Teacher Shortage: Is Hybrid or Remote Teaching the Answer?

Why Do We Have a Teacher Shortage?

While teacher shortages have long been an issue, the pandemic ramped up the problem.

“As schools continued to operate virtually well into the 2020-2021 school year, it felt as if the public perception shifted, and it was sort of like, well, why aren't these kids back in school?” says Eric Carbaugh, an ISTE + ASCD faculty leader and professor of education at James Madison University.

Teachers bore the brunt of the blame, and the mood turned sour. People started leaving the field at a record pace, and fewer people entered teacher training. “When you have people who are leaving at higher numbers than they were before, and lower numbers coming in, that’s where you start seeing these gaps,” Carbaugh says.

LEARN MORE: Explore strategies to combat burnout and improve teacher retention.

STEM and Special Education Teaching Are Particularly Hard-Hit

For certain fields, the impact has been more acute. Recent longitudinal research finds that districts “faced the most intense staffing challenges in special education,” while vacancies in STEM roles can be twice as high as in other positions.

The STEM challenge comes largely from market forces.

“People who understand computer science and other scientific fields have opportunities to be far better paid, either in companies or even in universities, which puts public schools at a severe disadvantage,” says Greg Speegle, a computer science professor at Baylor University who is working to resolve the STEM teacher shortage through his Central Texas Computational Thinking, Coding and Tinkering project.

In special education, meanwhile, more than half of districts (and 80% of states) report shortages, largely due to rising demand. And now that there is more effective identification of students who need support, the percentage of K–12 learners who get special education services has risen.

“So, you’ve got two things happening at once, and that’s exacerbating the issue,” Carbaugh says.

All of this is problematic at the classroom level.

In some cases, “we’re having to turn to people who aren't fully or appropriately licensed, and that has implications,” Manahan says. “If you have a teacher who doesn’t have the right licensure, or who is working on that licensure, there are definitely some gaps in pedagogical knowledge.”

How Can Remote or Hybrid Teaching Help?

A shift to virtual learning can help close the gaps.

First, remote work can draw more people into the field. “For some folks, particularly with the pandemic and teaching for a year or more online, they found that model appealing to them from a professional and personal standpoint,” Carbaugh says.

While many educators still prefer face-to-face interactions, he says, others may find the ability to work from home appealing.

Virtual learning can also broaden the candidate pool in hard-to-fill roles. In STEM, for instance, “you might have someone who is willing to teach a class for you in addition to their normal job,” Speegle says. “They can teach computer science, biology or calculus for an hour a day, and they’re done.”

Remote learning can also allow schools to pool resources. The School District of Altoona in Wisconsin, for example, participates in a regional distance-learning consortium.

“I have someone who can teach calculus, and then another school has someone who can teach biology, and you can sign your students up for those classes,” says Sarah Radcliffe, the district’s director of future-ready learning.

“It opens things up so that kids can still take these types of classes,” even when there’s not a teacher on staff, she says.

DISCOVER: Technology helps K–12 educators teach from anywhere.

What Technologies Does That Require?

Technology plays a key role in delivering effective virtual engagements.

“There are a lot of tech tools that are out there that can help support students in more personal and individual ways,” Carbaugh says. He points, for example, to the Google Workspace for Education Plus suite, which has “so many accessibility apps to help support students who have diverse learning needs.”

Hardware makes a difference too. For instance, upgraded microphones and headsets can make a big difference, “particularly if you’re in an environment where you don’t have as much quiet and privacy,” he says.

An interactive whiteboard is also “incredibly important,” Speegle says. It gives teachers a place to show their work online, “and the students can show the teacher that they understand concepts by actually working on problems.”

To deliver effective, collaborative virtual learning, “we need videoconferencing software. We need webcams. We need voice amplification services and tools that can record those remote sessions so they can be posted later,” Manahan says.

All of this requires a solid networking infrastructure. “Several years ago, we completely rebuilt our wireless network using Cisco Meraki access points,” she says. “Your network infrastructure has to be robust enough to handle that constant video stream.”

With the right technologies, districts can make virtual learning a practical reality, enabling them to broaden teachers’ reach and recruit educators more effectively. These approaches can help close a teacher shortage that isn’t likely to go away any time soon.