Gaudelli Weighs in on Teacher Job Market Trends for 2020

Given the change of course that has happened in the world during the beginning of the year, we wanted to provide expert opinions on what aspiring Teachers can do to start off their careers in an uncertain economic climate. Key components are upcoming trends, important skills to learn, and if there will be any lasting effects on the job market.

We talked to professors from several universities to get their opinions on where the job market for Teachers is heading, as well as how young graduates entering the industry can be adequately prepared. Here are their thoughts.

Dean William Gaudelli

Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on graduates?

Dr. William Gaudelli: I would suggest that it will. Immediately, it will affect certification students directly as they will not be able to work in schools or in community health centers to learn and log hours towards certification. Longer term, COVID will permanently alter face-to-face schooling, making hybridity and virtuality more evident in the P-12 sector.

Are there any particularly good places in the United States for graduates to find work opportunities in this field after they graduate?

Dr. William Gaudelli: Short-term, I would say that the Sunbelt is likely to see increasing demographic changes that are favorable, meaning more schools, thus requiring more teachers. Longer term, areas of the Sunbelt may become uninhabitable as a result of inundations and global warming, which is likely to lead to the repopulation of northern tier/midwestern areas that will make these areas more livable (NYT, 9-16-2020). This may seem like a long way off (+10 years), but increasingly, the effects of climate change are accelerating, and it's likely to arrive more quickly. Locally, the Northeast is likely to experience population loss (Nathan Grawe, 2018) though we're also seeing an increase in teacher vacancies, so there's likely to be available positions well into the future, even in regionally challenged areas.