Teacher Struggles in California

by Bryan Welch

Fresno, Calif. (KFSR)—33,000 is a huge number. According to the CSU website, that is how many math and science teachers will be needed in the next 10 years. In a post-pandemic world, teachers have been on center stage and are leaving the classroom for another career or even retiring.

In a study done by UCLA, teachers took a survey if they leave their jobs and would leave the
profession because of burnout from stress.

Jessica Fairbanks, who has been in the classroom for 2 years, there is a new direction to get
teachers into the classroom.

“Is there a big push for teachers to come into education without their teacher’s credential?
So we have a lot of teachers that are either interning or on an emergency permit,” Fairbanks said.

Fresno State student Jaselle Camiling Kerman said that many students in her education
classes do not know what they want to pursue after college.

“Really none; a lot of people’s focus is either elementary or they really unsure of what they
want to teach in college,” said Camiling.

Camiling said that college students need more exposure to observing different grade levels in the
classroom during college. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the last
couple of school years, eight percent of teachers left the profession. The CSU is trying to get one
step ahead of this situation to get the next generation of math and science teachers into the
classroom.