The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift in the way we approach work and education. Weekly work meetings began to look like the opening credits of the Brady Bunch, as Zoom became the new meeting room, and the once-common setting of a school lecture hall was replaced by a computer screen.
Jeff Riddle, director of Teach901, says that he believes that the constant shifting and changing of things through virtual learning throughout COVID-19 contributed to what has been reported as a national teaching shortage. In March, the National Center for Education Statistics stated that 44 percent of public schools had reported teaching vacancies.
Though the pandemic cannot be sourced as the primary cause of the current teaching shortage, it aggravated the problem. Educators say the shortage has been in the making for years.
A fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Education states: “Throughout the pandemic, many districts have faced significant challenges in attracting and retaining teachers, and preexisting teacher shortages in critical areas such as special education; bilingual education; science, technology, engineering, and math; career and technical education; and early childhood education have only been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“You see programs like Teach For America that have lower numbers, across the board. I think people just have more autonomy and agency in what they do for employment,” Riddle says.
“I think more people have entrepreneurial ideas, and how to monetize those things. I think for classroom teaching, it’s been a tough time, because the way education is done is in person and in a classroom. I think the virtual world, and the remote-job allure is just very counter to that. I think people working from wherever they want to work is a counter to in-person learning.”
Riddle says that this, coupled with adjusting back to in-person learning, schools “being asked to grow students where they’re at,” and constant “pivots and adjustments,” have created a “wild couple of years.”
While many have strayed away from traditional jobs, the idea of impacting a younger generation is still a rewarding career, says Riddle. In fact, when he started leading Teach901 in the early stages of the pandemic, Riddle started directly interacting with several candidates who were looking for ways to get licensed and inside the classroom, even if they didn’t initially take this path in college.
Kalona Gryskwicz is currently a teacher at Believe Memphis Academy, located at 2230 Corry Road. Gryskwicz graduated from the University of Memphis in 2018 with a degree in sociology. She started out working an in-office job at an insurance company for about two years. She admits that she realized that she didn’t like the job and that she wasn’t fulfilled.
“When we were sent to work from home during the pandemic, I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to do,” says Gryskwicz. “I realized I wanted to do something that contributed to society, because I felt like I wasn’t doing that. I was just in my house comfortably, working from home, doing something for a company that seemed to only benefit the company, and not society.”
Gryskwicz says that she had always thought about teaching, so she reached out to Teach901, who put her in contact with a large number of schools in Memphis.
“It was overwhelming, but it was super eye-opening to see what the need for educators was,” says Gryskwicz. “I saw such a huge need for people who work in community service positions, like teachers and nurses, or those kinds of jobs. Jobs that seemed to truly benefit society, not just the institutions themselves, but the people who work in them, and I really wanted to be someone who made a difference. I feel like teachers do that.”
Gryskwicz says that she had calls coming in from everywhere, asking her to interview for a teaching position, even though she says she “didn’t have the credentials that teachers need.” While she made this known, she says that the schools were constantly reassuring her that this was totally fine, and that there were alternative programs to help her get the proper licensing.
Riddle says that there are a variety of different programs that can help people get their licensing.
If someone can take a Praxis exam, a school may be willing to hire them on the basis that they enroll in an educator preparation program,” says Riddle. “A lot of times this is going to be called the ‘Job-Embedded program.’ So it’s like a chicken and an egg though. Based on their Praxis test results, or if their interview is impressive enough for a school to want to hire them, they also have this requirement to enroll and participate in an ‘ed prep program.’”
Gryskwicz says she enrolled in Relay Graduate School of Education during the summer of 2022, which she says is being paid for by her school. She also recently got her practitioner’s license.
“I’m currently in grad school getting my masters in teaching, while teaching,” Gryskwicz says.
Gryskwicz says that having her education paid for is nice, and the professional development and aid that has been offered is appealing, However, these incentives do not necessarily glamorize the position. She calls it a necessary job, with very rewarding benefits.
“It’s a really hard job. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had. It’s also the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had.”