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Drew Polly and Kay Persichitte
Never in the history of K–12 education in America has the access to and demand for using technology to support and extend learning and improve teaching been greater. That said, all indications are that these expectations will increase for teachers to effectively model, use, and integrate technologies in their classrooms and in their own professional development. The 2017 NMC Horizon Report (available at http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2017-nmc-horizon-report-he-EN.pdf) cites these key trends (pp. 10-20):
- Long-term (5 or more years): advancing cultures of innovation and deeper learning approaches;
- Mid-term (next 3 to 5 years): growing focus on measuring learning and redesigning learning spaces;
- Short-term (next 1 to 2 years): blended learning designs and collaborative learning.
Getting and succeeding at a job in K–-12 already requires K–-12 teachers to have experience with contemporary technologies, a desire to maintain their technology skills through continuous professional development, and a willingness to become leaders in the integration of educational technologies to improve student outcomes. These trends specifically focus attention on key areas of the field of educational/instructional technology including instructional design (e.g., learner assessment, media use, instructional strategies), distance learning, digital technologies, and affecting change in the K–-12 setting.
In particular, these short-term and mid-term trends will require instructional personnel in schools to model, use, and integrate technologies in ways that teachers may not have experienced in their teacher preparation program. Examples include contemporary shifts to flexible learning environments, active or experiential learning pedagogies, supplementing face-to-face instruction with online (blended) instruction, flipped classrooms, virtual learning, cognitive tutors, maker spaces, and incorporating mobile technologies within all kinds of learning settings.
So, what are the employment prospects in K-12 for the near future? The National Center for Statistics (NCES) offers insights based on the latest available school data (Fall 2016) for both public and private K-–12 schools. The report (available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015073.pdf) documented increasing public school enrollment in Fall 2016, with public school systems employing about 3.1 million full-time-equivalent (FTE) teachers resulting in a pupil/teacher ratio of 16.1 to 1, close to the 2000 ratio of 16.0 to 1. Private schools were projected to employ .4 million FTE teachers with a pupil/teacher ratio of 12.2 to 1, compared to a ratio of 14.5 to 1 in 2000. The NCES continued with these projections:
- The number of K–12 teachers needed is projected to increase 8% between 2011 and 2023.
- Pupil/teacher ratios for K–12 are projected to decrease to 14.9 to 1 by 2023.
- New teacher hires in public schools are projected to increase 32% between 2011 and 2023.
- New teacher hires in