Here in North Carolina, there’s a continuing kerfuffle between bureaucrats and the state legislature over K-12 teacher issues. The latest round is the report of a 30 percent decline in the number of students enrolled in teacher education since 2010. The state superintendent of education (not a friend of the Republican-majority legislature) cited “[low] pay, lack of respect, and lack of time for professional development” as likely reasons, reported the Raleigh News & Observer.
But it turns out that enrollment is falling all over the country—and the decline has been going on for awhile. Education Week reported a year and a half ago that in California (ever a leading indicator!) teacher ed enrollment dropped by 53 percent between 2008-09 and 2012-13. California had teacher layoffs during the recession and that undoubtedly sent a message to incoming college students.
In any case, there is no crisis yet in the number of teachers. The national student-teacher ratio of 16:1 at public schools is the same as it was in 2000, reports the Department of Education.
And anything that forces education schools—very bad places to be educated—to rethink their policies has its good side.