Page 47 - CNC West Oct-Nov 2021

Recruiting teachers directly from industry, however, can be problematic because while stable paychecks may be appealing, salaries are much higher for industry trades- people. This eliminates the incentive for tradespeople to leave the workforce and join the classroom. Add to that the fact that the pay is even lower if these individuals don’t have a 4-year degree, which many don’t. Addi- tionally, tradespeople are trained for ‘hands-on’ work and may find it difficult to obtain a teaching credential, partly because they may not have the temperament nor the management skills necessary for a classroom.
Where does that leave us?
It leaves us in a difficult place because we waited too long. We can’t rely on policymakers. We’re losing CTE teachers too quickly through retirement and natural attri- tion. Career CTE teachers are often replaced by teachers with less qualifications, giving their students a shaky foundation with which to look for jobs. And recruiting teaching professionals from the industry itself is difficult because of the lower pay and need for teacher-training. Lastly, survey participants reported that school career counselors are not adequately informed on CTE job op- portunities and therefore tend not to encourage students to follow that path, even though students who focused on CTE courses in high school had higher median an- nual earnings than students who did not focus on CTE.
So, where do we go from here?
First, we must agree that the critical need for Career Technical Education (CTE) is not a myth. In fact, if something isn’t done and done soon, the status quo will kill many of these trade programs, leaving Career Tech- nical Education as a shadow of what it was. This could potentially destroy many critical industry sectors within 10 years. The only question will be, which ones?
Therefore, all of this points to the need for a
concerted effort to:
1) Encourage and facilitate college students and/or trades people to take the necessary steps to move into teaching. 2) Train counselors appropriately to support CTE pro-
grams and encourage students to enroll in CTE programs.
3) Raise public awareness of the economic and com-
munity benefits of having robust CTE programs.
If it is true that the ratio of jobs in our economy is 1:2:7, meaning that for every job in a field that requires a graduate degree, two (2) jobs will require a bachelor’s degree, and seven
(7) jobs will require a two-year degree or technical industry certification, then it is the 7 jobs out of 10 that CTE trains students for. And that’s a statistic that can’t be ignored.
The Small Manufacturers’ Institute (SMI) is a manufac- turing-driven institute that supports California Manufacturers through state-wide, regional, and grassroots participation in identifying their specific needs, coordinating existing resources and services and disseminating those programs through estab- lished providers and associations. SMI is a California 501-c3 not-for-profit corporation, incorporated
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