Science Teachers' Turnover in Schools in the USA - Essay Example

?Science teachers’ turnover in schools in the USA Introduction Urban schools in the USA are exposed to a whole range of challenges in the present age(Duncan and Murnane, 2011). Shortage of qualified teachers of all subjects in general and of science subjects in particular, specially in the urban schools in the USA has increased manifolds in the past few decades. There is inequity of education in schools. There is disparity in the enrollment rates of students as well as the availability of teachers belonging to different races and ethnic origins. “Equity is central to the current reform movement in science education. Although all students are capable of understanding and doing science, persistent and widespread differences continue to exist in students’ access, retention, and achievement, depending on their culture, gender, race, and socioeconomic status” (WCER, 2007). Both teachers and students are exposed to a lot of challenges in the urban schools. Students in the urban schools display lower graduation rates and higher truancy rates as compared to the students in the non-urban schools. This paper explores some of the potential reasons of shortage of teachers in the schools in the USA. Causes of science teachers’ turnover in schools in the USA Increase in students’ enrollment A very simple reason for the shortage of science teachers is the fact that the number of students enrolling in schools every year is increasing along with an increase in the number of science teachers who quit teaching. “According to NCES' Projections of Educational Statistics to 2012, by 2005, public and private school enrollment is expected to rise to about 54 million” (Bruzzbuzz, 2012). Complexity of syllabus The shortage of adequately qualified and certified science teachers has increased as the syllabus has been made more complex by inclusion of the latest discoveries and the incorporation of the latest systems of technology to teach science subjects in the class. Science teachers are both too dishearted and unskilled to operate the softwares and teach them to the students. Lack of certification The percentage of uncertified science teachers in the schools who are ill equipped to fulfill their responsibilities is increasing. “The science teachers are among the least qualified and those who are certified often teach out of their area of expertise” (Lynch, 2000, p. 4). In the NCES report published in 2002, it was mentioned that 31 per cent of the science teachers and 37 per cent of the math teachers in the high school are either uncertified or lack a major (Bruzzbuzz, 2012). Limited resources Many science teachers complain that they are provided with little support and limited resources. Entry-level science teachers are recruited for high-needs schools. Teaching has become a very demanding profession, particularly with the need for science teachers to stay with the children for extended hours. No Child Left Behind Policy The No Child Left Behind policy has served as a big disincentive for many science teachers. “Standardized test scores have become a much heftier factor in evaluating teachers since No Child Left Behind was introduced 10 years ago” (Huffington Post, 2011). Since the implementation of this policy, Science teachers have come under huge pressure of passing the students as the percentage of passing students is indicative of the school’s success and reputation in the public and hence, its profitability. Ethical dilemmas for science teachers Every day, Science teachers encounter a number of ethical dilemmas which include but are not limited to the extent of intervention in the personal life of students, getting awareness of dangerous activities of the students and/or their parents, deciding between whether to punish a student for the offence of cheating according to the school’s laws and thus ruining his/her career or overlooking the offence and letting go of the student, manipulating the students’ scores to pass them in an attempt to improve personal reputation and chances for excelling in the profession, dealing with blackmail and bribery as well as various kinds of religious and racial issues that keep surfacing from time to time. Racial issues Teachers are reluctant to be assigned to the classes of children of color because of certain preconceived notions. There is not only a scarcity of teachers willing to teach such students, but also of teachers of color. “According to a 2003 National Commission on Teaching and America's Future report, individuals of African/American, Hispanic and Latino, Asian, and Native American descent make up 14% of K–12 teachers, while 36% of students are from such backgrounds” (Bruzzbuzz, 2012). The fundamental cause of this is that the current curriculum, design and pedagogy of the American educational system are too biased towards the Caucasian Americans and the people of color lack equal representation (Goodwin, 2007, p. 36). Conclusion Concluding, there is a whole range of factors that demotivate all teachers in general and the science teachers in particular to continue with the profession of teaching. Teachers do not get attractive salaries while the job is extremely demanding both in terms of time and physical and emotional stress. The most unfortunate feature of the job of teaching is the fact that a teacher is held responsible and accountable for the behavior and results of students. The profession of teaching is too demanding to allow a teacher to maintain a balance between his/her personal and work life. Traditionally, the profession of teaching has been the domain of women. With the passage of time, as bright and capable women have found newer and innovative professions to adopt, left behind are the not-so-bright teachers, many of whom are not even certified to be eligible to do the job they have been assigned. People in charge are willing to offer jobs to such incapable teachers because they save them a lot of money by receiving lower wages than a well-qualified science teacher would. With all these challenges, the profession of teaching has lost its charm since the challenges that have surfaced are not matched with equivalent increases in salary. Consequentially, there is inequity in science education and the quality of education, as a whole, has denigrated. References: Bruzzbuzz. (2012). Where Are the Teacher Shortage Areas. Retrieved from http://bruzzbuzz.hubpages.com/hub/Where-Are-the-Teacher-Shortage-Area. Duncan, G. J., and Murnane, R. J. (2011, Oct. 6). Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem. Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-06/news/ct-perspec-1006-urban-20111006_1_poor-children-graduation-rate-gap. Goodwin, S. (2007). Teaching Students of Color. Retrieved from http://www.achievementseminars.com/seminar_series_2006_2007/readings/teachstuofcolor2.pdf. Huffington Post. (2011, 8 Nov.). Top 5 Reasons Why Teacher Turnover Is Rising. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/top-5-reasons-why-teacher_n_924428.html. Lynch, S. J. (2000). Equity and science education reform. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wisconsin Center for Education Research. (2007). Toward Equity in Science Instruction. Retrieved from http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/news/coverstories/toward_equity_science_instruction.php. Read More