The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that the fastest growing careers in 2008 would be in CTE fields such as healthcare and trade and industrial occupations.  However, in order to cultivate a workforce to fill these jobs, students will require training from quality secondary and postsecondary CTE teachers – resources that are lacking across the nation due to a teacher shortage.  This crisis for CTE has been caused by student demand requiring more teachers, teachers leaving the profession and the limited opportunities to cultivate new educators as teacher programs are eliminated.

NASDCTEc has authored Teacher Shortage Undermines CTE, a brief that explores the reasons behind the shortage of teachers in CTE programs, and what can be done to curb the declining numbers and recruit more individuals into CTE classrooms. It also highlights examples from three states – Oregon, Alabama and California – that serve as models for increasing the number of CTE teachers in their state.

You can access a copy of the brief on our website at: www.careertech.org/show/publications under “Teacher Preparation”.