U of I associate dean: Solving the shortage of teachers calls for tough decisions

Posted on September 27, 2022

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – A survey of Illinois schools finds that 88 percent of the districts responding have trouble filling vacancies in the classroom.

And when we talk about a teacher shortage, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education associate dean Nancy Latham wants to re-frame the discussion.

“We do not have a shortage in this state of well-qualified, committed, dedicated, engaging, creative teachers,” said Latham. “We do have a vacancy issue in that they are working in other fields.”

The job, Latham says, has become less appreciated, less satisfying, more overwhelming, and less safe than ever, with, in some cases, more outside interference – and, in some cases, less support from parents or most anyone else.

Latham says teaching has been, as she put it, “de-professionalized” to the point at which some people see it as sort of a Peace Corps as opposed to a “real job” – the job they get after they quit teaching.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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