5 Ways to Combat Teacher Shortage and How Helios Helps

Happy 2022-2023 school year! Or is it? HR staff is busier than ever trying to get highly qualified teachers for their classrooms.

According to Yahoo News, there are between 36,504-52,800 full-time teacher positions that are still unfilled nationally. This shortage is leading to classrooms filled with “underqualified” teachers. Currently, this accounts for 5% (163,650 “underqualified” educators) of classrooms without certificated teachers. This also includes teachers teaching outside of their subject area.  

Why does this matter?

A highly qualified teacher not only knows his/her subject area but also understands how to communicate concepts to students in a language they understand. Every child deserves excellent teachers.

What’s the solution?

There is no single solution that will significantly make a difference in recruiting or developing highly qualified teachers. To be most effective, districts should assess their needs and incorporate several strategies in their plans to increase the number of highly qualified teachers.

Schools and Districts are working diligently to find effective ways to attract highly qualified teachers and are becoming more strategic with their recruitment plans. According to author Nedra Atwell (2006), a successful recruitment plan does the following:

1. Requires a recruitment strategic planning team
2. Develops marketing and outreach strategies
3. Forms partnerships with traditional teacher education institutions and alternative licensure programs
4. Evaluates the hiring process
5. Provides financial incentives

As schools and districts implement their recruitment plan, they are heading in the right direction toward attracting and developing high-quality teachers.

Speeding up the Hiring and Onboarding Process

After finding highly qualified teachers to fill classrooms, schools and district are spending too much time processing applications and paperwork. In fact, it takes 1 to 2 hours to process traditional onboarding paperwork. This time is cut by 90% with Helios Onboarding, saving staff hours of data entry work and paper/printing costs.

Not only does this save time but more importantly, it presents a more inviting and efficient approach to the candidate. A more impressive communication with the candidate will mean they will have a more positive image of your district.