar. At the time, this was part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act.
I taught industrial technology skills but I was also required to give my students writing, science and math assignments. In these instances, other teachers would come in and assist with these broader lessons. For example, a science teacher would come in to co-teach our rocket launch project, an English teacher would assist with written projects, and then math and Gifted & Talented teachers would cover their respective subjects as well.
Today, this idea essentially translates to restructuring your CTE TechEd lab as a STEM lab.
Ultimately, this doesn’t have to change the fundamentals of your CTE programming, because STEM has always been inherent to CTE. It really just broadens the applications of your lab, provides more students access to your lab’s technologies, and adds another layer of quality education to the lab.
Meeting the demand for a workforce with highly-technical skills isn’t going to be easy. As districts find more creative ways to make the most of their CTE resources and expand their programs to incorporate all types of STEM programming, they will be able to create new avenues for learning.
