Once they do get through the program, half who are trained to be teachers never teach, he adds. Teaching in a high school for a year gives you a greater understanding of that. Working conditions are really hard. For example, when a teacher teaches 200 students a day, assigning an essay means about 40 hours of grading time. Unfortunately, there is not enough incentive for that kind of work, Margonis says.
Politicians don t look at class size because it s an expensive thing.
But we ll continue to see teacher shortages until teacher salaries are brought up to competitive levels and class sizes are brought down. With a continued teacher shortage looming, Bennion agrees that it is more important than ever to retain teachers. We need a systematic support system for brand-new teachers in their first couple of years. Just like doctors aren t expected to go out on their own without a residency, coaching, and training, new teachers need systematic support, as well. For me, that s ideally a joint responsibility between the teaching institution and the schools themselves.