Where Have All the Teachers Gone? BY DANIEL “ROBIN” HOWE, ED.D
22
In Elka Torpey’s (2018) article “ Projections for teachers:
mentoring teachers who have been relied upon to usher in the
How many are leaving the occupation?” According to the US
new waves of teachers. All of this is leading to the reality that
Bureau of Labor Statistics, between the years of 2016 and 2026,
there are going to be a lot of new teachers in our classrooms.
more than 270,000 teachers will be leaving the profession each
While training Montessori teachers may have a slight advantage in
year. Whether it is retirement, career changes, burn-out, there are
that many Montessori teacher education programs require a year
a lot of open teaching positions. That was before the onset of the
of supervised practicum, the reality is that teaching is hard work
COVID-19 factor, which has impacted each of our lives in so many
and mentorship and support is incredibly important, especially in
different ways.
the early years of a teacher’s teaching career.
As described in the Madeline Fox (2021) article, “Teach-
The first question then becomes: Where are we finding the
er retirements were up in 2020 and more are expected in
teachers? In a publicly acknowledged underpaid career field that is
2021,” the Covid pandemic has caused many teachers to
increasingly becoming more about parent management rather than
evaluate their retirement plans and, in many cases, make the
inspiring students, we need to find teachers and nurture and
decision to retire early. According to the Fox (2021) article,
guide them to become the types of teachers needed to replace the
there are various factors that are causing teachers to make this
expanding sinkhole of seasoned educators.
decision, including but not limited to: health fears; burnout;
feelings of not being able to manage; etc.
decision to enter the education field, whether it is to work in a
Whether teachers are retiring because they are reaching the
kindergarten or a high school (private or public), Montessori,
age of retirement or making the decision to retire early for any
traditional, and any of the other flavors of education out there,
reason, we are in the midst of teacher shortage and are losing
what are our expectations of these teachers?
Now, assuming young adults entering university make the
©MONTESSORI LEADERSHIP | WWW.MONTESSORI.ORG/IMC | VOLUME 23 ISSUE 1 • 2021
