For the last year, EdSurge has been showcasing students enrolled in teacher preparation programs to understand who is going into teaching today — and why.
In each profile, we hand the mic over to an aspiring educator, letting them explain, in their own words, what drew them into this career path and why they’ve stuck with it.
The series, called “America’s Future Teachers,” comes at a time when the teaching profession is in turmoil. Many current teachers report high levels of stress and dissatisfaction in their roles. Some have left the field. School districts are often not able to fill every open position, or not able to fill them with qualified candidates. And the rate of individuals enrolling in teacher preparation programs has dropped precipitously in the last couple of decades, resulting in too few incoming teachers to serve the student population. The U.S. Education Department even started airing TV ads to encourage people to enter the profession.
