Education Majors not Teaching: Why not and where lies the larger issue?

Undergraduate education majors entering the workforce are ending up in positions other than the classroom. Understanding the burnout rates of teachers give us a closer look into a much wider problem.

As previously reported learning how to teach during a global pandemic and when schooling is online is a difficult task, especially for first time educators. How do you translate this into working with students once everyone is back in the classroom? Three students shared their experiences with this in the spring of 2021, and presently they have all graduated and entered the work force. Not everyone entered the classroom though. Now, in the fall of 2023, the same three students, now graduates, reflect on where they are now and how their education shaped them into the educators they are, or aren’t, today.

Abby Funke graduated from Saint Louis University in the Spring of 2023 with an undergraduate degree in Education. Today, she is at Premier Charter School in St. Louis, Missouri where she teaches first grade. When asked about plans to go into special education she noted she “wanted to have a couple of years of just a regular classroom …  having all the kids”. But she also notes something that makes her days difficult are “kids with big behaviors” and she struggles to protect her own well-being while also caring for her student’s. “You have to take care of yourself while youre taking care of them”.

Hannah Rose also graduated from Saint Louis University in the Spring of 2023 with an undergraduate degree in Education. However, she did not go into teaching and doesn’t plan to. Instead, she is currently at the University of Missouri - St. Louis studying to be a school psychologist. Rose said that around her sophomore year of undergrad she discovered school psychology as a potential career and it “immediately captured” her interest. While she is continuing her studies, she is juggling multiple jobs including babysitting, tutoring, substitute teaching, all in addition to going in to schools similarly to how she did in undergrad, only this time to train to be a school psychologist. So, while she won’t interact with students as a teacher, she will have an impact on them socially and emotionally. 

Riley Hercules, like the previous two, graduated from Saint Louis University in the Spring of 2023 with an undergraduate degree in Education. Unlike the others, Hercules is not as involved with students lives. She is expanding her education degree to be the manager of special events at Incarnate Word Academy, her high school alma mater. She spoke to this talking about how even though she isn’t a teacher, her training to be one has allowed her to apply those skills to her workplace while still interacting with students, specifically citing inclusive language as a key part of communication with students. 

Above all, they are working in schools and benefiting students which is important in a time when there is a high burnout rate for teachers and a nationwide shortage of school educators and staff. This rate increases when you compare general education to special education teachers, with an article from Education Week citing lack of support from principals as a reason for quitting. 

According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s teacher workforce data 2023 report, the retention rate of first-year teachers staying in the profession after 5 years is 38.2% for the 2021-2022 school year, down from 40.5% the previous school year. This leaves 61.2% of first year teachers deciding to leave the profession after 5 years.  survey conducted of more than 1,300 schools by National Center for Education Statistics shows that nationally, only 42% of schools are reporting feeling understaffed in comparison to 52% last year. 

Despite the different career paths their experiences have led them on, ultimately each one of these trained educators is making an impact either through teaching in a classroom, planning events for the students, or supporting their social and emotional well-being through a new area of study. But, the stress faced by these educators, and one still student, cannot be ignored becuase of the statistics showing the rate in which the eucation system is struggling to provide enough staff to teach and support students. These three are only a small sample of what the new and upcoming generation of educators are facing and feeling as they enter the work force, and they must be heard.