HAMPTON ROADS, Va. -- As Virginia continues facing a critical teacher shortage, the requirements for becoming an educator in the Commonwealth are changing. Educators say some of these changes are helping to address the shortage, while others are contributing to it.
"We certainly ask more of our teachers today than we did 20, 30 years ago," said Charles Pyle with the Virginia Department of Education.
Pyle says Virginia is seeing about 2,600 vacancies ahead of the school year. Meanwhile, Hampton Roads educators believe teachers are being asked to take on more responsibility.
"We've taken on so many hats," said Jody Sommerfeldt, a senior lecturer at Old Dominion University's Darden College of Education. "It's a lot to place on an individual person."
In Sommerfeldt's 29 years of teaching, she says the coursework to become a teacher has changed, now including topics outside of English and science, like culturally responsive and trauma-informed teaching.
"We are really honoring where a child comes from and really honor and respecting what their home life might look like," she explained. "Our students come to us for very different needs. "We're paying attention to those needs and were teaching our teachers how to understand those needs."
Meanwhile, Pyle says while the expectations of teachers are changing, so is the pathway to becoming one.
"We want to open more doors for qualified people to enter the profession," said Pyles.
VDOE's career switcher program offers an alternative route to teaching, allowing professionals to take on a second career in the classroom. The program allows future teachers to take their career knowledge, along with one year accelerated course, and teach Virginia students.
"It allows them the means to enter the classroom and begin a second career without having to go back to college," said Pyle. "They have a broad array of experiences. The places they've been, the people they've met, they've explored the world, and they bring that to the classroom."
Once the career switcher enters the classroom, they continue their coursework for one year before receiving full licensure. If necessary, they may undergo a second year of preparation. The career switcher license is limited to a total of three years before receiving full licensure.
A similar program, Troops to Teachers, also exists for military members looking to teach.
"If someone wants to be a teacher and has the qualifications and has the drive and wants to be a part of this great profession, we want to open doors for people like that," added Pyle.
But with all these different paths to becoming a teacher, how is VDOE ensuring the quality of educators remains the same?
"Ultimately all of our career switchers are going to meet the same requirements for our standards and we don't have any indication the career switcher program has lessened the quality of our teacher force," said Pyle. "It's a balance, we have a teacher shortage."
While content knowledge is critical, one Norfolk teacher says the real learning happens hands-on, and some educators worry career switchers don't have the experience operating a classroom.
"It all comes down to the experience that you get before you come into the classroom and your background knowledge on how to educate students," said Shelby Pepmeyer , a Norfolk elementary teacher.
Sommerfeldt agrees, believing student teaching and classroom experience is the most important preparation for a future educator.
"Do we want a person who just has two years of college going in and being a sub in your child's classroom? The practical application should hold just as much weight," she added.
But VDOE argues that career switchers bring something else to the table.
"A student might ask 'Why am I learning this, what am I going to do with this?' Well a career switcher in front of that classroom can respond very effectively to that question," explained Pyle. "The places they've been, the people they've met, they've explored the world, and they bring that to the classroom."
To learn more about alternative pathways to teaching, click here.
