Episode Summary

In this episode, I take a deeper look at what we commonly call the teacher shortage and ask whether the shortage itself is really the problem—or whether it is a symptom of something deeper happening within the profession. After 24 years in education, I’ve watched the conversation change from schools receiving huge numbers of applicants to districts struggling to fill classrooms.

I explore several factors that may be contributing to this shift, including working conditions, student behavior, leadership, compensation, workload, support, public perception, and the cost of becoming a teacher. I also reflect on what changed after COVID and why respect for educators belongs in the teacher retention conversation.

I talk about the importance of both new and veteran educators. When experienced teachers leave, schools lose more than employees—they lose professional judgment, institutional knowledge, leadership, and mentors for the next generation. When young teachers leave after only a few years, I believe we should become curious about what happened instead of immediately questioning their commitment.

Ultimately, I argue that we cannot recruit our way out of a retention problem. Recruitment matters, but so does creating a profession where talented educators can build meaningful, sustainable careers. Instead of only asking where we will find more teachers, I believe we also need to ask what will help great teachers want to stay.

Show Notes

• The teacher shortage as a symptom
• Recruitment versus retention
• Why teacher expertise is not disposable
• What changed after COVID
• The shrinking teacher pipeline
• Losing veteran and early-career teachers
• Building a profession where teachers stay

Key Takeaways

• Teacher vacancies may point to deeper problems.
• Recruitment alone cannot solve a retention crisis.
• Veteran teachers carry expertise schools cannot easily replace.
• Early-career departures should make us curious about why teachers leave.
• Filling a position is not the same as building a great teacher.
• Strong schools need both new educators and experienced educators.

This is Mr. Funky Teacher with BeAFunkyTeacher.com. I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.

Welcome back, everyone.

Today's episode is called The Teacher Shortage: Symptoms vs. Causes.

Over the last couple of episodes, we've started digging into a difficult but incredibly important conversation.

Why are good teachers leaving?

Yesterday, we talked about the difference between burnout and moral injury.

Today, I want to zoom out a little bit because there's another phrase we hear all the time in education:

The teacher shortage.

Schools can't find enough teachers.

Positions remain unfilled.

Districts struggle to find substitutes.

Fewer young people are entering teacher preparation programs.

Experienced educators are leaving.

And we look at all of that and say we have a teacher shortage.

And we do.

But I've been thinking about something.

What if the teacher shortage isn't actually the problem?

What if it's the symptom?

Because if we only treat the symptom, we're probably never going to solve the underlying problem.

I've been teaching for 24 years now.

When I entered this profession, teaching positions could attract huge numbers of applicants.

There were places where hundreds of people might be interested in available teaching positions.

Today, the conversation is very different.

We're talking about vacancies.

We're talking about emergency credentials and people teaching outside their ideal areas.

We're talking about schools struggling just to put qualified adults into classrooms.

And maybe the question we need to ask isn't simply:

Where did all the teachers go?

Maybe the better question is:

What happened to the profession that made fewer people want to enter it and made so many great educators decide that they couldn't stay?

That's a very different question.

And that's the conversation I want to have today.

Before we get into it, I want to ground myself in gratitude.

Here are three things that I'm thankful for.

The first thing that I'm thankful for is people who choose education every year.

There are still people who look at all the challenges of this profession and say, "I want to teach."

I think that's incredible.

They could choose countless other careers, but something inside them tells them that they want to work with young people and make a difference.

I'm thankful that they are willing to answer that call.

The second thing that I'm thankful for is veteran teachers who share what they've learned.

Twenty-four years into this profession, I realize how much knowledge teachers accumulate.

It's not always knowledge you can find in a textbook or a class.

It's knowing when a student needs encouragement instead of correction.

Knowing when to change a lesson.

Knowing how to read a classroom.

Knowing when something just isn't right.

I'm thankful for experienced educators who share that wisdom with the people coming behind them.

And the third thing that I'm thankful for is people who still believe public education matters.

Education isn't perfect.

There are things we absolutely need to improve.

But every day, schools across this country open their doors and welcome children from every imaginable background.

Teachers show up.

Bus drivers show up.

Paraprofessionals show up.

Counselors show up.

Administrators show up.

People continue doing the work because they believe young people matter.

And I'm thankful for that.

So the topic, once again, is The Teacher Shortage: Symptoms vs. Causes.

I want to make an important distinction today.

A vacant teaching position is a symptom.

A shrinking teacher preparation program is a symptom.

A school struggling to find substitutes is a symptom.

A veteran educator walking away is a symptom.

The deeper question is why.

Why aren't enough people entering the profession?

Why aren't enough teachers staying?

Why are educators who once imagined teaching for 30 years sometimes leaving after three?

And I don't believe there's one answer.

Pay matters.

Working conditions matter.

Student behavior matters.

Leadership matters.

The cost of becoming a teacher matters.

Public perception matters.

Workload matters.

Support matters.

We're going to explore many of those things throughout this series.

But today, I want us to recognize something:

We cannot recruit our way out of a retention problem.

If we keep pouring people into a profession without examining why people are leaving, we're treating the symptom instead of the cause.

So let's get into it.

The shortage is real, but it isn't the whole story.

When we hear teacher shortage, our natural reaction is to think that we need more teachers.

And obviously, yeah, we do.

But I think that's only the beginning of the conversation.

Imagine having a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

You can keep pouring water into that bucket.

You can pour faster.

You can find bigger containers.

You can recruit more people to help pour.

But eventually somebody has to ask:

Why aren't we fixing the hole?

That's how I sometimes think about the teacher shortage.

Recruitment matters.

We absolutely need talented young people entering the education field.

But what if great teachers are simultaneously leaving the profession?

Then recruitment alone isn't solving this issue.

We need to understand why people aren't entering.

And we need to understand why people aren't staying.

Because the shortage itself may be telling us something much bigger about the health of the profession.

We can't treat teachers like they're disposable.

This is really one of the biggest cultural shifts that I have noticed.

Sometimes it feels as though society assumes there's an endless supply of teachers.

If one leaves, we'll find another.

If that one leaves, we'll find somebody else.

But educators aren't interchangeable parts.

A great teacher isn't simply a person standing at the front of a classroom.

Great teachers build relationships.

They develop professional judgment.

They understand curriculum.

They learn how children think.

They become mentors.

And they become leaders.

They accumulate years of knowledge that can't simply be replaced by hiring the next available person.

When an experienced educator walks out the door, a school doesn't just lose an employee.

It loses expertise.

And we need to stop treating that expertise as disposable.

"You knew what you were getting into" isn't good enough.

I've heard variations of this statement over the years:

"You knew teaching was hard when you chose it."

Sure.

Teaching is hard.

Most teachers know that way before entering the profession.

But knowing a profession is difficult doesn't mean people should accept unhealthy working conditions.

Imagine saying that about any other profession.

"You knew nursing was hard."

"You knew policing was hard."

"You knew social work was hard."

Whatever the profession, saying, "You knew it was going to be difficult," isn't an excuse for ignoring problems.

Teachers aren't asking for the work to become effortless.

Most of the teachers I know embrace hard work.

They're asking for the conditions surrounding that work to allow them to do it well.

There's an enormous difference between meaningful hard work and unsustainable work.

And if we want people to stay, we need to understand that distinction.

Something changed after COVID.

I think back to the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

For a brief period, there was this incredible public appreciation for teachers.

Families suddenly saw firsthand how difficult teaching could be.

People talked about teachers as heroes.

They thanked educators.

They recognized the complexity of what teachers do.

And then something changed.

As schools reopened and society moved forward, some of that appreciation seemed to disappear.

In some cases, it almost felt like the pendulum swung the other direction.

Teachers became part of political debates.

Schools became battlegrounds for larger cultural arguments.

Educators sometimes became convenient targets.

And that's difficult because teachers are still doing the same thing they've always tried to do:

Help kids.

We don't need teachers placed on pedestals.

But we do need them treated as professionals.

Respect matters.

And I think respect is absolutely part of the teacher retention conversation.

Fewer people entering the pipeline matters.

Another part of the shortage happens before anyone ever enters a classroom.

We need to look at teacher preparation.

If fewer college students are choosing education, we should be asking why.

I am an adjunct instructor at a local college, and I've seen some numbers drop too in college students who are going through programs to become teachers.

There are a lot of variables.

The cost of college matters.

The amount teachers earn compared with the cost of earning a degree matters.

The public narrative surrounding teaching matters.

Young people are watching.

And they're listening.

They're hearing conversations about burnout.

They're hearing about behavior challenges.

And they're watching teachers leave.

Then we're asking them:

"Would you like to spend four years preparing to enter this profession?"

We can't be surprised when some of them hesitate.

If we want the next generation of great educators, we have to make teaching a profession young people can realistically imagine building a life around.

Losing veteran teachers has a ripple effect.

This one concerns me tremendously.

When a veteran teacher leaves, we don't simply lose someone who knows the curriculum.

We lose institutional knowledge.

We lose mentorship.

We lose someone who's experienced difficult years and knows that difficult years eventually pass.

We lose someone who can walk next door to a first-year teacher and say:

"I've been there. Here's what helped me."

Schools need new teachers.

They bring energy, new ideas, and different perspectives.

But schools also need experienced teachers.

Healthy schools need both.

And when veteran teachers leave faster than new educators can learn from them, something important disappears.

When young teachers leave early, we need to listen.

That's another thing we've got to look at here.

I am equally concerned when educators leave after only a few years.

Imagine spending years preparing to become a teacher.

Completing coursework.

Student teaching.

Going through certification.

Finally getting your own classroom.

And then three or four years later deciding:

"I can't do this for another 30."

We shouldn't immediately respond by questioning that person's commitment.

We should become curious.

Why?

What happened?

What support was missing?

What expectations became overwhelming?

What could have helped that teacher succeed?

Every early-career teacher who leaves gives us information.

The question is whether we're listening.

And whether we're willing to listen.

Filling a position isn't the same as solving the problem.

This is a huge distinction I think we need to make.

A school can technically fill every classroom and still have a teacher shortage problem.

If people are teaching outside their strongest areas.

If schools rely heavily on long-term substitutes.

If positions continually turn over.

If teachers enter classrooms without the preparation or support they need.

We've filled positions.

But we haven't necessarily solved the problem.

Students deserve more than adults in classrooms.

They deserve qualified, supported, effective educators who have the opportunity to become excellent at their craft.

And the people stepping into those classrooms deserve support too.

We can't simply put someone in a difficult position and say:

"Good luck."

If we're bringing people into education through alternative pathways or emergency situations, then mentorship, coaching, and professional learning become even more important.

The goal isn't simply staffing classrooms.

The goal is building great teachers.

Recruitment without retention is a revolving door.

We absolutely should recruit more people into teaching.

We want talented young people choosing this profession.

We want colleges of education filled with future teachers.

We want people from different backgrounds and life experiences bringing their gifts into classrooms.

But recruitment can't be the entire strategy.

Because if we recruit 10 teachers while 10 experienced teachers leave, we haven't solved anything.

Not at all.

We've created a revolving door.

So alongside every recruitment conversation should be a retention conversation.

What makes teachers stay?

What makes them feel valued?

What kind of leadership helps them thrive?

What working conditions allow them to do excellent work?

What support helps them navigate difficult seasons?

Those questions may be every bit as important as:

"How do we get more people into teaching?"

We have to ask what kind of profession we're inviting people into.

This may be the biggest question of today's episode.

We spend a lot of time asking:

"How do we convince more people to become teachers?"

That's an important question.

But I think there's another question that has to come first.

What kind of profession are we asking them to enter?

Are we creating schools where teachers are trusted?

Are they supported?

Are they given opportunities to grow?

Are behavioral expectations clear?

Is their professional judgment being respected?

Can they afford to build a life while doing this work?

Can they imagine themselves doing it 20 or 30 years from now?

And maybe most importantly:

What are we doing to help the excellent teachers we already have stay?

Because the greatest recruitment campaign in the world won't solve a retention problem if we don't address the reasons people are walking away.

We need both recruitment and retention.

New educators and veteran educators.

Fresh perspectives and accumulated wisdom.

And ultimately, a profession where talented people can look ahead and say:

"I can build a meaningful life doing this."

That's the profession our students deserve.

As I do a reflective close, when we hear the words teacher shortage, I hope we don't stop at the shortage.

I hope we become curious about what it's telling us.

Because vacancies are symptoms.

Unfilled positions are symptoms.

Shrinking teacher preparation programs are symptoms.

Great teachers leaving are symptoms.

And if we're serious about strengthening education, we have to become willing to examine the causes.

This isn't about blaming one group.

There isn't one villain in this story.

There isn't one policy we can change tomorrow that suddenly fixes everything.

It's bigger than that.

But that doesn't mean it's hopeless.

Actually, I think asking better questions gives us hope.

Instead of simply asking:

"Where are we going to find more teachers?"

Let's also ask:

"How do we create a profession where great teachers want to stay?"

And if you're an educator listening today, here's the question I'd like you to carry with you:

What is one thing that makes you want to stay in teaching?

Think about that.

Because through this series, we're going to spend plenty of time talking about what's pushing teachers away.

But we're also going to talk about what pulls them toward this work.

What sustains them.

What gives them hope.

And what makes this profession worth continuing to fight for.

Because our students don't simply need teachers.

They need great teachers.

And great teachers should never be treated as though they're disposable.

Tomorrow, we're going to broaden this conversation even further.

Because the teacher retention crisis isn't simply a teacher problem.

When great educators leave, students feel it.

Families feel it.

Schools feel it.

Communities feel it.

Ultimately, society feels it.

That's where we're headed next.

Well, if you found value in this episode, head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts and hit me up with a five-star review and let me know what you think.

It helps more teachers to find this space.

And as you go into your day, I want you to remember to inspire greatness in young people.

And don't forget to be a funky teacher.

Bye now.