The national supply of and demand for industrial arts teachers

Abstract

The industrial arts profession has long been aware of the imbalance between the demand for industrial arts teachers and the supply of qualified teachers, but the size of the shortfall has not been known. This study identified a need for at least 1,754 additional qualified teachers in 1977-78, a figure that is four times the number of vacant positions (439) identified by the U.S. Office of Education for that year. Data collected from state industrial arts supervisors and heads of industrial arts teacher education programs nationwide reveal new insights into the state of teacher supply and demand. In thirty states, an average of 10.7 percent of the teachers left the profession. Only 75.7 percent of the 1976-77 bachelor's degree recipients with certification in industrial arts education accepted teaching positions in 1977-78. During the two- year period from 1976-77 to 1977-78 the number of vacant teaching positions increased in twenty-one states. Three states that did not have vacancies in 1976-77 had vacancies in 1977-78. The number of persons who were employed to teach industrial arts, not being fully qualified to teach, decreased only slightly from 1976-77 to 1977-78. During 1977-78, 600 new teaching positions were created and filled with qualified teachers. Unfortunately, 200 positions were abolished in that year because qualified teachers could not be obtained. It does not appear likely that the supply of qualified teachers coming from teacher education programs will increase anytime soon. The supply may actually decrease during the next five years or more because undergraduate enrollments were at only half the capacity in 1978-79.